John 4:1-14
1When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, 2(though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,) 3he left Judea, and departed again into Galilee. 4And he must needs go through Samaria. 5 Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.7There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. 8(For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) 9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. 10Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. 11The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? 12Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? 13Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. (KJV)
Before you drink anything, you must first understand what it is you are drinking. So, what is this Living Water? Or maybe a better question is,” Who is this Living Water? In John 7: 38, the apostle John lets us know that when Jesus was talking about the living water, he was talking about the Holy Ghost. In John 7:37, Jesus said, “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” When we think about the natural sciences, we understand that there are many plants and animals that depend upon the rivers for their survival. History lets us know that if there are no rivers, many animals and plants will not survive. Just as the plants and the animals cannot survive without the earth’s rivers of water, humanity cannot survive without the Living Water of Jesus Christ. Without the Living Water of Jesus Christ, all the world and all human souls would be like a desert where there is no water and no food. Without the Living Waters of Jesus Christ, there is only spiritual hunger and spiritual thirst. If humanity refuses the Living Water of Jesus Christ, the only resolve is death, Hell, and the grave. On the other hand, if we have the Living Water, we will experience eternal life, heaven, and Holy Communion with God in Christ Jesus.
When Jesus went to Sychar, a city of Samaria, He knew that he would find the woman that we now know as the Samaritan woman. He knew that she would be at Jacob’s well. Jesus was tired from his journey. So, he asked the woman to give him something to drink. The woman responded with confusion, because Jesus was a Jew, and she was a Samaritan. At this time in history, The Jews and the Samaritans did not fellowship with one another. So, she questioned Jesus about it. And Jesus responded, saying,” If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.” The woman thought that Jesus was talking about physical water like the water she was drawing from Jacob’s well, but Jesus was talking about the Living Water, the water that springs up into everlasting life (see Jn. 4: 14). When she heard Jesus’s description of Living Water, she said, “Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw.” (Jn. 4: 14 NASB1995). The rest of the encounter is found in John 4: 16-26 which says:
He said to her, “Go, call your husband and come here.” The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.” (NASB1995)
An Urgent Message
When the Samaritan woman heard the news that Jesus was the Christ, the bible lets us know that the first thing she did was drop her waterpot. This lets us know that she had a sense of urgency and excitement that she had encountered the Messiah. The fact that she dropped her waterpot also suggests to us that, at that moment, spreading the news about the Messiah was more important to her than collecting the water and taking it home. She could have very well taken the waterpot and carried on with the task of taking the water to its destination. However, when she encountered Jesus, she was compelled to undertake another task of telling the men in the city of Sychar that the Messiah had come.
In these modern times, it is necessary that we see sharing our testimony as a priority. We ought not mind our day being interrupted by the opportunity share our testimony with someone. It is more blessed if we live each day with an expectancy that God would allow us to cross paths with someone whose soul is ready to receive our testimony about the goodness of God in Christ Jesus. I would go so far as to say that the message of the Samaritan woman was an urgent message, because she dropped her water pot. When we look at the human condition, we understand how important water is to our survival. Studies from the Otsuka Pharmaceutical Company suggests that the average male is made up of sixty percent water, and the woman’s body is made up of fifty-five percent water. For children, their bodies are made up of seventy to eighty percent water. Scientific studies also suggest that the human body can only survive three days without water. So, water is important.
The Meeting At the Well
However, what caused the woman to drop her water pot was the news that Jesus Christ could provide her with the living water that would quench the loneliness and the thirst of her spirit. Jesus’s encounter with the Samaritan is amazing because it sheds light on the sovereignty of God. It is not a coincidence that Jesus meets this lady at Jacob’s drinking well. He meets the Samaritan woman at the place where dwellers and travelers go for natural nourishment, but he utilized this moment to tell her about how she can be spiritually nourished. When we observe the spiritual predicament of this woman, we can see that she is spiritually malnourished. She is spiritually lonely and thirsty. The context of this story lets us know that the woman has had five husbands, and she was working on her sixth relationship with a man she was not married to (Jn. 4:17-18).
Obviously, the woman was thirsty for something. Perhaps, she was using her relationships to quench her spiritual thirst, but she was dealing with a spiritual loneliness that her relationships were not able to heal. When Jesus saw the woman drawing water from the drinking well, he had to enlighten her that when she is done drinking the water from the drinking well, she will still be thirsty. The same is true for all humanity. That is why Jesus said, “Whosoever, drinks this water shall thirst again” (Jn. 4:13). In other words, whoever tries to satisfy the longing of their souls with carnal means, will continue to be thirsty. Sometimes we go through all sorts of means to satisfy our spiritual thirst. Some of us jump from sin to sin; from job to job; from relationship to relationship; from house to house; from preacher to preacher; from church to church; from denomination to denomination; from religion to religion, all to find out that we are still thirsty. We go from marriage to marriage; sexual orientation to sexual orientation; from sexual preference to sexual preference; from habit to habit, and we don’t realize that what we are need of the Living Water.
