3rd Monday of Advent (December 16). LIVING WATER

Prepare to Listen.  The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.
 
Prayerfully Read John 4:7-15
7A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink’.  8(His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.)  9The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?’  (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.)  10Jesus answered 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.’  11The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep.  Where do you get that living water?  12Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?’  13Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty.  The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’  15The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.’
 
Prayerfully Wonder and Reflect
What stood out for you as you read this familiar story?  Anything new or surprising?
 
She was a courageous woman.  She came alone to the well, and bravely approached it despite the lone Jewish man sitting there.  Jews and Samaritans didn’t get along and avoided each other.  It wouldn’t be unusual for a Jewish man to harass a Samaritan woman.  However, her need for water was urgent, perhaps her reason for coming alone at the odd hour of noon (v. 6), and then braving possible harassment.
 
I suspect she’d have ignored Jesus if he hadn’t commanded her, “You, give me a drink.”  It wasn’t a polite request.  Instead of obeying, she protested.  Perhaps she wasn’t sure she could trust this tired looking Jew if she shared her cup with him.  Instead of rebuking her, Jesus told her something he’d never said before—she should have asked him for a drink because he could give her living water.  Since water from a spring or river was called living water, not surprisingly, she presumed he meant literal water.  She challenged him and Jesus engaged her in intellectual conversation.  He treated her as an equal, and she became the first person to ask: “Sir, give me this water.”  She didn’t understand, but she had the courage and faith to ask an unknown Jewish man to give her his living water.
 
You can read the rest of her story, or put yourself in her shoes, use your imagination, and make your own response to Jesus.
 
Prayerfully Respond
Lord Jesus, you treated this Samaritan woman as an equal, slowly bringing her to the point of asking you for water.  I too am thirsty today and I too have my questions about you.  Help me live them today and be courageous and trusting enough to ask you for living water.  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Engage with Jesus in dialogue.