Lent 3A – Exodus 17:1-7; Psalm 95; Romans 5:1-11; John 4:5-42
“Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty.” John 4:13-14
One way to forsake God is to inordinately satisfy our thirsts in the wrong things. God relayed this once to his people through the prophet Jeremiah, and the warning is just as relevant for us today: “for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and [have] hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jer. 2:13). On that note, we would do well to take our thirsting seriously by considering what sources of water we are relying on to quench, and whether any broken cisterns of our own fashioning may be residing in our cupboards, as these do not have the capacity to hold living water.
One value of the Lenten season is that it calls us to do just that. It calls us to examine our thirsts, of which we have many, and it calls us also to examine the means by which we seek to have them quenched. Our common practice of fasting this time of year can certainly aid us in our discovery, as we consciously impose limits on our supply lines to satisfaction in life.
So then, what are we thirsty for? Well, beyond literal water, I think we can all relate in saying that we experience thirsting urges for things such as love, joy, peace, intimacy, companionship, wisdom, loyalty, knowledge, security, and justice, among others. Notice that all of these are pure and good things to be desired, for they bring vitality to life. This is commonly understood, for consider how much of the world around us is exhausting resources trying to bring them to fruition in the lives of both individuals and communities.
As a side note, it is worth distinguishing our thirsts from other thirst-like yearnings that seek impure things; although, perhaps such yearnings are better referred to as lusts. Lusts are products of self-serving motives based in vice, and seek things such as personal pride, glory, power, and pleasure – at the expense of others. Our lusts have been acquired as a result of our fallen nature. They too need this living water that Jeremiah and our gospel reading today speak of, but only to extinguish their consuming presence, for that is what they do, like a fire they overtake, consume, and eventually destroy us and others.
In contrast, our thirsts need to be fulfilled – quenched, not extinguished – for as I’ve said, they are virtuous desires for things which bring vitality to life, as water does so for our physical health. This is because they have been implanted within us from above. Our thirsts are reflections of the very desires and values of God, which we have obtained upon being created in his image (Gen. 1:27). I think the presence of our thirsts actually quite clearly evidences our image bearing nature. For they are not unique products of our own creation, rather, they are universal desires that we all share in common – desires that have originated from outside of ourselves. This is not to say that they cannot be suppressed, even to the point that they appear to be altogether void in some. But of course, they never really are, because every person created by God bears his image and thus can never fully escape from this identity and the innate thirsts that come with it. I ask you to consider, how many people do you know who don’t desire to have love, joy, or justice in their lives?
So if our thirsts are implanted desires from God, where are we to find their fulfillment? The Psalmist gracefully sums the answer up in saying, “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God, My soul thirsts for God, for the living God” (Ps. 42:1-2). Our soul is the most unique substance of our being, and all our thirsts can be summed up in it. So if our souls thirst for God, then nothing short of him will satisfy. But how apt are we to look elsewhere for satisfaction?
Israel certainly exemplified our aptness, numerous times. Consider our Old Testament lesson today. I wish I could say that something so basic and necessary to life, such as mere water, does not interfere with our devotion to God, but, as we read, it can. Israel desired water to the extent that their trust in God waned because: one, their physical thirst was not met and two, they doubted whether God could even provide for them; this after he had already performed miraculous works of deliverance before their eyes (Exo. 17:1-7). In effect, they left in heart the fountain of living water, God himself, and instead made cisterns for themselves and went in search to fill them elsewhere. If our literal thirst for water can trip us up in our life of faith towards God, how much more do our other thirsts have the potential to do so?
Jesus also knows how apt we are to falter in this way. In his encounter with the Samaritan woman, he accurately discerned that she had more invested in the well than simply quenching her physical thirst. His command, “Go, call your husband, and come here” reveals that she thirsted perhaps for love, intimacy, companionship, acceptance – I actually don’t know exactly what thirsts compelled her to seek fulfillment in natural relations with many men. But Jesus clearly did, and he revealed to her that nothing short of living water that God offers will suffice. Any other source that flows from this world is simply well-water, and will not do.
We read two chapters later in John’s gospel that living water is the Holy Spirit of God, and all we have to do is ask Jesus for it by believing in him and it will be given to us. In so doing, we ourselves become, and have become, holy cisterns unto God, overflowing with his Spirit. It is only after having been quenched in God that we can appropriately turn to our world around us, not desiring to add or trade our living source of satisfaction, as though he is not able to fully satisfy us, but to reflect and share the abundance of living water in our lives.
We would all benefit from an encounter with Jesus at Jacob’s well; so let us do so, and just as the Samaritan woman, may we come to see that we too bring our buckets, or broken cisterns as Jeremiah put it, to draw well-water, in hopes of quenching the thirsts of our soul. May our reliance on the means that this world offers be exposed, and may we ask that Jesus direct us to this better, living source. And just as the woman left her bucket for well-water behind and redirected her thirst towards this living water, may we in turn do likewise, in order to drink and never hopelessly thirst again.
