Somethings just cannot be contained.
There is no more important relationship in your life or mine, than our relationship with God. It is the most personal, most intimate of relationships. And it is also the most powerful.
It’s not surprising that the best image of what that looks like, what that feels like, comes from Jesus. Who tells us that, from our relationship with God, “out of our hearts will flow rivers of living water.”
Like living, flowing water, our relationship with God is dynamic. It moves. It seeks its own level. With a power, with a force that fights against being contained.
If you’ve ever watched a branch caught in the current of a river. Or if you’ve ever seen a levy breach. Then you have an idea of the kind of power that Jesus is describing.
Because is it that powerful, this is why it is a relationship that will color, will impact every other relationship in your life. Every other part of your life.
Exactly what it’s supposed to do. And why Jesus doesn’t stay put. He cannot be contained.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus has been very well received. They like Him. They like His message. They want more. And yet, Jesus insists that He must “also proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God” to other towns. Why?
Although our relationship with God is powerful. Our relationship with God is personal. Our relationship with God cannot be private.
Like a mighty river, our relationship with God was never meant to be contained. For our relationship with God to be fully alive. For you and me to be fully alive. It has to flow into every corner of our lives. Into everything that you and I say “mine” to.
But it cannot stop there. For our relationship with God to be fully alive, for you and I to be fully alive. It has to overflow into the lives of everyone around us.
And it will, when it is fully alive.
It’s why your relationship with God can never be a private matter. Something that powerful will not be contained.