If you go out into a desert, you'll see why it's one of the most deadly, uninhabitable places on the planet. It's dry. And where there's no water, there's no life. This is the picture that we get on page 2 of Genesis. The story begins with the dry and desolate wilderness. But, God provides a spring in the desert that becomes a source of life for plants and animals. And that's where God brings together a man and a woman so that humanity can flourish and spread the life of the garden. Exactly! And that garden spring becomes a river that flows out to water the entire world. And there can be enough for everyone. It's all a gift from God. And this is great! Humans in a lush garden. But as it turns out, they find a way to ruin it. Right! Despite all of this water that God has provided, it's like they still have a drought deep inside of them. This is an image of the human condition, how we are always thirsty for more. But, more of what? Well, in this story the humans want more wisdom to create more security and more control on their own terms. Tragically, it only leaves them more thirsty and suspicious of each other. So, they end up back in the wilderness. The humans have lost access to the water of life. And because of that, they can't spread God's life into the world. So God needs to rescue them from the wilderness. Yeah, like in the story of Jacob. His selfish scheming ruined his family relationships. So, he has to run from his problems out into the wilderness. But there he finds a well, and he meets a woman. This is like Eden, a man and a woman together by a source of water. Right! And then through Jacob, God creates the family of Israel. He invites them to share in his own life so that they can be his partners and spreading that life to others. And... sometimes they do this. But, ultimately they struggle with the same drought of the soul, thirsting for more power and more control. It leads them down a path of violence and self-ruin. And so they find themselves in a new wilderness, captive to other nations. All this effort to quench their own thirst on our own terms is killing us. Yeah! The biblical prophet Ezekiel described Israel in exile as a pile of dry bones, scattered in the desert valley. But, he said, one day God will pour out his own life presence, His spirit, to water the land, to create a new Eden and new kinds of humans. People who can spread God's life to others. Exactly! And so, this brings us to the story of Jesus. Right! And, there is a story about Jesus. He goes to a well that Jacob used to own. And, just like in Jacob's story, Jesus meets a woman. He tells this woman that no matter how much water she drinks from this well, she will always thirst for more. Then He offers water that could quench her thirst forever. He's not talking about the well water. No, what He's talking about is God's own life that comes through Him to us to satisfy our deepest thirsts. This is why later on, Jesus says, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink." This is cool. ... but it is also a strange image. Drinking from a person? Totally! And, it is connected to another strange image we find in the story of Jesus' death on the cross. A Roman soldier thrusts a spear in Jesus' side and there's blood. But also, all this water flows out. Yes, it is an image showing how Jesus' death is the fountain of life. From Him, God's own love that would die for His enemies flows down and out into the world. After Jesus was raised from the dead, we are told that He sends the Spirit into His followers. Yes, to fill them up with the God's own life. This is why the Apostle Paul said that when we join the current of God's Spirit, the fruit of Eden starts growing in us. Love and joy, patience and kindness, gentleness and self-control. People like that can create beautiful things in the world that bring life to others. Yes, like little streams of God's life that can come together and point forward to the beautiful scene that we find on the last page of the Bible. There is a new river of life. Yes, it is flowing out from God and into a renewed creation, bringing life to all wherever it goes.
