The Woman at the Well - God's "Living Water"

John 4:7-10
When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink". His disciples had gone into the town to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, "What? You are a Jew and you ask me, a Samaritan, for a drink?" - Jews, in fact, do not associate with Samaritans. Jesus replied: 


"If you only knew what God is offering
and who it is that is saying to you:
Give me a drink, 
you would have been the one to ask, 
and he would have given you living water".


How often do we find ourselves and others rejecting an invitation to participate in a church event, to attend a prayer meet or to join a parish community or ministry? Some of us, when we hear that it is church-related, will not even give it a thought before conveniently brushing aside the idea. Some others avoid totally any conversations that revolve around God and the truth about life. It is as if talking about God is taboo, as if giving our time and energy to God-related activities is going to drain us out of our lives; a chore, and an invasion of our lifestyles, our space and our need to use our time for "other better things to do". It seems as if it is going to put us at the losing end.

For those of us who are found with this mindset at any point in our lives, I would like to think that it is not because we are deliberately stingy with our lives but rather, it is a matter of a lacking awareness of the Truth. If we had known and had seen the Truth, we will very naturally take on a whole new meaning towards our participation in and around the parish and towards our commitment to our spiritual growth. Needless to say, God will no longer be a taboo but instead, talking about Him will be the only time our eyes light up and sparkle with enthusiasm. But what is this Truth?

This Truth is what Jesus was trying to reveal to the Samaritan woman at the well. This Truth is about who God truly is; it is about who we truly are before God and with these, it is about our true relationship with God.

When we see the Truth of who God really is, who Jesus is;
When our hearts recognise the deep joy, peace and fulfilment that only God can give;
When we know the reality of our nothingness, that our lives are instantly snuffed out when the Master decides so, and that we cannot live, not even for a brief moment, without the breath that God gives to us;
When we know the reality of our true dependency on God for everything we need and recognise that we owe it to Him for everything we have;
When we know the consolation of His love and mercy, His generosity and kindness;
When we know the indescribable ecstasy of God's intimacy with us;
When we accept in honesty all that God is and all these and more that He is offering to us;
When we realise just how much God loves us even in our sinfulness,

WE will be the ones begging Him for every opportunity to know Him more intimately, to love Him more deeply and to follow Him more closely;
WE will be the ones going to Him and asking Him for peace, joy, direction, fulfilment, for the "living water" that assures us LIFE, meaning, hope, love, strength, courage;
WE will be the ones asking "What more can I do", "How else can I contribute";
WE will be the ones looking for parish events to participate in.

All these because we will know that our only source of nourishment, fulfilment, peace, happiness, meaning is in God alone. Only He can quench our thirst with His "living water" that brings us to seek the treasures of heaven, making our lives complete. We will no longer be found wanting of anything of this earth because we can differentiate what is eternal and what is temporal. "Giving" of our lives will no longer be met with resistance but with joy and generosity because we will know that it is in giving that we receive; we are not at the losing end but we stand to gain treasures that money cannot buy.

However, before we can know of this Truth, before we can go to God to ask Him for this "living water", we need to go back to the foundations - prayer, in which we will come to a deeper understanding of who God truly is, who we truly are before God, and our true relationship with Him. We need to build up a personal relationship with God, spending time daily communicating with Him, reflecting and meditating on the scriptures that reveal Him to us. And as Jesus promised, "... he would have given you living water", God will willingly give us all that He has offered to us - the spring that wells up into eternal life (Jn 4:14).

03 July 2011, Sunday
11.29pm