Living Waters
Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 2:1-3
Today will be our last look at this passage in Jeremiah. Our focus has been centered on verse 13. There God calls Himself “the fountain of living waters.” The contrast between that metaphor and the “broken cisterns that can hold no water,” helps to clarify the meaning. A fountain is free. A cistern requires work. A fountain provides cool, refreshing water. A cistern holds water that is generally tepid and impure. To make matters worse, the cistern in view here is broken and can’t hold water.
The word “living” in verse 13 can be translated as “running” water. And I think that is a legitimate way to interpret the text. It is also legitimate to view this text in light of the later light put on it by Christ himself. Again, although Jesus isn’t making a direct reference to this text in the sense of giving us an exact quote, using the principle of intertextuality, we can see the connection between Jesus' statements in John 4 and 7 and this passage in Jeremiah.
Because of that, I think it is appropriate to think that more is meant than simply running water. The English translators got it right to use the word “living” instead of “running,” because something greater is implied here. The water that God supplies is life-giving.
I was reading an article on things a person needs to do to be prepared for a catastrophic event. The article’s author said that everyone needs some basic things to survive for a while if a disaster of some sort were to occur. On his list were things like food, flashlights, and bottled water. You need something to eat, light when it is dark, and water to drink to survive. These are the metaphors Jesus gives us about Himself.
Jesus is the bread of life, the light of the world, and the fountain of living water. He is what we need, all that we need for our spiritual life and survival.
