Living Water

March 23^rd, 2014         “Living Water”      Rev. Heather Jepsen

Exodus 17:1-7 and John 4:5-42

          This morning we have two wonderfully contrasting texts.  I imagine that those who choose the lectionary readings put these two together because they are both about water.  But the people in these stories could hardly be more opposite to each other.  It is a really fun pairing.

          We start with Exodus.  This story takes place fairly early in the narrative of the wanderings of the people of Israel.  They have crossed the Red Sea and traveled out into the desert.  God has fed them with manna and quail from heaven, and yet the people want more.

          The people stop for the night and camp at Rephidim and the writer of Exodus tells us that there is no water for the people.  When they left Egypt, the writer says that there were about 600,000 men plus their wives and children.  So, if they stop to rest, that is a pretty big camp.  Now I’m going to go out on a limb here, but it doesn’t seem smart to stop somewhere where there isn’t any water.

          I don’t think it should come as a surprise that the people start to complain.  The come to Moses and quarrel with him saying “Give us water to drink.”  It’s early in the journey and already Moses is tired of being the leader.  “Why do you quarrel with me?” he asks, “Why are you testing God?” 

          You can tell Moses is still early in his ministry because that is not a very good response to an angry crowd.  Naturally the people begin to grumble and groan.  “What the heck is this?” they ask, and I would imagine they used a few minor Hebraic curse words.  “Did God bring us out into the desert to die?”  Modern readers assume the Israelites are over-reacting but I don’t think so.  If a crowd of 600,000+ people are without water for long, people really will die.

          Like many a pastor before him and since, Moses turns to God for help “What shall I do with this people?” he asks.  God decides to relent and gives Moses permission to strike a rock with his magic staff and water will flow out for the people.  Moses does as he is told and the people are satisfied.  In honor of their good time there, Moses renames the camp Test and Fight. 

The people aren’t the only ones in a bad mood here; for it seems like God is feeling a bit sour as well.  When we read further on in the narrative of Israel we find out that somehow in this moment Moses is sinning and what happened at camp Test and Fight is the reason he himself won’t get to enter the Promised Land.  To be honest, it seems like a bum deal to me.

          Our story in the gospel of John is also about water, thirst, and the promises of God.  This time Jesus is the one who is thirsty.  He stops at a well in a Samaritan city and runs into a woman who has come to gather water. 

          While we can take this story at face value, there are a lot of undercurrents running through it.  Samaritans and Jews do not get along well.  They come from a similar background but they have differing opinions about proper religious practice.  This Samaritan woman would have been a real outsider to Jesus’ culture religiously, socially, politically, and she’s a woman.  It is even implied that she is an outcast in town since she is coming to fill her water jug at noon rather than in the morning when the well would be the center of the social scene.  All this is to say that Jesus is crossing some real boundaries when he engages her in conversation.

          He asks her for a drink and I can just imagine her reply, basically a “Are you talkin’ to me?!?”  Lots of commenters imagine a humble, shamed woman but not me.  When I read this I hear a sassy, feisty, lady kind of like my friend Sonja.  When Jesus says “Give me a drink” she talks back “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?”  Jesus replies in typical gospel of John fashion with a bit of over the top God language.  “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.”  Her reply, “Man you don’t even have a bucket!”

          The go back and forth with word play.  She keeps trying to draw him into a discussion of religion and politics and he keeps trying to show her that there is a lot more to life than the silly details.  Finally she is won over, and Jesus makes his first “I am” statement in the gospel of John.  She runs off to tell others, not entirely convinced herself but certainly curious, maybe this really is the Messiah.

          In these two stories I find two different approaches to the divine.  In Exodus, the people are kind of avoiding God.  They are upset, uncomfortable, unhappy and they are complaining.  Modern readers think, aren’t they glad they are out of Egypt?   But it doesn’t take much to imagine that they have left behind homes, family, and friends.  Life is changing, and even when change is good it is hard.  Plus, they are wandering in the desert and there is no water.  Their problems are real problems. 

          Rather than engage God directly, in prayer or petition, the people complain amongst themselves.  “Man this stinks!” they say and they grumble and they gripe.  They ask, “Is the Lord among us or not?”  From the reader’s vantage point we cry, of course God is there, you have manna from heaven.  But they are so caught up in the pain of their circumstances that they cannot sense the presence of God. 

          How often does this describe us?  I see people in that place all the time; so caught up in the pain and discomfort of their current circumstance that they cannot sense the presence of God.  Yes, God is there, God is with them, but they are hurting so bad that they can’t see it.

          In John, the Samaritan woman that Jesus meets at the well is also caught up in unpleasant circumstances.  She has had five husbands and the man she is currently living with is not her husband.  This would have been a shameful situation for her and we must remember from other discussions we have had about the marriage culture at this time that marriage and divorce were out of the hands of women.  Her circumstances were most likely beyond her control.  As an aside, it really irks me how many modern commentators continue to shame this woman when they know full well she could not be at fault.  Woman = sin!  Anyway, thankfully, Jesus doesn’t see that, and doesn’t call her a sinner though folks like to put those words in his mouth.

          Regardless, she too comes from painful circumstances, but rather than hanging her head and grumbling, she engages God directly.  She is sassy with Jesus.  She asks questions, she wants to know more, she wants to engage with her faith.  That is her response to pain, to look into the face of God and ask why?  She is seeking knowledge.

          I see people it that circumstance too.  People who have lived lives of pain and hardship, where things seem to never work out, and rather than ask where God is, these folks are constantly engaged with God.  They don’t doubt the presence of the divine, rather they, like Jacob continue to wrestle uncomfortably with God.

          The wonderful thing about both of these types of people, those who engage God with their pain and those who are so blinded by pain that they can’t see God, both of these groups of people get living water.  In both of these stories, the people receive living water, that which is necessary for life, from God.

          In Exodus, even though the people complain and even though God is grumpy, God is there and God does provide for them what they need.  In John, the woman engages with God through Christ, is renewed, and through her own struggle brings others to faith.  Her honest and open questioning draws others to the well of life. 

          I find comfort for all of us on our journeys here.  No matter what type of person we are, no matter our life circumstances, God provides living water for us.  Whether we know it or not, whether we acknowledge it or not, our God provides for us what we need.  Even when we don’t deserve it.  Such is the love of God, to be constantly gracing us with living water.

So praise God for the times when we can be like the Samaritan woman, engaging God directly and drawing others toward living water.  And thanks be to God for the times when we are like the Israelites, blinded by pain and unable to see God, and yet God offers us living waters all the same.  What fabulous generosity!  Amen.