Living Water

John 4:6-14

6 and Jacob’s well was there. So Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7 There *came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus *said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. 9 Therefore the Samaritan woman *said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” 11 She *said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? 12 You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?” 13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”

Jesus’ conversation with a Samaritan woman is pivotal because Samaritans at the time were considered the lowest of the low.  They were considered “half-breeds” of Jewish descent and consequently “adulterers” of Judaism.  In other words, according to the Jews, they had “the wrong beliefs.”  But what does Jesus, our example as Christians do?  He doesn’t let religious differences prevent Him from talking to her.  As we continue with this story, we will see other implications of this, but let’s focus on what Jesus says to her during the beginning of this exchange.

I think back to a book I read this past year that discusses the unobtrusive way of “spreading the gospel.”  The author stated, “live a life worth questioning, and when asked, give the apt response.”  This is exactly what Jesus did.  He approached and spoke to a woman He wasn’t supposed to.  It caused confusion and questioning in the woman’s mind so she began to ask.  This was His window of opportunity to tell her about the Gospel.  Certainly, here He couldn’t tell her about His death, burial, and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins (since it hadn’t happened yet).

He told her of the Living Water, God’s Holy Spirit.  We see a subtle hint here of Jesus implying that He is God.  It’s just like God to do that, isn’t it?  We will only catch it if we pay attention.  Why?  Because He wants us to seek it out and pay attention.  Notice, however, that as a man, Jesus keeps the attention focused on God, as we see in verse 10.  The connection of Jesus as God is seen in the comparison between verses 10 and 14.  In 10, he says that God can give her living water.  In verse 14, Jesus says it is He who will give living water which will lead to eternal life.

What kind of water do you thirst for?

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