The story of the woman at the well is many sided, but what is most intriguing is the part about water soothing our thirst. In the Gospel Jesus asks the woman to dray some delicious well-water for him to drink. She hesitates. She is a Samaritan. Then maybe she sees his need, and she moves into action.

Thirst is ever present on this planet. Sometimes, dramatically so. I remember bicycling with a friend out in the mountainous countryside on a very hot day. We had not counted on one particular hill that would continue to rise up before us, a very long remitting one. We worked and worked and worked and at last achieved what we thought must be the top. Hurray! The heat and humidity had sucked the moisture out of us, so we were parched. Remarkably parched. After resting in the shade of one lone tree by the side of the road we mounted our bikes again figuring the end was around the next corner. We would finally be able to find a drink of water.

Around the next corner however was the start of yet another mass of hills going upward again. How could we put ourselves through still another Olympic ordeal and mount this new set of twisting hills in front of us. There must be another way to get some water. Finally, a car drove past and the thought of catching a ride was a passing thought but now we were on a mission to finish what we had started.

When we finally reached the top and found a water tap to get a drink, nothing else in the world could have tasted so delicious and so satisfying. We were craving what our bodies ached for. It seems that we have a thirst for something even more profound than just a welcome drenching don’t we. The Apostle Paul says we thirst for “the love poured forth from God in Jesus through the Spirit.” Love. This is a primordial need very like the need for water; it is “a God-sized hole” within us, a yearning for the greatest love there is. Jesus says he will put a flowing fountain of such water right inside the Samaritan woman. It will quench her thirst forever. We use lesser things to try and satisfy our needs. Yet, even at their best they leave us humming, “Is that all there is?” Fortunately, we are built in such a way that our small selves have been fitted with a soul that opens wide to love and especially to the greatest love of all, God.

So, we must bicycle our way to the top of the hill, and maybe there we will meet Jesus to give us “a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”