Spring
Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14)
Spring.
A word that can have many interpretations and meanings.
A mechanical spring tightly coiled ready to burst out with energy at any moment or one that is stretched and returns back to the shape it started from.
Maybe it is the time to “spring” forward providing more hours of daylight and more time for outdoor activities such as exercise.
Or maybe for you it brings to life images of daffodils, digging in the dirt, planting your gardens, and cutting the grass.
Or for you it might be pollen and allergies.
Since I have grown to dislike winter so much, I have used the analogy of winter for me to be like Jesus’ time in the wilderness and spring marking the end of my wandering.
Or maybe it makes you think of the reason I am writing this…Lent, the Holy Week, and Easter.
The Merriam Webster dictionary defines spring in many ways as well. As a transitive verb and an intransitive verb, or as a noun.
I don’t know all about that transitive and intransitive stuff so my simple mind will stick to the noun.
The act of moving forward.
A time or season of growth or development.
A device that recovers its original shape when released after being distorted.
A source of supply as it applies to water from the ground or action or motion.
The days and the events leading up to what we now call Good Friday and Easter in Jerusalem may have felt like a coiled spring ready to burst out at any moment.
And for the world there was little chance it would ever return to the shape it was before.
It was the fulfillment of prophecy.
Jesus’ mission on earth was winding down.
He had shown them many signs, yet still for some, their eyes were blinded and their hearts hardened.
But we know the story.
We know how it ends.
We also know that was just the beginning.
The spring of water Jesus describes is not one found in Merriam Webster. Being born again in the spirit, drinking the water that has us never thirsting again.
“A spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
Spring.
Postscript:
On Tuesdays during the period of Lent, I am participating in a daily writing that we are doing at my church, Sterling United Methodist Church. The daily themes are based on one word each day and some associated scripture. Today’s word is spring. If you would like to keep up with the posts from others click on this link in the postscript.