Living Water In The Desert
Sermon
We've had a variety of filter jugs over the years. They are all based on the same principle, a chemical centre which removes any impurities from the tap water passing through it. Some have been electrical, removing any effort whatsoever, and some have been manual, requiring just a little more effort to fill the jug. They have all produced delicious water which makes very good tea.
But even without filter jugs, we in Britain can drink water straight from the tap without thinking twice about it. When we are thirsty we have a huge and quite bewildering variety of liquids to quench our thirst, from fruit juices to fruit squashes to fizzy drinks to hot drinks to plain water. Whenever we wish we can brew tea or coffee, open a bottle of lemonade or a carton of juice, or go to the tap, so that we never know real thirst. Even when we go abroad to hot countries where water may be scarce, we can still buy bottled water and drink it whenever we wish.
This makes it quite difficult to imagine what real thirst feels like, thirst which is so desperate that it would lead to death in a matter of a few days if not slaked. Thirst like that results in cracked and bleeding lips, a swollen tongue, an imbalance of salt in the system and all kinds of bodily ills. Countries where women are forced to walk miles every day for water, are countries where people are the most disadvantaged in the world. They are also countries where death frequently results from water-related diseases, since the water the women collect is rarely clean water.
No wonder there is such a lot in the Bible about water. Every book in the Bible bar one, mentions water. The Bible lands were hot, dry, dusty lands where water was at a premium and where there were frequent droughts. In the time of Jesus, Herod the Great - friend of the Romans - built aqueducts to carry water across the land, but even then no water was supplied to desert areas.
Some 1500 years earlier, when Moses led the Hebrew tribes across the desert in their nomadic wanderings to discover the land which God had promised them, the lack of water was a very real threat to their survival. When they camped, they needed large quantities of water for themselves and for their livestock. If the herds started to die of thirst, the people would not be far behind.
The people were at a critical point in their journeyings. They were led by Moses, so naturally turned to him as their leader to provide the essentials for life. When he failed to provide such a basic necessity as water, they turned on him and Moses was frightened.
Moses had nowhere to go but to God. "What shall I do with this people?" cried Moses, "they are almost ready to stone me."
Of course, the people weren't only doubting Moses; at this very threatening test of their faith they doubted God as well. Perhaps this invisible God to whom only Moses spoke, didn't really exist at all. Perhaps they would have been better to stick with the idols which could be seen and touched and which all the surrounding tribes worshipped.
But God was ready. As soon as Moses cried out to him for help, God provided a very practical solution to the problem. God told Moses to go on ahead of the people taking some of the elders of Israel with him. He was to take in his hand the staff with which he struck the Nile. God promised to be standing there in front of Moses on the rock at Horeb. God said to Moses, "Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink."
Moses did exactly as he had been instructed by God and the people were saved again.
1500 years later, when Jesus offered living water to the woman he met at the well, she was thrilled by the possibility and took it literally. No more trekking down to the well day after day and carrying back heavy jars of water, and no more thirst. It would be like living in the West today and having a tap over the kitchen sink, something we take entirely for granted. The woman thought that would transform her life and that she'd never need or desire anything else ever again. We know different.
But Jesus didn't mean that at all. When Jesus referred to living water he was thinking about people's inner relationship with God.
We are so often like the Hebrew tribes in the desert. We believe in God and firmly believe that God is guiding us in our lives, but when something goes horribly and painfully wrong perhaps we wonder whether there is a God after all. Perhaps we look at our friends and colleagues and see the fast cars and the exotic holidays and the glamorous lifestyle, and wonder whether we might have been better to go on worshipping those idols like the rest of the world.
But if we hang in there at those critical times relying utterly and entirely upon God, he will find living water for us. If we strike the rock borrowing God's strength, sufficient water will gush out to keep us going. And the more we rest upon God in our vulnerability, the more living water we will drink and the more satisfied we will feel.
The Ancient Hebrews discovered that God never let them down. God was always there for them and saved them whenever it was necessary. Since then, God has sent us Jesus so that it is much easier for us to know God and to cling to him than it was for Moses' people. When we cling to God and get to know him we inevitably drink living water and that means we will never again be thirsty for God or for something to fill that aching void within our lives. God will always be there and will never let us go.
