Wellspring

 

Meditating on living water.

This little ornamental well in a yard as I walk home from church today is one of those winks of God that are a wonder to me. Let me back up and explain. (And along the way, use some archived photos to illustrate.)

I’ve been studying John 4 this week. Though I feel like I know this passage well, I’ve been finding surprising elements that have challenged me to think about my life in Jesus in new ways. One of them has to do with the contrast of a well and a spring.

John kick-starts the comparison in his setting the stage. Jesus, in his journey through Samaria, has stopped by the “well of Jacob.” Surprisingly, John doesn’t use the word for “well” but instead calls it the “spring of Jacob.” He foreshadows the coming shift Jesus will make in his conversation with the spiritually thirsty woman he will meet there.

In that ensuing dialogue about sources of water, it’s clear that the woman has a well in mind. Why wouldn’t she? After all, that’s the reason she’s there: to draw water. When Jesus offers her living water, she’s understandably confused. Where’s his bucket? Where’s his rope? She mentions the depth of the well. The water is remote. It requires effort and the right apparatus.

Jesus then makes it plain that he speaks of a different mode of water.

“…whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:13

Living water is moving water. It doesn’t lie still and wait to be drawn. A spring bubbles. But in Jesus’s analogy, it does far more than bubble. He chooses the word jump. It’s the same Greek word used in Acts 3:8 and 14:10 where lame men, when healed, leap up. So perhaps we should translate it gushes.

I’ve always thought “welling up” as a slow rise of water, like in a tub. Instead, now I’m picturing a fountain!

This is a dynamic shift in my thinking of the Spirit within me. I, too often have the Samaritan woman’s model: the Spirit is a resource that I draw from when I’m thirsty. I contain the water. I manage its level. At least, in contrast to her, I don’t feel the need for a bucket – I know he’s not remote. It’s more like I lower my cup to scoop out what I need.

But Jesus says the Spirit inside of a believer is not a resource to manage. He is a living Being who joyfully, powerfully presents himself. He is a fountain of life, a gushing stream. He is not satisfied with my occasional dipping. He wants to energetically fill my whole life with life of the Kingdom.

So, today, passing this lawn ornament, God playfully reminds me: get rid of that inner well.

The fountain waits to be released.

Spirit, forgive us for how we try to control you. Jesus told Nicodemus you are like the wind that blows where it will. He tells the Samaritan woman you are like the water that flows where it will. We joyfully invite you to be a fountain of eternal life inside us.

Reader: Is the Spirit a well or a fountain in your life?