A farmer was living in a remote village.
Every day, he had to walk several miles to
the market in another village, carrying his
goods on his head. He would start out
early before sunup and come back home
very late after sunset. The strain was
already telling on his health. His feet had
grown big calluses and blisters. After
some time, he developed hernia.
New vehicle
Then his brother had pity on him and
bought him a truck. When the farmer
came back home one day, he found the
truck parked in front of his house. There
was a letter waiting for him with the key
of the truck. However, the farmer was
illiterate and could not read the letter.
Instead of looking for someone to read it
to him, he simply dumped it on the
mantelpiece in his living-room.
A year later, his brother came to see him,
only to discover that he was still walking
to the market every day. “What
happened to the truck I sent you?” he
shouted at him. “What truck?” replied the
farmer; puzzled. “I sent you a truck last
year,” insisted the brother, “so you would
no longer have to walk to the market.” “I
never received anything like that,” replied
the farmer. But when they got back to his
farm, there was the truck parked in front
of his house. It had never been used.
Don’t assume the life Jesus came to give
is the same life billionaire Bill Gates lives.
“I thought you said you did not receive
the truck?” queried his brother. “So what
is this parked in front of your house?” “Is
this a truck?” asked the hapless farmer.
“What did you think it was?” his brother
replied angrily. “Look, if you really wanted
to help me,” said the farmer, “why
couldn’t you have sent me a horse?”
Living water
Jesus met a Samaritan woman by the well
of Jacob. The woman had a bucket with
which she fetched water from the well.
Jesus asked her for a drink and the
woman started to show off. “How can you
ask me for a drink? Don’t you know you
are a Jew and I am a Samaritan? Why
can’t you get your own bucket?”
So Jesus told the woman: “why are you
making such a big deal out of something
as inconsequential as a bucket? All a
bucket enables you to get is ordinary
water. But the person asking you for a
drink has living water. Don’t you know
you cannot compare natural water to
living water? It is the owner of living
water that should be showing off, and not
the owner of natural water.”
“If only you knew the person asking you
for a drink, you would not be so uppity.
Instead, you would seize the opportunity
to ask him for living water and he would
give it to you completely free of charge.
Everyone who drinks natural water will
thirst again; but whoever drinks of the
water that I will give him will never
thirst; but the water that I will give him
will become in him a well of water
springing up to eternal life.” (John
4:4-14).
So what did the Samaritan woman do?
She opted immediately for Jesus’ living
water. “Please give me this water,” she
pleaded, “so that I won’t get thirsty
again, and won’t have to keep coming
here to draw water.” But the question is
this: how many Christians today are like
this Samaritan woman? How many would
like a drink that would ensure we never
thirst again? Indeed, how many Christians
have drunk from Jesus’ fountain of life
and, therefore, no longer thirst for the
“waters” of this world?
New life
Most of us don’t even believe living water
exists. As far as the Samaritan woman
was concerned, if it was water, whether
living or dead, it had to come from Jacob’s
well. That was the water David thirsted
for. That was the water for which the
Hebrew mighty men of valour risked their
lives, just in order to get David a cool
drink. (2 Sam 23:15-16). Therefore, the
woman wondered if Jesus was presuming
to be greater than David. The Samaritan
woman could not conceive of water that
could be more refreshing than the one
from the well of Jacob.
But I wonder how many people would
make a big deal of well water today? How
many people would like to drink from
Jacob’s well today, if it is even still there
in Bethlehem? Today, we can get
different types of pure bottled water.
Besides, we can drink them chilled from a
refrigerator and not from a well. Nobody
would make a big deal of well water today
because greater knowledge and
civilisation has since come. But in over
2000 years, knowledge does not seem to
have grown about living water. Both
Christians and non-Christians are still
yearning and making a fuss about the
water from the stagnant wells of this
world.
Jesus says: “I have come that they might
have life and that they might have it
more abundantly.” (John 10:10). But why
should we assume the life he has come to
give is the same life we have always
aspired to live? If he has come that we
might have life, then he could not have
been talking about the same life men and
women were living before his arrival.
Clearly, the life he is now offering is a life
foreign to this ungodly world.
New wine
In the early 1970’s, I came home to
Lagos from Rome to spend my holiday
with my older brother; Biodun. Biodun
had a car that was nothing short of
remarkable. It was virtually held together
with safety-pins. In order to get it going
in the mornings, it needed to be pushed
and pushed. Little Folusho, Biodun’s
three year-old son, usually joined others
in pushing it. The car would jerk and
cough until finally it would grudgingly
come alive.
A year later, my old man sent Biodun a
brand new car. But something funny
happened after it arrived. In the
mornings, little Folusho would come out
dutifully to push the new car. It took him
a while to recognise that this car did not
need to be pushed. As far as Folusho was
concerned, all cars had to be pushed
before they could start because that was
what he had been used to since birth.
It is the same with natural water and
living water. Don’t assume that living
water is the same as natural water. Don’t
assume the life Jesus came to give is the
same life billionaire Bill Gates lives. Don’t
assume it is a life of possessions. Don’t
assume it is designed to enhance our
status in the world. It is not that kind of
water Samaritan woman. It is not that
kind of life beloved Christian. And since it
is not, are we still interested?
Jesus presents us with an either or
proposition. If he is our shepherd, then
we would no longer yearn for the vanities
of this world. If we are complete in him,
then we would no longer seek fulfilment
in houses, children or bank-accounts. If
we accept his living water, then we would
no longer thirst for well water.