“Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again;
but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst;
the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’”
Jn 4:13-14
Have you ever received a gift that transformed your life?
When I was living in Chicago I awoke one morning to discover that my car had been stolen. At the time I was working at a church out in the suburbs and my car was the only way I could get to the church. I didn’t have theft insurance and I didn’t have enough money to buy a replacement vehicle. I wasn’t sure how I was going to make it all work. I told a friend of mine what had happened and he said he had a car he didn’t really need and so he gave it to me. It was unexpected and generous. It was probably the most memorable gift I’ve received.
It’s sometimes hard for us to realize the power of the gift that Jesus offers when he tells the women he meets at the well in Samaria about the water he can provide. Jesus promises water that quenches all thirst and that never ends. For the woman, this would have been a gift that transformed her life in a profound way. First of all, unlike people in our culture today with indoor plumbing on-demand, water was not easy to get to. It was only accessible from wells. Often wells were at the center of disputes and given the climate, could unexpectedly dry up.
To make matters worse many scholars think that because she was a social outcast, she was limited in her access to the well itself. She would have to find times to go to the well when no one else was around or else she could risk abuse.
What Jesus offers is not only something to drink but freedom from abuse, fear, and pain. Jesus offered a transformed life.
We’re offered the same thing today. A gift that can transform our lives. A gift of God’s grace and spirit.
Question for today
What gift might God be offering you that could change everything?
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