The Rev. William Klock: “Living Water” (John 4:10-15)

The Rev. William Klock of Living Word REC in British Columbia has been preaching a series of messages based on the Gospel of John, and for the First Sunday in Lent, Fr. Bill had a sermon titled Living Water, based on John 4:10-15.  In this message, Fr. Bill continues his look at the encounter of Jesus with the Samaritan woman at the well of Sychar, and draws some helpful lessons from this.  I like what he says about being focused on His living water:

Think back again to all the boundaries Jesus was crossing to reach this woman.  Jesus is ready to offer living water to anyone, no matter who they are.  This woman was a notorious sinner, but notice that Jesus doesn’t bring up her sins.  He’ll get into that later, but first he made the offer.  Sin is no obstacle to the Cross.  Sin is the reason for the Cross.  Jesus said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17).

The consequence of taking Jesus’ water in faith is in those words: “whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.”  Jesus’ living water will satisfy the soul.  That doesn’t mean all of our problem instantly vanish.  Jesus tells us that if we follow him we will face the opposition of the world, and yet he also promises to take care of us through all of it.  He offers us eternal life and promises to be with us every step of the way as we live that new life, helping us to battle sin and giving us comfort and peace in the face of hardship and opposition.

And we find that peace because, as he says, “The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”  If we drink from the living water, Jesus promises to fill us with his Holy Spirit, giving us new life as God himself takes up residence in us and transforms our lives.  The Spirit turns our hearts towards God and away from the things of the world.  Think about that.  If you’ve suddenly got living water, why would you still be obsessed with water that will never satisfy?

This is the message we need to share with the world.  But in conclusion, let me ask everyone here: Has this been your experience?  Presumably we’ve all had a drink from the living water, but how often are we still focused on the earthly well, on our cracked cisterns, on the world’s water?  Jesus has given us new life.  Most Christians are enthusiastic about that new life, at least for a time, as they experience the satisfaction of the joy and peace and love that Jesus has given them.  But gradually we somehow become less and less content with that and we start to turn back more and more to the world.  We stop living in the peace of Christ and live in the trouble and anxiety and angst of the world.  We only let the love of Christ go so far in our lives.  Jesus says that the greatest evidence of our love for him is that we love each other, but we don’t always let his love radically change us that much—we still love the people we want to love.

There are a lot of reasons why we begin to turn back to the world.  I think the greatest reason is that we live so close to the world and we let the world fill our hearts and souls with worldly things.  We can’t escape being close to the world, but brothers and sisters, instead of letting the world entice us, let it be a warning to us that it cannot fulfil.  Let it drive us back to the living water where we drink daily.  Let it remind us of the need to be daily living in Scripture, to be daily letting the grace, the peace, and the love of God in Christ permeate our lives and be shown to others, and let it be a reminder each week as we come to his Table that he has given his own self that we might drink his living water and be washed clean of sin by his own blood.

Let us not be so distracted by the world that we forget to drink of the Water of Life!