John 4:1-16 – Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. 4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. 7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” 11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” 13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” 16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
“Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” Jesus is trying to get her attention. First He asked her for help, now He is telling her something intriguing about what she perceives as a magical kind of water and also, about who He is. She is interested in the water, and is getting more interested in Jesus, but she is still not sure what He is up to. But if Jesus could give her water to prevent her daily water drawing efforts, that thought is tantalizing to her.
With the word used here that is translated as “living” she may have understood it to mean running water, water that is gushing up. Since Jacob’s well was supplied by an underground stream, she may have understood the Lord’s statement to her in this way. However this word could also mean, and was what Jesus was relating to her, water that was living and brought life. We know that the Holy Spirit is God, is eternally alive, and the life of God is brought to us because of Jesus and through the Spirit. Life through the Spirit comes from God to within us and that life not only comes to live within but to infuse that life into us. We remember that the Holy Spirit is the breath of life, the wind of life that allows us to live. (Genesis 2:7, Ezekiel 37:9-10, Acts 17:24-25) This living water that the Lord was speaking of was the Holy Spirit who seals us unto God for eternity. (Ephesians 1:13)
“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?” The Samaritan woman was still thinking from a fleshly perspective and not a spiritual one. So, from what she could figure out, what she could observe, was that Jesus had nothing to draw water out from the well, from which she presumed Jesus would get this water. It didn’t make sense to her. Thinking from a natural worldly perspective it wouldn’t have. She could only understand if she would believe Jesus. But so far, she was interested in Him but did not believe Him.
“Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” Some people we share the Lord to begin to understand and come close to yielding and then, when they are about to cross over, they pull back. It seems like the woman was being drawn in and then she pulled back and fell again into the pride of loyalty to her people and her culture. This can still be a major hurdle for people today. Even after coming to Jesus some people are drawn back into the burden. Jesus has to be our first and primary love.
“Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” We will see that Jesus is very patient with her. Jesus knows her history. She has had a rough life that was the result of her poor decisions and, a fair presumption may be because of her circumstances. We know that tough circumstances do not excuse unwise decisions. However, God knows the circumstances she was born into and what may have brought her to the bad decisions. (Matthew 6:8) The Lord God Almighty, the God who loves, did not abandon her because of her decisions, but rather pursued her as He did from the day she was born. Pursuing fallen mankind is what the Lord has been doing ever since the fall. He had love for her, so He was patient with her. While people only saw her poor life decisions and thought they knew everything about her, God saw her heart and focused on pulling in one of His lost. Just like He has done for all of us.
“The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” Okay, she seems to have taken the bait, but yet she is still thinking with a natural mind and not fully understand. It is no different a spiritual malady than many others, it is hard to stop thinking like the world when that has been all one has ever known.
“He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” Jesus had been gently enticing her from the shadows to draw her into the light. He now revealed that He was the Messiah. That He was God in the flesh. He could have said anything about her life. He could have told her that He has always known her by telling her who her parents were, when she was born, or any other fact of her life. Jesus, knowing her, knew just what to say to her. He exposed her open and deepest wound. He brought up what hurt her most. He brought up what she had spent many a night crying to God about. It is what she wanted forgiveness for and wondered if she could ever receive it from God. Here was Jesus showing He knew her, really knew her. It was what she needed to hear. He rocked her with a open display of who He was. She had prayed to God and she probably now was wondering if Jesus was God’s answer to her. She was afraid, but began to wonder, might this be the Messiah?”
Family and Friends, God shows us in this beautiful parable who great is His love for us, for all of us. He will never forsake us no matter how dirty we might become. He always calls, He always seek us. And calling and seeking us is God making the first move to help us. He loved us first. He loves you, He loves all of us. In the morning, every morning, call out to Him. He is there, loving you. Praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will Hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown you, Oh man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
Numbers 6:24-26 – The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.