Irene Lund (Weston Creek Uniting Church)
(20 September 2020)
Australians are familiar with drought and the life-giving properties of water just as people in Old and New Testament time were. Today’s passage from Jeremiah tells of the shame, the dismay and the consequences of prolonged drought. In contrast, the passage from Isaiah tells of God promising to pour out life giving water on a thirsty land and God’s spirit and blessings being poured out on the descendants of the people of Israel.
There are many references to water in the Bible and to mention just a few, we think of Psalm 23 – he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. Other parts of Isaiah (58.11) ‘The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail.’
In the New Testament we find John 4.10: Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink”, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.’ And, Revelation 22.17 – The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’ And let everyone who hears say, ‘Come.’ And, ‘let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.’