LIVING WATER

When Christ encountered the woman of Samaria at Jacob's well He told her that He can give her water far superior to the one she was constantly drawing to assuage the thirst of her household. (John 4:5-15).  The water he said he could give her was living water 'springing up into everlasting life' (John 4:14) as opposed to water that satisfies the body which is destined to die, thus making the well water 'dead water' with a used by date.

In performing its main object of springing up into everlasting life, the living water also heals here and now.  It heals the broken hearted, spiritual wounds caused by sin, emotional and physical suffering and defects of the mind.  Just before the Saviour returns, the scriptures inform us, "a new spring will appear at the temple in Jerusalem and its waters will flow eastward to the Dead Sea which will be healed of its dead and stagnant condition. The Dead Sea, or any other body of water which is stagnant, is so because of two reasons.  First, it has little or no inflow; and second, it has little or no outflow.  In its stagnant condition it becomes lifeless water.  Since it is not renewed with fresh water, it cannot in turn pass living water onto other streams and bodies of water, nor can it support life within itself". (Larry Keeler, Living Water or Dead Sea) The spring which will appear at the temple in Jerusalem is symbolic of Christ's power to heal anything that is dead, either spiritually or physically.

When I reflect on the incident at Jacob's well, I feel it is important to understand why the person Christ chose to tell of the living water was this particular woman. His solemn invitation to her, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink", was a plain and open claim of Messiahship. In making this claim he identified himself as the very Jehovah who had promised drink to the thirsty through an outpouring of the Spirit (McConkie, DNTC, 1:445-46). This is a pretty serious declaration to make since it either meant that he was a blasphemer worthy of death or he was in fact the God of Israel. What is more astonishing is the fact that He made this declaration to a Samaritan woman rather than a person of authority. Surely the latter would have carried much more weight and bring His claim to more prominence. However, as the Saviour proved with subsequent declarations, those in authority were not meek of heart who were willing to accept His claim. In my mind Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman was not by chance. When all of Jewry chose to travel an indirect and longer route from Judea to Galilee rather than go through Samaria, Jesus chose to travel the direct route and sat himself down at Jacob's well at noon having sent his disciples to procure provisions. There are two facts worthy of notice here:

1. Samaritans were an impure race, remnants of the 10 tribes who had intermarried with Assyrians and other foreigners and even though they boasted that Jacob was their father, the Jews denied this vehemently and considered them 'more unclean than a Gentile of any other nationality' (Talmage, Jesus the Christ, p. 172). Because of this disdain Samaritans rejected the prophetic writings now known as the Old Testament. The ill-feeling between Jews and Samaritans had been growing for centuries, and at the time of the Saviour's ministry, the feeling between the two parties had grown to intense hatred. It goes without saying that a Jew would not be caught dead speaking to a Samaritan.
2. The Saviour knew well the woman who came to draw water from the well. He knew that she had had five husbands and was now living with a man who was not her husband. This was a fallen woman who chose to come to the well in the heat of the day rather than the cool of the morning when it was the custom for women to gather and enjoy social interaction. The timing of her visit to the well emphasized her despised and outcast position. In general Jewish men didn't speak to Jewish women much in public, especially not to ones of ill repute. For a Jewish man to speak to a Samaritan woman in public would have been unheard of. And here is Christ, the Messiah, speaking to a fallen, Samaritan, woman.  It is obvious that he was not politically correct on three counts.

Through Jesus's encounter with her, the Samaritan woman became the symbol of the downtrodden and the lowliest of us who can qualify for eternal life. The Saviour came to heal the sick and bind the broken hearted. He did not minister to those who were well and rejected Him in the pride of their hearts. This is why He mixed with the publicans and the sinners. How else could he have demonstrated that His living water could heal us and give us eternal life? When I think of the Samaritan woman and consider His important message, I also see through my 21st century view the Saviour sending a message to the women of our day, a message of healing and hope. A great number of women today feel fragmented and damaged  having been divorced, widowed, abandoned or simply ignored by the opposite sex. Among the damaged are women who have been embroiled in sin, abused and enslaved in oppression. Perhaps they are all depicted in this Samaritan woman. No doubt having had five husbands came at a price. We who live in this modern world where so much suffering abounds feel the oppression of sin, affliction, hardship and temptation. Some of us are barely keeping our heads above the water and some of us are scraping up sludge of dry wells.

