Where do you get that living water?
Date: March 15, 2020
Preacher: Rev. Nathan Hill
Scripture: John 4:5-14
The woman responds, “What? What are you talking about? You don’t even have a bucket or a Costco membership? You don’t even have a quarter to get you one of the shopping carts at Aldi? Where do you get that living water?”
The response is funny - it’s fierce. Photini is not gullible. She’s not about to be messed with by this itinerant rabbi. Later, in this exchange, Jesus reveals that he knows a lot about her messy and complex life. For example, he reveals to her that he knows she has had five husbands. But Jesus doesn’t label her a sinner. In that little window into her life, we get a glimpse of someone who has experienced hard times, who has had to make tough decisions, who knows what it is like to have the wells of life run dry. Her response to Jesus shows she wasn’t prepared to take any flack from this itinerant rabbi. She was tough.
“Where do you get that living water?” - it’s a demand for this rabbi to put up or shut up.
Jesus loves this fierceness, so he hits right back. - “I’ve got water that will never leave you thirsty. Water that leads to eternal life.”