Rivers of Living Water

Often, when I read about Jesus' invitation to come and drink from the river of 'free living water', I am not moved nor alarmed by what the Lord said. Not until after watching a documentary on the lifestyle of Ephesians in the first century that I realised that having drinking and clean water for all sorts of activities of daily life was really an important element that the people living in the first century could associate deeply with. 

Powerful Roman rulers and wealthy individuals with huge political ambitions would build aqueducts that cost perhaps millions today. These are huge and expensive structures that become instruments to win the allegiance and the hearts and minds of the people of the ancient Roman world. So when Jesus offered this 'free' living water for drinking and eternal life, many of his audience would have appreciated and dreamt of the kind of liberty and freedom in having an important element in their lives without being coerced into swearing their allegiance towards an individual or a ruler which they would despised because they would be subjugated to act according to their will and purposes. Having an offer from Jesus to obtain such free water for living was indeed an attractive one when what was demanded of them was their allegiance in faith and of their lives. And this allegiance, later they could see, was producing good works in their lives and changing them as a community towards higher moral grounds and a greater good. So, this allegince really made sense to them compared to that of dread and fear from a Roman emperor.