The power of water

If you have ever lived in a drought-affected land, you know the power of water to bring life.

It can be very distressing to look at land that you love which is a dry husk of its former beauty. But after good, drenching rain the landscape begins to revive; the vibrant green returns to the grass and the trees; soon everything is strong and teeming with life!

In the first reading today Ezekiel describes the water flowing from the temple which brings life wherever it goes.

‘Wherever the river flows, all living creatures teeming in it will live. …Along the river, on either bank, will grow every kind of fruit tree with leaves that never wither and fruit that never fails; they will bear new fruit every month, because this water comes from the sanctuary. And their fruit will be good to eat and the leaves medicinal.’

Here, the water is healing and life-giving because of where it flows from – the sanctuary.

However, in the Gospel reading we see Jesus himself as the source of healing and life for the man who was waiting by the temple pool. Jesus said to the Samaritan woman earlier that “The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” (John 4:14)

Jesus’ body is the new temple and he is able to give living water, the Holy Spirit, to all who come to him.

God offers you the life-giving water of the Holy Spirit: ask and you shall receive!