By CLIVE BUTCHER
Tuesday 28 July 2020
Jesus and the Woman of Samaria 4 Now when Jesus[a] learned that the Pharisees had heard, ‘Jesus is making and baptizing more disciples than John’— 2 although it was not Jesus himself but his disciples who baptized— 3 he left Judea and started back to Galilee. 4 But he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. 7 A 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.) 9 The 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.)[b] 10 Jesus 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.’ 11 The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?’ 13 Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but 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.’ 15 The 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.’
How much of our World is made up of water? Although oceans cover about 71% of the surface water makes up less than 0.1% of the total mass , it is a precious resource! Indeed 4 billion years ago the Earth was made up of molten rock with numerous volcanoes and virtually no water , it is thought that water came later supplied by colliding comets and other space rocks.
The link provided is an interview with the Archbishop of Cape Town , Thabo Makgoba and gives insights into the spiritual and practical importance of water ( it is a resource linked to the book ' Saying Yes To Life' by Ruth Vallerio , the Archbishop of Canterbury's Lent book , which I can recommend even if it is no longer Lent).
Water is vital for life , although we are restricted in our day to day activities at present we can be thankful that we only have to turn on a tap to obtain pure water. People in other parts of the world are less fortunate having limited access , the poor suffering most .The crisis in water supply in Cape Town in 2018 highlighted inequality with the one fifth of the population living in townships receiving only 3.6% of the supply in 2016/2017.
There are very many references to water in the Bible from Genesis Chapter 1 v2 to Revelation Chapter 22 v1 with ' the river of the water of life'. The encounter of Jesus with the Samaritan woman reminds us that water is essential to the well-being of the body but Jesus offers us something vital to the well-being of our souls, the knowledge of and the love of God.
Prayer
Dear Lord , we thank you for the precious resource of water may we value and not waste it . We are ashamed that whilst we have plenty others suffer from lack of water a situation made worse by our abuse of your creation. We ask your forgiveness , may we continue to learn your will and act accordingly.
Through your Son Jesus Christ . Amen