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Monday, February 28, 2005
Water of Life
One of my favorite places in all the world is Muir Beach. It's a kind of soul sanctuary, just an hour's drive away but instantly accessible to my mind's eye.
You can take it all in at a glance from a steep hill to the south (but I'd recommend a long lingering gaze). The Pacific surf massages the western shore as it's done for millennia, surging with unstoppable salty power. The eastern edge of the beach is formed by a fresh-water creek which runs down from Mt. Tamalpais to meander parallel to the shoreline. Winter's rains fill the creek bed enough that it pushes a curving path all the way to the ocean, and at the right time salmon swim upstream to spawn.
The fresh water is thus a source of life not only for plants and thirsty people, but for a whole new generation of the fish.
My mind took me to that beach again when I re-read the story of Jesus and the woman at the well. Long before Peter, Paul & Mary sang the tale, the Gospel of John told it in chapter four.
Briefly, Jesus and his disciples make a midday stop at Jacob's well, a local shrine in the state of Samaria. While his men go shopping for lunch, he sits alone until a woman comes to draw water for her daily cooking and chores. He asks her for a drink and before you know it they're deep in conversation about water and worship and personal details of her life he could know only by divine revelation -- seeing as they'd only just met.
This woman seems to have been shunned by her neighbors. Why else would she come to the well in the heat of the day instead of early morning when women normally made the trip? Sure enough, when Jesus asks about her husband she turns out to have had five marriages. I don't know how the men of her town treated her exes, but it's clear that her name wasn't on the invitation list for soirees and such.
But now that Jesus treats her without prejudice and introduces himself as the Messiah who'll put things right for all takers -- well, she can't contain her excitement! Bursting with joy, she rushes off to invite the whole town to come see and hear and welcome this most amazing man. And they do just that.
The fresh water she drew from the well must have tasted delicious to thirsty Jesus. But the water of spiritual life he gave back to her tasted like heaven to her soul. A whole new lease on life, she had. No more regrets over past mistakes. No longer stuck on the margin of social acceptance. Now she became known as the evangelist who'd introduced the whole village to Jesus Christ and everything he had to offer. Who knows -- maybe they even put a nice plaque on Jacob's well, enhancing the old shrine with a bright new meaning.
What I do know is this: She embodies the definition of evangelism someone wiser than me once gave. It's a case of one beggar telling another beggar where to find the food and drink. Nothing fancy or profound. Just showing up and telling the truth as far as you yourself have experienced it. Like sharing a drink of cool, fresh, life-giving water with a thirsty friend.
posted by Jack Buckley at
11:57 AM
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