The image is thirst. The miracle is water.

Such is the simple message of scripture, that we are thirsty and God is the water. In the desert God gave water from the rock. Liberated from slavery, they still had to make the journey. Freedom is not an end itself; we’re made free so that we may walk to the promised land. Which is a grueling journey, one we cannot make without God’s help. Hence the water and the manna, because the people of God still had a long way to go.

Hence also Jesus’s offer to the Samaritan woman of water “welling up to eternal life” (Jn. 4:14). She too is on a journey—winding, spiritual and moral. Jesus offers her living water so that she may worship the Father in truth and bear witness to what God has done. Like the Israelites of old, she too is traveling toward the promised land.

And what’s remarkable, of course, is that most people thought she wasn’t included, that she and those like her were excluded, that she didn’t count. But that wasn’t true; she was included. Because Jesus spoke to her, loved her, and offered her living water just the same. Just like everyone else.

So, the question is whether you’ll take this water too. The Israelites, the Samaritan woman, and now you—God offers the water your soul needs. But are you alive enough to want it? Will you drink this water too? Of course, I mean faith in Christ and the Holy Spirit which is poured into the souls of believers, and baptism too (Rom. 5:5). Do you want this genuine life in Christ, in faith and word and sacrament within the Church? Because this is the water Christ offers us, speaking to us near the wells of our souls. But will we admit we’re thirsty? Will we ask for a drink? I hope so.