A Well That Never Runs Dry

Third Sunday in Lent — John 4:5-42

I grew up without running water in the house. We had to go outside to fetch water. Yet, we felt blessed, because our tap was in our yard. 

At my grandmother’s village, we had to go out to a distant communal pump to fetch water. There, we would line up as we took turns to get water. We carried it on our heads, mostly women and children. It was a chore done two to three times a day. We spent hours on this water-hauling chore. 

Having water in the house is a big deal. It is something most modern societies take for granted. But there are many women and children at the well around the world today.

In our gospel text, it is midday at Jacob's well, and a Samaritan woman arrives alone, under the full weight of the sun and, perhaps, the full weight of her life. Jesus is already there — tired, thirsty, and waiting. What unfolds is one of the most remarkable conversations in all of Scripture.

Here at Mission Presbytery, in south central Texas, including San Antonio, Austin, the Hill Country, and other nearby places, we know something about water. We know the anxiety of drought years, of cracked earth and depleted aquifers. Water is never truly taken for granted here. So when Jesus speaks of water "gushing up to eternal life," we lean in. The woman at the well leaned in too.

But notice what Jesus actually gives her: not just a promise about water, but the gift of being fully seen. He knew her story — all of it — and he stayed in the conversation anyway. That is grace. And it undid her. 

She left her water jar behind and ran back to her city, becoming the first evangelist in John's Gospel. The one who was marginalized became the messenger.

As a Matthew 25 Presbytery, we are called to that same posture — to see people as Jesus saw this woman. Not through the filters of suspicion or social category, but with the clear eyes of someone who knows that every human being carries the image of God, however obscured by hardship or history.

The fields, Jesus tells his disciples, are already ripe. The harvest does not wait for our comfort or convenience. May we be a people who drop our water jars and run toward the work God has already set before us.

Let us bear witness to the Good News. When people come from far and near, to share their lives, skills, and labors, may they receive welcome and respite at Mission Presbytery and beyond. 

We at Mission Presbytery are followers of Jesus. And Jesus has shown us the way, the truth and the life, for that is who he is. Loving, caring, and having compassion for others align with his values. These are the values the world is thirsty for. We have jars of living waters gushing out of us. We have a well that never runs dry. May we share this living water joyfully, abundantly, and liberally.

Grace and peace,

Rev. Bobby Musengwa

Transitional General Presbyter