In all our suffering and stumbling in the dark we tend to turn to the ways of the world to fill us. Sometimes we get so blinded by the glare of this world that we dive headlong into Jacob's well eager to assuage our thirst with that which does not satisfy, benefit or fulfill us. We seek for the corruptible things of this earth that have no lasting power to fill our cracks, heal our sorrows and make up for our lack. We think that this dismal telestial world has treasures to offer us that will somehow make us whole. The truth is that the lustre of this world can only be seen during the day. When the night falls, the emptiness is still there, the pain exposed, the suffering unbearable.

Drawing water from a well used to be a thankless and miserable daily burden designated to women. Water is heavy, hard to pull out of a well and carry home, much like the cares of this world. The water the Samaritan woman drew out of the well was dead heavy water of this earth representing the burdens of this world. If you would but drink from the fountain of living water you would not thirst anymore for you would be filled with that which matters most, that which is lasting, that which will speak peace to the deepest recesses of your soul. Then the suffering will be bearable and even conquerable. Then the lack will not matter and the cracks will diminish and fade. Then you can look forward to the living water within you springing up into everlasting life. Then you can be filled with hope and happiness believing Him who has said, "....eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him" (1 Corinthians 2:9). He can give all this to you. Be filled and thirst no more.

"Let the mountains shout for joy, and all ye valleys cry aloud; and all ye seas and dry lands tell the wonder of your Eternal King! And ye rivers, and brooks, and rills, flow down with gladness. Let the woods and all the trees of the field praise the Lord; and ye solid rocks weep for joy! And let the sun, moon, and the morning stars sing together, and let all the sons of God shout for joy! And let the eternal creations declare his name forever and ever!" (D&C 128:23)

JOSEPH, THE PURE IN HEART

"My life is but a weaving, between my God and me,
I do not choose the colours,  He worketh steadily.
Oftimes He worketh sorrow and I, in foolish pride,
Forget He sees the upper, and I the underside.
Not till the loom is silent, and the shuttles cease to fly, 
Will God unroll the canvas, and explain the reasons why
The dark threads were as needful in the skillful weaver's hand, 
As threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned."
- Anonymous

"The scriptures give us the opportunity to watch some great people come out of broken homes.  Abraham was one whose life was threatened by family members.  Joseph was another.  We are told of his brothers that 'they conspired against him to slay him' (Genesis 37:18).  And yet few men rose higher in life than these two.  It may be hard for people who suffer from imperfect families to convince the Father on judgement day that their lack of devotion and obedience ought to be excused because of what happened in their homes."
(Ted L. Gibbons, OT Lesson #11, "How Can I Do This Great Wickedness?")

We see in Joseph of Egypt a perfect study in commitment, dedication, determination, persistence, endurance and faithfulness to God under any circumstance. Joseph is a perfect example of someone 'willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him' (Mosiah 3:19), willing to endure valiantly through trials with faith unshaken, not knowing the reason why.  Father Lehi lamented over his son Lemuel by saying: "O that thou mightest be like unto this valley, firm and steadfast, and immovable in keeping the commandments of the Lord" (1 Nephi 2:10).  This is exactly what Joseph was like: firm, steadfast and immovable like a valley.  Jesus claimed if we had faith 'as a grain of mustard seed' we could move mountains (Matt 17:20). The brother of Jared did just that (Ether 12:30) and proved that even something as formidable as a mountain can be moved but the valley, however, is firm, steadfast and immovable.  This was Joseph of Egypt. Because he was steadfast and trusted God in all things, God made of him a mighty man, a prototype of the Saviour himself.

