Living Water

The Gospel readings for this Sunday reveal to us Jesus as the ‘living water’, welling up to eternal life. Water being readily available in the West, few of us truly experience real thirst. Today we see people carrying designer water bottles everywhere.

In this reading, Jesus and his disciples are journeying from Judea to Galilee. At midday Jesus rested by the famous Jacob’s well while his disciples went to fetch food. He is thirsty. A Samaritan woman approaches with her jar, to draw water. The evangelist John recounts their remarkable dialogue. Jesus asks her for a drink.

This surprises her because, as she points out, Jews do not talk to Samaritans. He says to her that if she had understood the gift of God and the one speaking to her, she would have asked and received living water. He assures her that those who drink from his water shall never thirst again, as it becomes a spring of water welling up to eternal life. The woman pleads, ‘Sir, give me this water so I won’t be thirsty or have to return here to draw water.’

This encounter with Jesus transformed the Samaritan woman’s life. She confronted her own thirst as Jesus asked her about her married life. She admitted she’d had five husbands and the man she was living with was not her husband. Leaving her empty jar by the well, she rushed back to town, exclaiming to all, ‘Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?’

As I reflect on this encounter, I ponder my own thirst and how I try to quench it. I imagine what Jesus would say to me and ask myself: how is he living water for me?

In the weeks leading up to his death, Pope Francis reflected on this Gospel and said, ‘Jesus waits for us and reveals Himself precisely when we feel hopeless.’ He recalled how the woman re-evaluates her complicated and painful past, discovering that the Messiah loves her. The Pope asked, ‘What proclamation could she have made, if not her experience of being understood, welcomed and forgiven?’ He suggested this prompts us to consider new ways to evangelise, to share the good news with others.

Loving Jesus, you are the Living Water. Pour into my heart the Holy Spirit of your love and transform me. May I find new faith in you so that I may announce the great things that you have done for me.