A Pastor’s Thoughts

By Rev. Dr. Joseph Sellepack, Executive Director, Broome County Council of Churches —

What is the purpose of my life? Why am I here? Where am I going? These are the questions that many of us ask in our youth. We struggle to find the answer and when it is found often the answer that we find is lacking in true substance.

We go to school to get a good job. We date and get married. We have kids. We buy a house and start building a life. That is the story that was preached to me as a kid and many of my friends, including me, bought into its logic and lived out the story until it failed.

Jobs come and go. Education needs to be constantly updated to remain relevant.  Marriages fail. Kids grow up and leave the nest. At times like those we find that the shallow world and story that we were given proves inadequate to really define the messy realities we are called to live through.

Many of us turn to substances to get the quick fix. We hope that alcohol or drugs or shopping or a car or some get rich scheme will give us the answers to these basic questions or at least the temporary feeling of relief from the pressure. In the end these quick fixes leave us even more vulnerable and unhealthy.

Where do we turn? In John 4: 1 – 42 we find Jesus approaching a Samaritan woman asking her for a drink of water. In the exchange between them we find Jesus offering her “Living Water.” This living water is a life of grace and spiritual fulfillment that comes to all people regardless of their past or the prejudices that society imposes.

That the woman was a Samaritan and Jesus was Jewish gives the story even more depth. Samaritans and Jews had been in a family squabble for hundreds of years.  Samaritans treated Jews as if they were the snobbish rich relative who lived in courts of power and privilege. Jews treated Samaritans as if they were the black sheep of the family. They were obviously related but they came from the opposite sides of the tracks.  “Why would you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan, for a drink of water,” was her reply in a nutshell.

In the conversation between Jesus and the woman we find that there are many other struggles she has. She has struggled in her relationship with men. This has led her to be cast out of the places of privilege she may have enjoyed among other women. She lives a life on the margins, bearing the brunt of the failed stories of her life and the consequences of many poor decisions. Some were her fault, others the fault of people more powerful and connected than her. 

Ultimately, these decisions and choices led her to the well that day. And Jesus offers her living water. This is water that leads to abundant and eternal life. A life of purpose. A life filled with God’s grace. A life that is not dependent upon the shallow story of our age.  Jesus gives her living water and life will never be the same for her.

Today, we can find in Jesus the same living water that the woman discovered many years ago. It’s always flowing, always available, always refreshing to both the body and the spirit. It may not be the answer we are expecting. It might not come with health, wealth, and fame but the life that comes from the living water Jesus provides is a life of purpose. The woman at the well proclaims to her town: “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?”

In the end, the life lived in a relationship with the living water Jesus provides is the mystery we crave and the deep story to order our lives. He will help us serve others. 

He will lead us to make a difference in the world. He will be the order our disjointed lives need. He will show us how to love unconditionally and freely. He will be the answer we are seeking.