At the tender age of 17 Joseph was torn away from his family by the brothers who were supposed to love him and protect him and spent 13 years as a slave or a prisoner. You could say he had every reason to believe that the Lord had dealt with him unjustly despite his devotion to the God of his fathers.  Joseph, however, knew he had an important destiny which was revealed to him through his dreams, and he chose to continue to believe in God by recognising opportunities that could turn his tragedies into blessings.  He trusted the Lord at every turn throughout all his tribulations.  The scriptures are replete with the Lord's promises that He will prosper those who keep His commandments (1 Nephi 2:20, 1 Nephi  4:14, 2 Nephi 1:9, 2 Nephi 1:20, 2 Nephi 4:4, Jarom 1:9, Omni 1:6, Mosiah 1:7 etc)  As Joseph sat in prison, stripped of his position and livelihood and unjustly accused because he chose to resist evil,  he could have been excused for believing that this promise did not apply to him.  Joseph, however, proved that God keeps his promises under any circumstance.  Where ever Joseph was, he endeared people to him because 'the Lord was with him'.  We read in Genesis chapter 39:

"And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man, and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.  And his master saw the the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand.  And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him; and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand.  And it came to pass from the time he had made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; and the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the house, and in the field.  And he left all that he had in Joseph's hand; and he knew not ought he had, save the bread which he did eat.  And Joseph was a goodly person and well favored." (Genesis 39:22-6)

Imagine having earned such respect and trust of someone that they put all their financial affairs in your hands, to the point that they don't even know how much money they have but trust that you would provide their next meal.  This is the kind of man that Joseph was.  This kind of trustworthy and good character can only come through obedience to God and his commandments.  Consider this:

"This blessing comes only by obedience, and in this case it came to a young man who had every excuse to be disobedient.  His faith in God had not seemed to help him avoid troubles.  His obedience to the commandments had not prevented tragedy.  He cannot ask the bishop for an interview nor seek a blessing from his father.  No thoughtful members of his priests' quorum will be by to offer support in his troubles. He is alone and utterly on his own.  He has no reason to keep the commandments unless he wants to. If he does not, other than God, who will ever know?"  (Ted L. Gibbons, OT Lesson #11)

Joseph's ultimate test of faith came in the form of a woman.  This test of faith became the crowning glory of proof that he would never stray from his faith and commitment to live God's laws.  Joseph referred to Potiphar's wife's invitation as 'great wickedness' (Genesis 39:9).  The following insight into Joseph's character helps us have appreciation of Joseph's tenacity and his ability to overcome what could have been an overwhelming sense of hopelessness as his life took a turn for the worse:

"Young man, a thousand miles away from home, can you keep the standards of your mother and father?  One man changed the history of the world by taking into a foreign country these standards: He was good looking, he had personality; he was young.  Because of his physique and general carriage, he carried prestige.  She was a woman of importance - yes, I presume she was attractive. She tempted him once - she tempted him twice - yes, and many more times.  Each time he remembered the teachings of his folk at home.  He looked sin in the face and stood like a rock.  Yes, as the saying goes, he took it on the chin.  For just a moment what a price he paid to keep straight - and don't forget he was praying all the time. When she found herself unvictorious, she caught his garment as he fled.  The sample of the clothing was shown to her husband and if we can use our imagination, a remark from her treacherous lips went to her husband about as follows: "Well, here's the evidence. You thought he was lily-white, didn't you?"  Into a dark dungeon he went for two years.  And he was still praying.  And when he was sold into Egypt by his brothers for a few pieces of silver, he was praying.  Does the Lord really answer prayers? But let's shift to the last act of our play. The curtain goes up with an entirely different scene. "And they came from all nations to buy corn". Who was head of this great commissary department? Who was it that was next to the king of the land? Joseph, who was sold into Egypt, the boy who could say "no" - the lad who took the standards of his parents into a foreign land!  It was that boy who stood at the crossroads all alone". (Bisop Marvin O. Ashton, Improvement Era, Vol. XIviii, December, 1945, No. 12)

