Flowing Fountains and Cracked Cisterns - March 2
Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 61, 62; PM Psalm 68:1-20(21-23)24-36; Jer. 2:1-13; Rom. 1:16-25; John 4:43-54
Today’s Reflection
In the Old Testament passage appointed for today, the LORD says to Jeremiah: “Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for something that does not profit. Be appalled, O heavens, at this, be shocked, be utterly desolate, says the LORD, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water” (Jer. 2: 11-13). So, why does God see people digging out cisterns for themselves as evil? Digging cisterns for themselves is a metaphor for the all-too-human inclination to trust most in what we can do all by ourselves.
Picture what a cistern is versus what a fountain is. A cistern is a structure meant to collect and store water, usually rainwater. Cisterns are for holding onto water to keep it from evaporating away. The water in a cistern is contained rather than circulated. Also, for a cistern to be effective, it must be waterproof. Even just a slight crack lets water seep out. So, a cistern with cracks cannot do what a cistern is made to do, which is to contain water so people can use it to water the plants and animals from which they get their daily bread.
Cisterns are built on the principle of scarcity. People dug out cisterns for themselves motivated by the fear that there would not be enough water. When we make decisions grounded in the fear of not having enough to go around, we are like the people God is pointing out to Jeremiah, the ones who dug out cisterns for themselves instead of accepting God’s fountain of living water.
In contrast, fountains are built to circulate water, to keep it flowing and they’re usually found in public spaces. When I hear the word “fountain,” I think of “The Fountain,” which is Holler Fountain at Stetson University in Florida, where I went to college and where I later returned to teach. This simple fountain—encircled by columns of sabal palms, red brick walkways, and quaint iron benches—is considered the heart of the campus, located in the middle of the quad, with the library and two of the most historic academic buildings facing out onto it. All the sidewalks in the quad start and end at the fountain, making Holler Fountain the crossroads of campus life.
My office in Elizabeth Hall looked out onto all this. People come and go on the brick sidewalks. They sit on the benches around the fountain, students between classes or visitors taking a break on a stroll around campus. Students strap hammocks between the palm trees or sit on blankets to study in the Florida sunshine, all with a view of the fountain. When I came back to teach there, I would walk my children around the fountain in the stroller, and later watched them ride their bicycles and scooters around it. Each time that I’d go into work, I’d walk through this space to get to my building on the other side of the quad. And sometimes I’d wonder: Why do I feel drawn to this spot so much? Much of it had to do with the fountain—the peaceful sights and sounds of the water, the way it would sparkle on a sunny day. The fountain made me feel full of life.
Fountains keep water flowing and circulating, keeping it fresh and easier to access. Fountains, springs, and wells are places where people come together to share the water—and as they do this they interact and form community. In the ancient Near East, where Jeremiah lived and where Jesus lived, fountains, springs, and wells were community gathering places. People came to draw lifegiving water into vessels that they could carry home for drinking, cooking, or cleaning. Think of all the Bible passages that either take place by a fountain, pool, well, or, spring, or use this imagery—we encounter these places just over 200 times throughout our Holy Scriptures.
So, when God tells Jeremiah how his people have exchanged God’s glory for something that does not profit, he uses the metaphoric language of the fountain of living water and the cracked cisterns people made for themselves to show us something about God’s ways versus our ways. Often, our human ways come from a place of scarcity—we are afraid we won’t have enough to go around, so we’d better be sure to look out for ourselves and for our own first.
But God’s ways are founded on the premise of enough. In Christ, we are enough. And because we have faith that God has provided enough, we are freed up to live in a way that we don’t feel afraid to share what we have with others. When we begin to live like Christ, we will begin to live as if everything we have been given is meant to be shared. God wants us to live as if we have eternal access to an ever-flowing fountain of living water—because we do.
—Becky+
Questions for Self-Reflection
When have you experienced the fountain of God’s abundance in your life? And when have you been tempted to dig a cistern for yourself, but in the end found that it would not hold water?
Daily Challenge
Learn more about wells in the Hebrew Bible by reading this article found on the Bible Odyssey website.