Beyond the Water Wars

We are at war. I’m not sure how many of yall knew this, but we are at war with the states of Alabama and Florida. And I’m not talking about college football, though it sometimes feels that way. I’m talking about water.

The “Water Wars” as they have been called are nothing new. California went through this not too long ago in attempting to make Los Angeles. Because LA is in a desert, and they needed water as the city expanded, so they fought with neighboring states to get access to their water. As in most cases, LA had more money…so they won.

But we have been at war for a little while. I don’t really know how long we have been at war. Probably longer than is reported. And probably longer than our current drought. As far as I understand it from my buddy who works for the public works of Georgia, this is the situation.

Lake Lanier was built and is maintained by the army corps of engineers. The original purpose of the lake was for hydroelectricity and flood control.

But, the Governor of Georgia took multiple trips to Washington to convince Congress to allow Atlanta the use of the newly formed lake in cases of emergency.

Well, almost immediately, Atlanta began to use the lake, much to the consternation of the states of Alabama and Florida. Why would they care, you may ask? Since the 1990s, the Corps of Engineers, Florida, Georgia, and Alabama have all been fighting for use of the water held in Lake Lanier. Federal law mandates that when a river flows between two or more states, each state has a right to an equal share of the water. Additionally, other laws such as the Endangered Species Act require that water be available for threatened or endangered species that live in or around Chattahoochee River and Apalachicola Bay.

And…the state lines are beginning to be called into question. Survey equipment wasn’t as sophisticated back when state lines were drawn. Basically local surveyors were tasked with the job of staking out the lines that were given to them by the newly forming colonies. And so the lines were drawn. The contentious point is up where Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia meet. A stake was put in as the corner, and where that stake is says everything about the river that Georgia, Florida, and Alabama are all claiming.

So that is where we are. Georgia, Alabama, and Florida are at war over water.

So at this point in the sermon, you are probably wondering, while some of you may find this interesting and informative, what does this have to do with anything pertaining to our worship service. That is fair. So I’m going to go ahead and tell you.

What we read today is a water war.

Just as our own current water war goes way back into history about who said and did what, who lays claim to what territory, and who has the rights to certain things…a similar situation was happening in Jesus’ time here is John.

The Jews and the Samaritans did not speak. Because, way back when, the Samaritans decided that Mount Garizim was the best location for worship of God, and the Jews decided it should be in Jerusalem. Both thought the other heretical, and banned them from intermingling with each other.

Now at the beginning of our story this morning, it says that Jesus had to go back to Galilee from Jerusalem, and that he first had to go through Samaria.

Geographically, it is faster to go through Samaria to get back to Galilee, but most Jewish people don’t take that route, because that would mean you would have to interact with the Samaritans. The hatred ran that deep. Almost as bad as Alabama and Auburn fans.

So in that short verse we find huge implications. By going through Samaria, Jesus is telling us something. Maybe our claims about who is right aren’t as important as who Jesus is.
And then, Jesus meets a woman. Who comes to Jacob’s well at high noon to draw some water, and Jesus asks her for a drink.
To which she immediately responds not with a yes, or a no, but confusion.

Doesn’t this man know that he is not supposed to talk to Samaritans or women? Doesn’t this man know social boundaries? Has he not heard of the war going on? Its not one fought with swords and shields, but with claims about who is right. And that war means that we aren’t supposed to talk to each other.

But this stranger that she meets tells her about the water war.
For so long, she and her people have been drawing from this miraculous well. Given to Jacob to feed his flocks. To this day, it does not run dry, but you have to keep coming back to it to replenish what you need.

And this is her life. This is the Samaritan’s life. Its not a bad one, but she and her kinsmen are settling for water on the surface…when Jesus offers something much deeper.

Jesus says, I will give you living water, all you have to do is ask.
But she still doesn’t get it. Poor woman. But instead of settling for ignorance, she continues the conversation. And Jesus patiently teaches her what he means.

He’s not talking about water anymore.

And maybe neither are we in our own “water war.” Maybe we think water is the issue, but to me, water isn’t the issue as much as our waste of it is the issue. We have gotten too big and too sure in our claims of ownership. Maybe it is water on the surface, but I think living in harmony with resources and with our neighbors is probably what our current water war is all about.

