Two Sundays ago, Kevin shared a message entitled, Embracing The Others. The story of the Samaritan woman shows that Jesus broke down all kinds of barriers—racial, religious, gender, political, and even moral, and embraced “the others.” In the same way, we are called to embrace the others, the people who we don’t consider to be one of “us.” How do we do this? Through loving relationships, not transactions. When we engage in relationships, we get to truly know each other, and this is what breaks down the barriers.
Where do we get the power to do this? The living water. This was the topic of the sermon last Sunday. Just like the Samaritan woman, we are all thirsty for a drenching of the Spirit of God and a relationship with God, but we usually fail to see that thirst for what it is. Instead, we try to seek to quench our thirst through different means—money, achievements, or relationships. But, they don’t satisfy. Many of us try to avoid that sense of emptiness by keeping ourselves busy or living in denial. But, when we get real with ourselves, we realize that there is an unquenchable thirst in our soul.
Jesus is the living water that truly quenches our thirst. The water will become in us “a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” How does Jesus quench our thirst? He gives us what our hearts truly long for and need—a relationship with God, and in the process makes sense of life’s big order questions.