Our Tradition Runs Dry

“Our Tradition Runs Dry,” explores the narrative of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well, utilizing the Mirror translation of the Bible. Despite the significant cultural and political divide between Jews and Samaritans, Jesus initiates a transformative conversation, asking the woman for a drink. The woman initially struggles to understand Jesus’s concept of “living water,” interpreting it through the lens of her familiar, centuries-old ancestral well and the traditions associated with it. This initial misunderstanding highlights her dependence on established sources and her ingrained perspective.

Pastor Dan interprets Jacob’s well as a symbol of religion focused on “maintenance,” characterized by cycles of rules without renewal, unresolved shame, and hierarchies that foster dependency, ultimately leading to spiritual unfulfillment. In contrast, Jesus offers an “internal solution”—a “fountain bursting from within” that provides perpetual satisfaction. This shift requires “metanoia,” a Greek term for repentance meaning to “change our minds” or “change our perspective,” moving away from legalism, patriarchy, and exclusion. The sermon encourages listeners to “leave the jar behind,” symbolizing the abandonment of old, limiting religious containers, shame, and false identities, in favor of embracing the uncontainable “river of living water” and their true, God-given identity within.