Wingham United Church

March 8, 2026

Source of Living Water

John 4:5-42    

     Last week, we spoke of Nicodemus, a Pharisee who came to Jesus in the middle of the night with questions about the Kingdom of God. This week, we meet a very different person in very different circumstances who also had questions about the Kingdom of God. Not only do these two stories show up one after the other on our worship schedule, but they also very closely follow one another in John’s gospel. It makes you wonder if there might be a connection.

          You would be hard pressed to find two people more different than these two. Nicodemus is an educated man, a teacher of religion, highly respected in Jewish society. The woman we encounter this week isn’t even named. She is a Samaritan, and, by all appearances, an outcast even within her own community. As John reminds us, Jews would have nothing to do with Samaritans. Where Nicodemus is a moral leader of his community, the Samaritan woman appears to have a rather shady past.

          Nicodemus came to Jesus in the middle of the night. The Samaritan woman finds Jesus waiting for her at noon. Nicodemus came looking for answers to his questions. The Samaritan woman came to get water.

          There’s another significant difference. There is no record that Nicodemus did anything with the new insights he gained from his meeting with Jesus. At one point, he tried to stick up for Jesus without revealing that he believed in him, and later he assisted Joseph of Arimathea to give Jesus a respectable burial after his crucifixion, but that’s it.

          The Samaritan woman, on the other hand, becomes one of Jesus’ first evangelists. After hearing the things Jesus told her, she leaves her water jug, runs back to town and tells everyone what she has experienced. She brings many people out to meet Jesus, and after listening to him, they invite him to stay and tell them more, and then even more people to come to know that he is the Messiah, the Saviour of the world.  

          Jesus also spoke to them differently. To Nicodemus, he talked about being born of the Spirit and chastised Nicodemus for his ignorance. He knew that Nicodemus knew the ancient scriptures and the Law, so he tried to explain to him that relationship with God was a spiritual connection. He knew what Nicodemus knew and tried to fill in the gaps in his knowledge. He met him where he was and tried to lead him to a new, fuller understanding.

          The Samaritan woman lacked Nicodemus’ education. Given the culture of the time, it is quite likely she could not even read. Her life was one of practicality. Keep house, fetch water, do whatever she can to survive. Most of the women in town would have come to the well near daybreak, when the air was still relatively cool. The well was to them as the coffee shop is to many of us: a place to socialize, catch up on each other’s lives, share a little juicy gossip, and find your place in the community. But our heroine comes at noon, the hottest, most uncomfortable part of the day when no one else is around, or, at least, there would usually not be anyone around. She isn’t part of the social fabric of her town. Perhaps she is the source of some of that juicy gossip that is shared earlier in the day.

          All of this makes her reaction to Jesus’ words to her all the more incredible. In spite of how the others treated her, she wants to share this new insight with them. Perhaps even more remarkable is the fact that they listened. They followed her as she ran back out to the well in the heat of the day to see this new thing that seems to have made such a difference in her. The outcast becomes the beacon, and because of her, many others receive the Living Water Jesus told her about.

          He also reveals something else to them. God loves them too. Even though the Jews are confident that God can only be accessed in Jerusalem, God meets the Samaritans on Mt. Gerizim as well and will meet them anywhere they wish to come to him. Mt. Gerizim is the place where the Israelites first worshipped God after entering the Promised Land. The Samaritans believed it to be the place where Noah disembarked the ark, and where Abraham almost sacrificed Isaac, until the Lord provided a ram in his place.

          There is one thing Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman have in common. Jesus met them where they were. Jesus does the same for each of us. When we have questions, he is there to answer them. Whether we are grizzled old veterans of the faith, raised in the church, or someone who is just seeking answers to the difficult questions of life, Jesus meets us where we are, listens to our questions and doubts, and offers answers.

     However, the answers are not always as clear as we would like. As with his chat with Nicodemus about being born again, or his offer of Living Water to the Samaritan woman, there is always an element of mystery. The wisdom and ways of the Kingdom are beyond our full understanding, and because of that, we will never to able to figure things out on our own. We need the Holy Spirit to show us the way daily. We need to be in relationship with God.

          The key to any good relationship is communication. Good communication requires that we both talk and listen and be open to truly hearing what we the other is saying. Many of us struggle with this in our human relationships. How much more challenging is it when speaking with God?

          As I said, though, Jesus meets us where we are, whether the middle of the day or the middle of the night, whether we are knowledgeable about scripture or just trying to get by in the world. And Jesus offers us whatever we need at whatever point we are on the continuum.

          All that God asks of us is that we worship in spirit and in truth, which means we come to God openly and honestly, humble, vulnerable, and trusting, accepting our need for grace. When we do, we too will be filled with Living Water, the source of strength, contentment, and joy. That does not mean life will always be easy; only that God will guide us through the tough times, providing what we need to overcome the challenges.

          In fact, the apostle, Paul, wrote that:

“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.” (Romans 5:3-5)

          That’s not always an easy message to hear. The ancient Jews believed that hard times were an indication that God was unhappy with us. If our faith was strong enough, our lives would be filled with blessing. They are, but not in the way they expected. We have all been through tough times and will probably face more before our journey through this realm is complete. God’s love does not insulate us from the realities of this life. It gives us the resources we need to endure, and the opportunity to see the Spirit at work in our lives and in the world around us.

          It is through these experiences that we have the blessing of being able to respond as the people of Sychar did when they said to the woman who had brought them to Jesus, “Now we believe, not just because of what you told us, but because we have heard him ourselves. Now we know that he is indeed the Savior of the world.”

          That is where real faith comes from, knowing for ourselves that Christ is with us always, bubbling up from within like Living Water to quench our thirst and give us life.

Rev. Colin Snyder, MDiv