Joseph never failed to recognise that something good always comes out of something bad.  He believed that even his unjust imprisonment was a blessing.  The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs quotes Joseph as saying "I gave thanks to the Lord and sang praise in the house of darkness, and how I rejoiced with cheerful voice, glorifying my God, because through her trumped-up charge I was set free from this Egyptian woman".
(James H. Charlesworth, The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, Apocalyptic Literature and Testaments)

It is staggering to think of what lay on the line when Joseph was tempted by his master's wife.  Had Joseph succumbed,  his destiny, the destiny of his family and the destiny of his descendants would have all been in peril. Had he chosen the life of sin, he would never have become the man that he became.  Joseph became the temporal saviour of his father's house by saving them from famine.  According to the dream he had where his brother's sheaves of grain bowed to his, Joseph was elevated to his position, not to be worshipped by his brothers, like they had supposed, but to serve them.  Their bowing 'was an act of receiving their brother's help, not meant to establish some kind of family pecking order'. (Phillip Allred, OT Lesson 11, Meridian Magazine)

Just as Joseph saved his family temporally, his progeny is to become spiritual saviours to their brethren of Israel and the rest of the Father's children.  The JST records the responsibility of Joseph's seed in our day:

"Wherefore thy brethren (the other tribes of Israel) shall bow down unto thee, from generation to generation, unto the fruit of thy loins (Ephraim and Manasseh) for ever; For thou shalt be a light unto my people, to deliver them in the days of their captivity, from bondage; and to bring salvation unto them, when they are altogether bowed down under sin". (JST Gen. 48:10-11)

"During this last dispensation, Joseph's descendants are charged with providing the covenants, ordinances, and saving truths of the gospel for the rest of the family.  With this in mind, it is exciting to see our modern temples as veritable spiritual granaries or storehouses where souls are literally delivered and saved while all around a famine seeks to lay waste precious mortal opportunities". (Phillip Allred, OT Lesson 11, Meridian Magazine)

"It is Ephraim who is building temples and performing the ordinances in them for both the living and for the dead. When the 'lost tribes' come, and it will be a most wonderful sight and a marvelous thing when they do come to Zion, in fulfillment of the promises made through Isaiah and Jeremiah, they will have to receive the crowning blessings from their brother Ephraim, the 'firstborn' in Israel".  (Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 3:252)

What a glorious destiny Joseph stood to lose!  When his father Jacob gave Reuben, his first born, his final blessing he began the blessing with some powerful words, "Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power....".(Gen. 49:3)  What amazing words those are.  Reuben was the birthright son who stood to receive the priesthood blessings of the fathers and through whom the patriarchal line should have continued but Reuben did not abstain from temptation like Joseph did.  Reuben committed a terrible sin by committing adultery with one of his father's wives, Bilhah.  Because of this he lost everything.  What should have been an amazing blessing ended with:
"Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thou it..." (Gen. 49:3)

Because he was 'unstable as water' Reuben's birthright was inherited by Joseph who received a double portion for his sons.  If you poured water into different shape glasses, the water would take the shape of the glass that it is in.  If however, you tried to put a brick into three different containers, the brick would not change its' shape.  The containers would have to change their shape instead.  While water is changeable, variable, mutable, unsteady, uncertain, transitory and unstable; a brick is entirely opposite. While Reuben was 'weak as water',  Joseph was as strong as a brick and because of it, he in the end had it all.

THIRST NO MORE

When Christ encountered the woman of Samaria at Jacob's well He told her that He can give her water far superior to the one she was constantly drawing to assuage the thirst of her household. (John 4:5-15).  The water he said was living water 'springing up into everlasting life' (John 4:14) as opposed to water that satisfies the body only which is destined to die thus making the well water 'dead water' with a used by date.