But even without filter jugs, we in Britain can drink water straight from the tap without thinking twice about it. When we are thirsty we have a huge and quite bewildering variety of liquids to quench our thirst, from fruit juices to fruit squashes to fizzy drinks to hot drinks to plain water. Whenever we wish we can brew tea or coffee, open a bottle of lemonade or a carton of juice, or go to the tap, so that we never know real thirst. Even when we go abroad to hot countries where water may be scarce, we can still buy bottled water and drink it whenever we wish.
This makes it quite difficult to imagine what real thirst feels like, thirst which is so desperate that it would lead to death in a matter of a few days if not slaked. Thirst like that results in cracked and bleeding lips, a swollen tongue, an imbalance of salt in the system and all kinds of bodily ills. Countries where women are forced to walk miles every day for water, are countries where people are the most disadvantaged in the world. They are also countries where death frequently results from water-related diseases, since the water the women collect is rarely clean water.
No wonder there is such a lot in the Bible about water. Every book in the Bible bar one, mentions water. The Bible lands were hot, dry, dusty lands where water was at a premium and where there were frequent droughts. In the time of Jesus, Herod the Great - friend of the Romans - built aqueducts to carry water across the land, but even then no water was supplied to desert areas.
Some 1500 years earlier, when Moses led the Hebrew tribes across the desert in their nomadic wanderings to discover the land which God had promised them, the lack of water was a very real threat to their survival. When they camped, they needed large quantities of water for themselves and for their livestock. If the herds started to die of thirst, the people would not be far behind.
The people were at a critical point in their journeyings. They were led by Moses, so naturally turned to him as their leader to provide the essentials for life. When he failed to provide such a basic necessity as water, they turned on him and Moses was frightened.
Moses had nowhere to go but to God. "What shall I do with this people?" cried Moses, "they are almost ready to stone me."
Of course, the people weren't only doubting Moses; at this very threatening test of their faith they doubted God as well. Perhaps this invisible God to whom only Moses spoke, didn't really exist at all. Perhaps they would have been better to stick with the idols which could be seen and touched and which all the surrounding tribes worshipped.
But God was ready. As soon as Moses cried out to him for help, God provided a very practical solution to the problem. God told Moses to go on ahead of the people taking some of the elders of Israel with him. He was to take in his hand the staff with which he struck the Nile. God promised to be standing there in front of Moses on the rock at Horeb. God said to Moses, "Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink."
Moses did exactly as he had been instructed by God and the people were saved again.
1500 years later, when Jesus offered living water to the woman he met at the well, she was thrilled by the possibility and took it literally. No more trekking down to the well day after day and carrying back heavy jars of water, and no more thirst. It would be like living in the West today and having a tap over the kitchen sink, something we take entirely for granted. The woman thought that would transform her life and that she'd never need or desire anything else ever again. We know different.
But Jesus didn't mean that at all. When Jesus referred to living water he was thinking about people's inner relationship with God.
We are so often like the Hebrew tribes in the desert. We believe in God and firmly believe that God is guiding us in our lives, but when something goes horribly and painfully wrong perhaps we wonder whether there is a God after all. Perhaps we look at our friends and colleagues and see the fast cars and the exotic holidays and the glamorous lifestyle, and wonder whether we might have been better to go on worshipping those idols like the rest of the world.
But if we hang in there at those critical times relying utterly and entirely upon God, he will find living water for us. If we strike the rock borrowing God's strength, sufficient water will gush out to keep us going. And the more we rest upon God in our vulnerability, the more living water we will drink and the more satisfied we will feel.
The Ancient Hebrews discovered that God never let them down. God was always there for them and saved them whenever it was necessary. Since then, God has sent us Jesus so that it is much easier for us to know God and to cling to him than it was for Moses' people. When we cling to God and get to know him we inevitably drink living water and that means we will never again be thirsty for God or for something to fill that aching void within our lives. God will always be there and will never let us go.
