We love to visit the spectacular (and huge) site of Caesarea Maritima on our tours. Also called Caesarea-by-the-Sea (and to be distinguished from Caesarea Philippi in the north), it sits on the Mediterranean coast about halfway between Haifa and Tel Aviv.
Herod the Great built the city in 22 B.C. in honor of Caesar Augustus, and it was a luxurious example of a flourishing Greco-Roman city in Judea. One of its many impressive features is its aqueducts, which brought fresh water to the 100,000 inhabitants from miles away.
As prosperous and elegant as Caesarea was in its heyday, it could not sustain its population without bringing in fresh water from elsewhere. Regardless of the economic success of its harbor and trade, the sophistication of its culture, and the political clout of its leaders, without channels of water flowing in, there would be no Caesarea-by-the-Sea.
In John 4, Jesus reminds us that he is our source of “living” water. When we drink of this, life wells us in us like a spring. We have no need to search elsewhere for replenishment. Without it, we go on thirsting. But we must receive it from him. We cannot manufacture it.
Like Caesarea could not flourish without its flow of fresh water, neither can we flourish with spiritual life without the Spirit of Christ. Let it flow into your life and be refreshed, and then let it “well up” in witness to the Source for a thirsty world.
