2025/5/18 John 4:5-12 Osaka Church
Christ is risen!
A woman who has some “secret” came to the well in the scorching heat of midday. She met Jesus there. That encounter changed her. What happened?
She was shocked that this man, who she didn’t know, had seen through her secret. But her shock went beyond that. This man “doesn’t judge me!”
She had been involved with five men. She still was having an illicit relationship with a man. People despised her, turned their eyes away, peered at her from the shadows and exchanged glances. No one spoke to her. She had been living a small, hidden life away from the public eye for years.
Someone spoke to her. But he didn’t just talk to her, he asked her for a drink of water. And to the confused woman, he offered, “Then I will give you the water that leads to eternal life.” What’s more, this man had seen through her sinful past and present from the beginning. But even so, he asked her for water and offered to give her “water that you can drink and never thirst.” Up until now, people had spoken to her in a friendly manner, but when they got to know her, they would walk away as if they had come into contact with impurity. But this man, knowing everything, approached her and spoke to her. He did not judge her, but forgave her, accepted her, and gave her something. Yes, life.
The woman no longer hid from the public. She no longer hid the sins she has accumulated up until now from people, but instead told them about the One who forgave, cleansed, and set her free from sin. From then on, her entire life was about meeting Christ Jesus, the “light of the world,” and showing people how she had been resurrected to a new way of life through His love. She herself, shining with the joy of the resurrection, testified to Christ, who is the light. The Church knows her name as “Photina” (Slavic: Svetaraña), which means “Light.”
The words of the Lord completely overturned her life, and ours as well. The Lord says that after drinking plain water, one will become thirsty again, and continues:
“Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst; instead, the water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (4:14).
If we were to neatly dismiss the water that Christ gives as “the grace of the Holy Spirit,” that would be the end of it. Today, let us call it “love,” the greatest gift that the Holy Spirit brings. The woman continued to cling to six men, one after another. Even though she continued to be frustrated by the love of this world, she continued to be entangled in it, asking, “Is there anything else?” The woman, whose thirst grew each time, finally met the one she truly desired. She met Christ, who did not scorn, mock, or judge her, but instead accepted, forgave, raised her up, and called out to her, “Come, I will give you your life, so live,” and she accepted his love. The love she received became a veritable fountain within her, and not only did it continue to quench her own self with the Lord’s love, it overflowed from her and continued to invite others to eternal life.
This has happened to you too. It is happening to you.
Christ is risen!