When I reflect on this incident of Christ's mortal ministry I feel it is significant that the person Christ told about the living water was a woman.  In performing its main object of springing up into everlasting life, the living water also heals.  It heals the broken hearted, spiritual wounds caused by sin, emotional suffering and defects of the mind.  Just before the Saviour returns, the scriptures inform us, "a new spring will appear at the temple in Jerusalem and its waters will flow eastward to the Dead Sea which will be healed of its dead and stagnant condition. The Dead Sea, or any other body of water which is stagnant, is so because of two reasons.  First, it has little or no inflow; and second, it has little or no outflow.  In its stagnant condition it becomes lifeless water.  Since it is not renewed with fresh water, it cannot in turn pass living water onto other streams and bodies of water, nor can it support life within itself". (Larry Keeler, Living Water or Dead Sea) The spring which will appear at the temple in Jerusalem is of course symbolic of Christ's power to heal anything that is dead, either spiritually or physically.

When I think of the Samaritan woman, I see through my 21st century view the Saviour sending a message to the women of my day and age, a message of healing and hope. A great number of women today feel fragmented and damaged  having been divorced, widowed, abandoned or simply ignored by the opposite sex.  Many women in the Church find it difficult to handle these feelings and leave the Church disillusioned and in search of a man that would make them feel whole somehow.  In the process of that search they become lost and end up believing the Church cannot meet their needs.  I also believed for many years that only those who have the Mormon ideal can truly be happy in the Church.  The rest of us just had to endure. I want to tell you that this is not so.

After my divorce I was left with several cracks that needed to be healed and a burning desire to be validated by a man.  When your marriage breaks down it affects your self-esteem to a huge extent.  It made me feel much less of a woman than I thought I was when I married.  I desperately wanted to belong to someone, have a man love me, make me feel worth while.  There was one thing standing in my way though, the deeply seated fear of being hurt again.  So I piled on a lot of weight to make myself sexually irrelevant and I hid behind my children making them the focal point of my life.  I rejected any notion of a social life for many years at the same time pining and suffering from lack of love.  But I did something incredibly positive for myself which I didn't realise would do so much for me.  I invested myself heavily into scriptures and studying the Gospel. Studying the word of God and feasting on the words of Christ not only gave me knowledge and brought the spirit into my life but it made the Saviour real to me.

The scriptures speak of Him, testify of Him and reveal Him so that we can know Him.  What does knowing him do for us?  It satisfies our thirst for spiritual sustenance, it heals all our spiritual and emotional wounds and it endows us with a desire to be like Him.  Becoming like Him being the most crucial part because it is this that grants us eternal life with God.

The more I studied over the years, the better I felt until one day I was discussing this need women have to be validated by men with someone close to me and I realised I was free of it.  As I reflected on it, the Saviour kept coming into my mind.  At that moment I knew why I was free of this validation need.  The Saviour had become very real to me over the years to the point where I have been feeling his presence and which spontaneously healed my need I had to have a man in my life.

It has been said that a marriage should be a union of two wholes and not two halves.  I believe that to be true.  It is a very tall order to expect another person to fill your cracks. We are all human and as such are liable to fall short of others' expectations.  Our sense of self worth should have its roots in our spiritual nature and our self-esteem should be based on our self-respect as we make right and positive choices in our lives. When you marry it should not be out of need but out of love which propels you to share yourself with another human being. A husband should be an icing on the cake, a bonus, rather than  fruit of one's desperation.  It is this desperation that drives many women to pursue an illusive dream, that of finding a perfect mate.  In the process of that pursuit they fall prey to many heartaches that leave them unhappy, lonely and empty.  This includes young women who have had to suffer the absence of fathers in their lives.  They believe there is a man out there that can provide a connection to the masculine presence they had missed out on in their childhood and youth and that this man can fix what years of abandonment and lack have wrought.

"...Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.
"Wherefore, now after I have spoken these words, if ye cannot understand them it will be because ye ask not, neither do ye knock; wherefore, ye are not brought into the light, but must perish in the dark."
(2 Nephi 32:3,4)

There is only one source of healing, which no mortal man can give to any woman.  If you are not receiving it, then you are not asking and you are not knocking and you are suffering in darkness.  It does not have to be so.  You do not need to go hungry or thirsty.  You can be filled with what matters most, that which is lasting, that which will speak peace to the deepest recesses of your soul.  You can have happiness and love and a belief that you are worth while.  He can give all this to you if you make Him real in your life.  Be filled and thirst no more.