Lent

March 14, 2020

Scripture Reading: John 4:5-42

A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink’. (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?’ (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, ‘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.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?’ Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.’—John 4:7-15

When I lived in Colorado back in the 1970’s water was a precious commodity. Colorado is an arid land with limited water. I learned new habits and quickly quit taking water for granted. Israel, too, is an arid land and the well described in the story above was an ancestral gift to a people who valued its presence in their lives. The Samaritan women understood well the value of an abundant, permanent source of water their very lives depended on it. She also understood that this man Jesus was talking about a source of nurture beyond the routine needs of human bodies. Our souls also require nurture.

In Times Like These
By Ruth Caye Jones – Mother Jones

In times like these, we need a Savior
In times like these, we need an anchor
Be very sure, be very sure
Your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock

This Rock is Jesus, Yes, He’s the one
This Rock is Jesus, The only One
Be very sure, be very sure
Your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock

Prayer: Lord, we need your nurture now as we deal with deadly viruses and environmental threats. Guild our actions in responds to these challenges while undergirding with your loving nurture.  Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.