Filling Your Bucket

Rebecca Sheridan
Sunday, March 8, 2026
John 4:5-42

    When Rich and I lived in rural Nebraska, one of the first things the locals told us was to fill up our bathtub if we knew a storm was coming.  Why?  Well, we might lose power during a storm (which did happen a few times), and our house was connected to well water, and the pump was powered by electricity.  So if we lost power, we had no heat, no lights, and, no water – at least with a tubful of water, you could flush the toilet and wash your hands.
    We know that we need water to live.  Where there is water, there is life.  For most of us, we don’t think much about how much water we use or where it comes from.  We wash our dishes, clothes, and bodies by turning on a tap without thinking about it.  But as that experience living in Nebraska taught us; when you don’t have easily accessible water even for a few hours, you start worrying about it pretty quickly – it can become more than an inconvenience, and a matter of life and death.
In many parts of the world, like for this Samaritan woman in our gospel for this morning, water is still a precious commodity that must be used wisely.  In many cultures still today, it is the woman’s job to go to the local well to bring back water for the household each day.  It would not be surprising for Jesus to meet a woman at a well, because that’s where women were as a part of their daily chores.  However, it seems that Jesus had this particular woman in mind to meet at the well that day.  As we listen to the story, we see how Jesus comes with his own basic needs – he is thirsty.  He is tired out by his journey.  It is lunchtime.  He would like a drink.
The woman notices Jesus’ needs, too – “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep.”  This woman might not know much about some things, like who Jesus is and why he is speaking with her, but she knows about wells, buckets, and how to provide water for herself and others.  In giving Jesus a drink, she discovers Jesus knows about her own deep needs, beyond the basic physical requirements of food and drink.  Jesus knows everything she’s ever done.  The woman knows the well is deep; Jesus knows this woman’s story is deep, her spiritual needs are deep, and he doesn’t need a bucket to give her this gift of living water.   “Sir, give me this water!” She pleads to Jesus.  Jesus gives her what she needs.
    As we talk to Jesus in our own prayer time, Jesus wants us to go deep with him.  We have our basic needs, too – food, water, shelter, health of our family and friends.  We bring these anxieties to God.  And then, Jesus invites us to go deeper.  Do we feel like our spiritual well is deep, and we don’t have a bucket?  We might think about our worst days when life feels incredibly overwhelming.  How we will get everything done?  How will we adequately take care of ourselves and our families?  How will I get through this particularly difficult situation?  We might simply give to God our current geopolitical situation, with increased violence, people we know who may be in harm’s way, concern about this war’s impact on our economy.  The fear and anxiety is deep – our spiritual needs are deep.  We have no bucket.  But we do have Jesus’ words of hope.  Jesus promises that he is living water, and that we never need to be thirsty.  Jesus can slake our spiritual thirst with water gushing up to eternal life.  Jesus can meet our needs – basic, and more complex, like no one else can.
    As I mentioned at the beginning of worship, the longest conversation Jesus has with anyone is with this Samaritan woman at the well.  She has also been called the first evangelist, because she doesn’t keep this deep conversation with Jesus private.  From her private conversation with Jesus, she goes public.  “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done!  He cannot be the Messiah, can he?”  She shares with the people she meets in the city of Sychar.  John tells us that many Samaritans from that city believe in Jesus because of this woman’s testimony.  Her conversation with Jesus reminds us that prayer can be a source of strength for us, and then from that strength and source of living water, we can gush about Jesus to others, just as this woman does.
    Christians have used making water accessible to all as both a service and evangelism tool for centuries.  In her book Grounded, Diana Butler Bass writes about how the Church of England partnered with other Christians to install public water fountains throughout the country so that all could have free access to good drinking water as a right for all.  In the 19th century, doctors were encouraging mothers to give their children beer or whisky to drink because many sources of water were becoming polluted by industrial waste.  Christians believed this was not right and wanted to do something about it.  These fountains were inscribed with Revelation 22:17, “Take the water of life freely.” 
    To this day, our church’s Global Mission partners work with communities to establish accessible drinking water so fewer women have to walk miles a day for clean water and can go to school.  Churches in the global south continue to grow because of the connection between physical water and spiritual water, just as Jesus talks about in our gospel for today.  This is a powerful conversation we can learn a lot from.  We come to Jesus in prayer with no bucket, fully admitting our need for his living water.  Filled by this good news, we then can go out to serve and love our neighbors, sharing what we have received with a world in need. Thanks be to God!  Amen.