In John 4 Jesus meets a Samaritan woman with a very sensitive and guilty conscience. She is ashamed of her past, and of the reputation it has given her, and is now afraid of even being seen in public. Fear so often accompanies a guilty conscience.
Jesus eventually confronts her with the truth of her own situation but he does not ridicule, nor condemn, her. Instead, he offers her 'living water' which if received, would quench her deepest thirst and well up within to eternal life. At the end of their conversation, the woman leaves her water jar and goes to the town, telling everyone 'Come, see a man who told me all I ever did.' Something wonderfully liberating has happened to this woman! Once ashamed and afraid, she is now telling everyone in her town there is a man, claiming to be the long awaited Messiah, who knows everything she ever did, and she wants them to come see him! No longer filled with fear and shame, her conscience has been cleansed by the offer of love and the Spirit, and by the promise that she and her people would worship the Father in spirit and truth.
That same promise is made for all who would receive Christ and drink from the 'fountain of living waters'. We too can leave our own 'water jars' which ultimately hold no water and are unable to satisfy our thirst or relieve our guilt and fears. Instead, we can drink freely from the 'river of life', be washed of all our sin and shame, and worship the Father, freely, in spirit and truth, just as he himself longs for us to do. |
