Saturday 27 June 2026

Psalm 62:6-12

Background
This passage begins the next phase of Jesus’ ministry as he travels north through Samaria back to his home area in Galilee. The events are echoed by the story of Helen Keller, left deaf and blind by a childhood illness. Her teacher, Anne Sullivan, tried to help her grasp language by using her fingers to spell words into her hand while giving her the object named. The breakthrough came when Anne spelt the word ‘water’ while running water over Helen’s other hand. Later, Helen would write "The living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, set it free."

The unnamed Samaritan woman is surprised that Jesus is willing to speak to her, and later Jesus’ disciples are astonished. Respected rabbis did not talk alone with Samaritans, or women of any faith. Jesus simply ignores these societal barriers to share the truth. As so often, he uses everyday resources to communicate the essence of God’s love. The water in Jacob’s well is deep and still, pulled up with a heavy bucket. Drawing and carrying water was, and still is, the responsibility of many impoverished women. No wonder the Samaritan woman hears with joy of God’s living water: a free-flowing, gushing spring, quenching thirst and giving life.

The breakthrough comes when the Samaritan woman realises that the living water comes not from a physical source but from a relationship with Jesus empowered by the Holy Spirit and expressed through worship in spirit and in truth. Her prayer "give me this water" (v. 15) is answered first when Jesus mentions her marital history, with all the pointers to grief, isolation and exploitation implied there. Then she is fully answered when she hears Jesus’ proclamation that he is the Messiah – and it is striking that he makes this announcement to her, despite the differences of faith and gender. At this point, she is set free from the problems of exclusion she has been facing and finds light and hope as she rushes back to her village to share the good news of Jesus.

To Ponder:

• What does 'living water' look like, sound like and feel like, when you imagine it? What is its source, and where does it flow to?
• The Samaritan woman overcame her isolation within her village and invited the others to ‘come and see’. What barriers do you need to overcome in order to share the good news of Jesus with greater confidence?
• Jesus offers a model of inclusion, challenging barriers of gender, faith and ethnicity. How can we reflect this inclusiveness in our communities?

Prayer
God of the living waters, flow freely in our hearts, washing away all that is unclean and impure, quenching our thirst, nurturing our life. Help us to share the water of life, where drought brings poverty and wrecks communities, where spiritual drought creates barren lives. Teach us to depend more and more on your free-flowing grace until our lives are drenched in your love, which is ours through Christ. Amen.

Bible notes author: The Revd Dr Caroline Wickens
The Revd Dr Caroline Wickens is the Superintendent of the West Hertfordshire & Borders Methodist Circuit and Deputy Chair of the Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Essex Methodist District.