We all know water is the elixir of life. Down deep, we know life without water is impossible. Yet, in our part of the world, we turn on the tap and water runs seemingly forever. If we don’t like the taste of the water from our tap, we buy bottled water at the store. Water just seems so plentiful; we don’t give a lot of thought to it.
We’ve been thirsty. Maybe not “I’m so thirsty that I’m going to die” thirsty. But we’ve had that thirst build up in us. Sometimes our thirst is for something we have allowed to slip away. Sometimes it’s for something we need to make life better for ourselves or our family. Sometimes it’s from regret. We all know someone thirsting right now.
Jesus says whoever offers a cup of cold water to someone who is his disciple will surely not lose his reward. I liken this to the order Jesus gives to his disciples, and to all of us who call ourselves Christians, to feed his sheep.
It matters little whether it be someone on the street, a starving child in Haiti or even someone suffering from a fatal disease. We are not called to examine the circumstances, only to act.
“Whoever welcomes you welcomes me. And whoever welcomes me, welcomes the one who sent me.” In other words, we are not to sit and judge who it is that we are to offer our friendship, our support, our cups of cold water. No, we are to receive and love and support just as Christ did.
Will it be easy? No, the road is wrought with our own perils and dangers. Who can blame us, we wonder, if we choose not to get involved with the homeless man wandering the streets? Who can blame us if we turn the channel when images of starving children are on the screen? Who can blame us if we avoid the perils of those with terminal diseases? Who can blame us if we turn away from the refugees from a war-torn land thousands of miles away?
We have our own problems and worries. Yet as Geena Davis said in the movie Angie, “Everybody has something broken, and it’s up to the less broken to take care of the more broken.”
Whatever our lot, we are called to help those who are more broken than we. We are called to help satisfy the thirst wherever and whenever we can.
There are among us widows living with loneliness. Adjusting to life as a single person. Determined to make the best of a broken situation.
There are among us young mothers and fathers trying to raise children. Wondering if they are good enough or wise enough. Wondering if they can lead them in the right direction. Wondering if they can protect them from the evils that lurk outside their homes.
There are among us those who live with regret, with “If only I could have done it this way” or “I wish that it could be different.”
And among us are people struggling to make a fresh start. People living through the brokenness of past decisions and mistakes, wanting to change their life but unsure of how.
There is good news today: No matter who we are, or where we are or how broken we are, Christ continues to call our name. When you seem the most forlorn, the most lost, the thirstiest, Jesus is there. And even more importantly, Christ continues to offer you a cup of cold water.
The Rev. David Wise is pastor of Otterbein United Methodist Church in Greenfield. This weekly column is written by local clergy members. Send comments to [email protected].
