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Greetings dear family of our beloved Saviour, Jesus Christ. Let us come together to petition Jesus, with longing hearts and eager spirits, that we may drink of the “Waters of Life”. And having been rejuvenated, let us ask the Lord that we may take away with us, a jar of those “Living Waters,” that we may satiate the thirst of others.
Our Father in heaven calls to us, “Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat… Let him return to the Lord, that He may have mercy on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” (Isa 55:1&7). This is the divine invitation, and it is open to all who will receive it in faith. In the Old Testament water was a symbol of God’s Spirit and the prophets would write of their thirst for God’s love: “As the deer longs for flowing steams, so longs my soul for thee O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” (Psalm 42:1). We all know that water is an absolute necessity for maintaining the physical life; similarly, the grace of Christ is essential for maintaining the supernatural life. The water which can truly quench the thirst of our hearts comes from the Fount of Life, Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit.
One of my favourite episodes from the New Testament is when Jesus sits by the well with the woman of Samaria. St. John relates this story, putting in the tiny details, so that we can make a meditation of it. He tells us that Jesus was going from Judea to Galilee, and had to pass through Samaria. There were two routes for going from Judea to Galilee. The shortest way was through Samaria, the other followed the Jordan around Samaria. Because the Jews did not like the Samaritans, they usually took the long route. Jesus, however, took the short route - maybe looking to gather more souls.
St. John then tells us that Jesus sat down by Jacob’s well and there came a woman of Samaria to draw water. To the first century Christians reading this story many of them would be drawn to think of a marriage because of the association in the Old Testament of many prophets finding their wives at the meeting place of a well. Isaac’s servant found him a wife there, also Moses and Jacob find themselves perspective wives when they sit down by a well. Now Jesus of course is the Bridegroom, looking for his Bride, and the first thing that Jesus says to the woman of Samaria is, “Give me a drink.” (John 4:7). Jesus, like on the cross, thirsts for souls, and He is asking this woman to quench His thirst by recognising Him in faith.
Next, St. John tells us that the woman asks Jesus, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (v 9) Jesus answer’s her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” The woman then asks Jesus how He could provide this water when He has no bucket and the well is deep, she also asks where He gets that living water and if He is a prophet greater than their father Jacob who built the well. Jesus then says to her, “Every one who drinks of this water will thirst again” Jesus is telling her here that she is drinking of earthly water, the waters of concupiscence, of earthly passions and worldly desires – this is the well to which she is drawing from. Jesus comes to break these desires and to impart to her the divine life. “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (v 14) Continued on next page.
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