And what the Samaritan woman comes to realize about Jesus, is that the living water that he offers, is beyond her categories, beyond her past, and gives her worth. The categories of Samaritan and Jew no longer apply, because Jesus is here offering the Living Water to all who are thirsty. And it doesn’t matter why you are thirsty, your past doesn’t preclude you from taking a drink of this Living Water.

And so she wants the living water, instead of the well water that she, and we, so desperately cling to.

There have been so many times that I have mistaken well water for living water.

March Madness is going on right now and the NCAA has a commercial out that I think is really effective. It talks about how many athelets there are in the NCAA and how almost all of them are going pro in something other than sports. Statistically, they are right. For most student-athletes, the game is a means to go to college, and be a professional in something they are passionate about. They play because they love it, and because they love it, the game gives back to them. They learn how to be part of a team, and how to keep up with the disciplined demands that it takes to be a student athlete. And it is when you hear these personal stories that it dawns on you…we aren’t just watching a game. Like the kids who walk on and aren’t given any money in scholarships but continue to sit on the bench. Like the kids who earn scholarships and without them wouldn’t be in college.

And all of a sudden, we aren’t just watching strangers play a sport for entertainment, we are watching someone making a life. We are watching someone trying to drink living water.

And so I wonder when we get confused about the water war in our church. If giving goes down, do we blame people for not giving enough and so feel like we have to coax it out of them…or do we wonder if there might be a misunderstanding of what giving is, and wonder if people are doing okay spiritually?

There has been a little bit of nervousness on my part that I have to constantly come up with new ideas and fresh takes on sermons…but maybe I am mistaking well water for living water when I do that. Maybe I need to help you gain as much love of reading and living the word as I do.

Or, if people aren’t here week after week. Do we wonder about where they are and why they aren’t in church, or do we wonder if everything is okay…and maybe, they need the church to come in and help?

How often do we miss opportunities to drink deep of the living water of Christ, and make a change in our life, only to once again pick up our bucket, and dip into the well, knowing that we are going to have to come back again and again and again?

But remember Nicodemus? How he didn’t understand and just settled for not understanding? He came to Jesus in the dark…and the Samaritan woman comes at noon. Nicodemus had credentials, and she has nothing. But here is the main difference. Nicodemus didn’t ask questions to learn, but the Samaritan woman did. So much so, that she calls him savior, and goes to tell her town.

She learned who Jesus is. She was open to being taught, and she learned what Jesus is offering in living water.

And so I ask you…if you want to drink of this living water, what does that mean for your life?

(Pause)

I think, when we drink of living water, we are offered grace, and we offer that grace to one another. We are forgiving of one another.

Also, we offer hospitality. We offer a cool drink of water to any who ask of it, and invite them to be a part of our community here.

You all have been so hospitable to us. Watching our daughter for us when we need to do other things. You threw a baby shower for us and gave us so so much! Thank you, and you didn’t have to do that. But imagine if we could do that for everyone! That is what Jesus means by giving us living water. We are given nourishment to be this community’s church. To be this community’s center, and constantly pointing to Christ as being the center of our life, and so will be the center of the community’s life.

Whenever I am at preacher meetings I always have to clarify whenever I tell someone where I serve. “Bold Spring…without the S.” Because there is a Bold Springs United Methodist Church in Monroe, so I have to clarify. But maybe we need to add the “S.” Not because it’s plural, but add an “s” with an apostrophe. So we are “Bold Spring’s Church.”

And so, to me, this scripture becomes more and more challenging every time I read it. And I think today, it challenges us to find the places where we need living water, but still settle for well water.

Where we go beyond the surface of the issue, and get to the root of it. Where we go beyond the surface and realize that the change that comes from our faith isn’t that everyone around us needs to change to suit our needs, or believe exactly what we believe, but that the change happens within us. Living Water that comes from within.

The Samaritan woman changes, and goes, and becomes an evangelist, who tells her whole town about Jesus. And so they come to meet him as well. What is keeping us from making that change ourselves? Is it because we are set in our ways? We like coming to the well everyday? Is it because we like to keep issues at the surface, treating the symptoms, but not the disease?

Jesus tells us to go beyond the water war. Because Jesus tells us who wins. It is the water that does not run out, and is not claimed by anybody. But the water…the faith…that is everlasting, and is available to all.