Episode 229: Living Water in a Dry World
The Rev. Dr. Alix Pridgen
In John 4, Jesus does something his own culture says he should not do—he walks straight into Samaria and begins a conversation with a woman at a well. What unfolds becomes the longest theological conversation Jesus has with anyone in the Gospels. Lent 3A 2026
This sermon explores how a simple request for water becomes an encounter that crosses centuries of hostility between Jews and Samaritans. At the well, Jesus speaks of “living water”—a life that refuses to stay confined within the boundaries people draw around themselves. Lent 3A 2026
Through the story of the Samaritan woman, we see how God’s grace flows beyond inherited divisions—religious, cultural, and political. The conversation moves from suspicion to revelation, from thirst to transformation, and from one woman’s curiosity to an entire village discovering hope.
In a world still shaped by fear and lines that divide us, this Gospel reminds us that Christ meets people exactly where those lines run—and invites us into a deeper life where living water begins to flow for the sake of the whole world.