Thought for the week

IMAGINE if Jesus, having come back to Earth on a visit, popped into Costa one day for a coffee. Would he start chatting to the other people in the queue? Almost certainly, I think. Though it would probably cause some critical looks; we don’t always appreciate approaches from strangers.

A Samaritan woman whom Jesus once met at a well was certainly suspicious of him. He was feeling hot and weary after a long day and asked if she would draw some water for him. She was astonished. Why was he, a Jewish man, asking her, a Samaritan woman, for a drink? The two groups rarely mixed. I can picture Jesus’s smile as he answered: “If you knew who I was, perhaps you would have been the one asking me for a drink. And I would have given you living water.” She was fascinated by the idea of this living tourist water, especially when Jesus told her that those who drunk it would never thirst again.

Water has been much in the news recently. Storms have battered the country and many unfortunate folk have experienced terrible flooding. It’s an extraordinary substance. Did you know that most of the water on Earth arrived here on comets and asteroids? We can’t live without it but it can also cause havoc in our lives.

However, the living water offered by Jesus is something else altogether; an eternal fountain leading to everlasting life. The Samaritan women certainly had no doubts. “Sir, give me this water,” she said, “that I may not thirst.” We can have it too; it’s widely available. Perhaps even in Costa if the right person is standing next to you in the queue.

Ewan Smith