When We Need Some Living Water


The lectionary reading for today comes to us from the prophet Jeremiah chapter 2:12-13  It's a hard word to hear--a word that calls us to repentance and renewal.  

But there is hope in the midst of this hard word.  Let's listen:  
12 Be appalled, O heavens, at this,
    be shocked, be utterly desolate,
says the Lord,
13 for my people have committed two evils:
    they have forsaken me,
the fountain of living water,
    and dug out cisterns for themselves,
cracked cisterns
    that can hold no water.
Ouch.  No wonder Jeremiah wasn't all that popular to the people in Jerusalem. 

Jeremiah believed his calling was to take to the streets of Jerusalem, where he spoke some hard truths about the state of things within the kingdom of Judah.  

For his pains, he was often persecuted for what he prophesied because it was definitely not what the powers-that-be wanted to hear.   

To that end,  he fearlessly called the leaders of Judah to return to faithfulness to God, to reject unhealthy alliances, and economic practices that left the poor and vulnerable at risk.  

Jeremiah also predicted what would happen if God's people continued to try to live outside of God's desire for justice, equity, and heartfelt, authentic worship. 

It's hard not to see Jesus in this passage---Jesus who declared that he was the embodiment of the Living Water spoken about here and throughout Scripture.  

Jesus further declared that those who drank from this Living Water would never be thirsty again---they would never wonder about the presence of God in their lives, because God was within them.  

During trying times, it's easy to try to rely on our own ingenuity, our own power to solve every problem.  It's also easy to begin thinking only of ourselves, our own bottom line, and forget the poor and the vulnerable among us.  

As we consider today's text, let's bend our thoughts and prayers to God and turn our longing for the resolution of our own needs to prayers for more faith and more courage and above all more hope.

And let us remember those who need us now more than ever---those who may be last in our societies economy, but first and foremost in God's.  

May the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and always. Amen.   

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