Exodus 17:1-7
Psalm 95
Romans 5:1-11
John 4:5-42

Mt. Zion UMC, Stokesdale, NC

24 February 2008

3^rd Sunday of Lent

Spiritual Hydration

Water. It seems like I've mentioned water before in a sermon. If you remember a few weeks ago, I spoke about how unique water is and how God has used water in the past. We discussed how water is used as a sign in baptism and how the sacrament of baptism points beyond itself towards God's divine action. And here we are again with scripture passages that feature water.

In our Old Testament reading from the book of Exodus, we find the Israelites out in the wilderness during their journey from Egypt to the Promised Land. As they journeyed through this rather barren land they ran into a little issue; they had no water. Now, as you have heard me say before, water is essential for life. This isn't just a small problem for the Israelites. It's not as if they didn't have enough water to wash their clothes or even themselves; they didn't have enough to drink. This becomes a huge issue. And it's not like they simply needed to find a small spring or stream. They had a lot of people to hydrate. Scripture is not clear as to exactly how many Israelites were making this Exodus. Tradition is… that it was all of them. Since Pharaoh initially enslaved the Israelites because they had grown too numerous for his comfort level – and since Pharaoh commanded one of the super-force armies in the world at that time - the number of Israelites must have been pretty large. I've been to some Civil War reenactments that were made up of only 200 reenactors. These really are small reenactments and usually only last for two days. Yet even with such a modest number of reenactors gathered for a very short period, a lot of water is required in order for the reenactors to simply be safe – hundreds of gallons a day. Being outdoors in the heat (and even the cold) requires humans to consume much more water than they normally would if they were simply sitting or even working indoors. The Israelites were in a more strenuous situation as not only were they out in the wilderness for a much longer than two days, they also were not staying in one place for very long. They were on the move almost constantly. Regardless, the point remains that they needed water and they needed it now! And so, they brought their concern to their devoted leader, Moses. Well, they really didn't bring their concern to Moses. Instead, they started to blame Moses and argue with him about their water issue. Unfortunately, their issue really wasn't with Moses but with God. After all, did Moses have the power to make water appear for them? Did Moses have the power to make it rain on command? You’d think that they would have learned from the last chapter when they complained that they didn't have any food to eat. After all, it was God that provided or withheld, not Moses. And it was God that provided them manna in chapter sixteen. But, it is human nature to blame the people and things they can see than to have faith that God will provide. And let's face it, when we're not content, we'll blame our earthly leaders even for things that are beyond their power. But such is life and such is how humans are in a fallen creation; we often forget about God and the blessings God grants. Yet despite all their complaining and essentially abusing Moses, God still provided for them.

Water continues to be a theme in our reading from Saint John's Gospel. Jesus is in a Samarian city resting by the city well during the noontime hour one day. This was a time of day that was not only hot, but also one in which few people would come by the well to draw water. The common practice was to draw your day's ration of water in the morning when the temperature is cooler. It would seem that Jesus was intending for an uninterrupted rest. Who knows but him if he truly did intend for it to be uninterrupted. Regardless of intent, a woman comes to the well to draw her day’s ration of water. She was coming at that time because nobody would typically be there. This is not because she wanted to avoid lines, but because she was an outcast and mornings at the well were social events where the women of the city would gather and talk... alright, they'd probably do a fair amount of gossiping as well. Anyways, because she was probably the topic of some rather juicy gossip, it was most likely more comfortable socially for her to draw water when no one else was around.

I'm sure that she really wasn't expecting to find Jesus there. After all, what would anyone be doing there at the well in the hot sun? And then for Jesus to be not only a man, but a Jewish man was also a little, shall we say, different. Then the unthinkable... he spoke to her! He asked for some water. The woman was amazed that Jesus spoke to her. Jesus then goes on to discuss some theology as he often does in Saint John's Gospel. He talks about living water and how it's the ultimate thirst quencher. At first the woman misses the point and points out the obvious... Jesus doesn't have a bucket, so how can we get to this water. And then, she recognizes just how useful this living water could be for her. After all, if she had water in which she'd never be thirsty again; why she'd never have to come to that well ever again; not in the morning, not in the hot afternoon... never! But as is typical in Saint John's Gospel, Jesus is talking about spiritual things and not physical things.

I'm sure the woman was physically thirsty. After all, it was noon in a very hot and dry climate and she was just now getting her daily ration of water. I'm fairly certain that the Israelites from our Old Testament reading were thirsty too. After all, they did give Moses a really hard time about it. I also think that both the Israelites and the woman's true thirst lied not with parched mouths but with parched faith. The Israelites forgot how easily God provided for them with manna and focused on their physical condition at the expense of their spiritual condition. The woman too had a thirsty soul. She was an outcast who was most likely shunned by her own community and maybe even her family if she had one. They were all spiritually dehydrated.

Most studies show that humans in today's society don't drink enough water. Most of us do not drink the recommended twelve glasses of water a day as we really should. We're typically physically dehydrated. Some of us may say that although we don't drink twelve glasses of water a day we do drink a lot of liquids like soda, juice, or sports drinks. But these are not the same as water. Water helps flush out our kidneys. These other drinks have to be filtered by our kidneys. They're not the same; they’re not as healthy It's funny, even the founder of the Methodist movement, Fr. John Wesley, understood water to be essential to healthy physical living. He called water the "wholesomest beverage."

Sadly, today we're typically not just physically dehydrated. Often, we're like the Israelites and the woman; often we're spiritually dehydrated as well. We don’t get our twelve glasses of living water a day. And much like our physical lives, we sometimes try to substitute other spiritual “liquids” in place of living water. This living water Jesus speaks of is the water our souls need to drink. The point of the thirst quenching nature of is not that we take one sip of living water and never need to again, but that we start sipping living water and we continue to sip living water. We’ll never be thirsty again because there is a never-ending supply of living water and we always have access to it if we choose. The only way that we can be separated from this living water is if we choose to be. We need to sip it frequently and let it fill us; let it become a gushing fountain within us - not so we can stop sipping it, but so we can share it.

I think you know what this living water is; it's God's grace. And we should be continually drinking this living water; continually sipping from this fountain of grace. But how do we do such a thing? We drink this living water by attending to the things in which we typically find it. We attend to the means of grace. Things like daily prayer, scripture study, worship, Holy Communion, and fasting. But we're not limited to drinking living water from just these sources. We will find the living water of grace in acts of mercy. These are things in which we love our neighbor; clothing the naked, feeding the hungry, caring for those who need care, loving those who are unlovable - particularly those we really don't want to love. That's how we're to hydrate spiritually, that's how we're to drink living water.

According to Navy medical personnel, water is the miracle cure. For every ill, for every sore throat, for every head ache, water seems to be the answer at sick bay. We’re told to drink more water weather or not we’re prescribed medicine. And quite frankly, it can be very frustrating when you go to see the doc and all they tell you is to drink more water. At the same time, it is good advice. But I’m still waiting for my turn. I can see it now. One day doc will walk into my office and say, “Chaplain, I don’t know what’s wrong. I’m financially stable, I’ve got a great family, I’ve got a great house, and a hot car. But I still feel like something’s missing; kind of like I’m dry.” “Doc, drink more living water.”

SDG