I’m so glad that Jesus stopped by the drinking well to have this conversation with the Samaritan woman to let her know about the living water that springs up into everlasting life (see Jn. 4:14). He stopped by to let her know that he is the only one who can satisfy the longing in her soul. When she heard this news, she had to tell someone. Sometimes it is the people who know thirst who are more capable of telling other thirsty people that there is a such thing as living water. In John 4: 28-29, the apostle John wrote saying, “The woman left her water pot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, Come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did: Is not this the Christ?” You see, the Samaritan woman was a product of her environment. She moved from relationship to relationship because adultery was common in Samaria at that time. Just like the Samaritan woman moved from relationship to relationship, the men of Samaria also moved from relationship to relationship. How can this woman with Hebrew blood running through her veins have had five husbands and a boyfriend and not be stoned to death by her community when the law of Moses condemns the lifestyle of adultery? You see, her community could not stone her for having a lifestyle of adultery, because they were adulterers themselves. And the Samaritan woman knew that the men of Samaria needed the living water of the Messiah just as bad as she did. This was an urgent matter to the Samaritan woman; and she knew that it was an urgent matter for those in her community, because they were just as broken as she was. Not only was this news about the Messiah an urgent matter for the Samaritan woman, but it was also an urgent matter to Jesus. Notice that after the Samaritan woman dropped her waterpot, Jesus’s next action provides evidence as to how urgent this matter was to him. In John 4:31-34, the apostle John wrote:
In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat? Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. (KJV)
At first, we saw that the Samaritan woman made spreading the news of the Messiah a priority over the necessity of water (see Jn. 4: 28-29). Next, we see Jesus taking his mission as priority over food (see Jn. 4: 31-34). Both water and food are necessities of human life, but, here, we can see that the Samaritan woman and Jesus prioritized the mission of witnessing over natural things. This is not to say that the necessities of food and water have no place, but it does allude to the fact that the nourishment of the human soul is just as important as the nourishment of the body. This is why Jesus says to his disciples that his "...meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work" (Jn. 4:34). This is also why his beloved disciple, the apostle John, encouraged the Early Church saying, "Beloved, I wish above all things that you prosper and be in health, even as your souls prospers" (3 Jn. 1:2). When the Early Church had only just begun, Christ admonished his disciples, saying, "Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields: for they are white and ready to harvest" (Jn. 4:35). I say unto you, that if the fields of God's first fruits were already white and ready to harvest in the days of Jesus, some two thousand twenty-four years ago, how much more are the fields of God's first fruits ripe and ready to be harvested today? The first fruits he’s talking about are the souls who need to be saved. Everything in the actions and words of Jesus in this portion of the text lets us know that spreading the gospel of the Messiah is serious business that must be undertaken with urgency.
The Samaritan Woman Experiences the Freedom Christ
When the Samaritan woman witnessed to the men of Samaria, she did so from a place of true worship saying, “Come, see a man, which told me all things that I ever did: is not this the Christ?” (Jn. 4:29). In this moment, she confessed her belief that Jesus is the Christ. In this moment, she was cleansed through her confession. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.” Not only was the woman cleansed through her confession, but she was also set free from her bondage.
You see, Jesus was filled with the fullness of the Holy Ghost. John the Baptist testified in John 3: 34, “God did not give His Spirit by measure unto him.” This simply means that God the Father put all His Holy Spirit inside of Jesus. So, when Samaritan woman was in the presence of Jesus, she was in the presence of the triune God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 3:17, “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” Through her encounter with Jesus, the Samaritan woman learned about true worship. She was cleansed, and she was set free from spiritual thirst. Not only was the woman blessed, but many people in her city were blessed with the freedom of knowing that Jesus was the Christ through her witness.
That’s why it is so important for us to have this Living Water, because it is the power of the Holy Ghost. Acts Chapter 1 lets us know that when Jesus was getting ready to ascend into heaven, he commanded his disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the baptism of the Holy Ghost. In Acts 1:8, Jesus told his disciples, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” We need the Living Water of Jesus Christ. We need the Holy Ghost power to witness; to tell a dying world that Jesus saves. No wonder the Samaritan said, “Give me this water so that I’ll never thirst again.” Take a short moment of prayer, and say, “Lord, give me this Living Water. Lord, I’m tired of trying to do it on my own. Give me the Living Water. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. Fill me Jesus, so I can live right. Fill me Lord so I can preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
How do we get this Living Water? I heard Jesus say, “Believe on me, as the scripture hath said, out of your belly shall flow river of living water” (Jn 7: 38). It is Living water that saves the soul. It is Living water of eternal life. It is Living water that will save my fellow man. I can remember the late Reverend Timothy Wright singing the song:
Yes, I’m a believer. Yes, I’m a believer. I believe in Jesus Christ. He is the giver of all life. From Heaven he came down, and Oh what joy I’ve found. No, you were not there, and you don’t know when or where. But what the Lord has done for me is that he gave me the victory.” I am a believer! Say Yes
Dear friend, you must believe.” If you want this Living Water, you must believe. You must believe that Jesus is the Son of God. You must believe that Jesus is the Messiah who came save the lost. You must believe that they hung him high. They stretched him wide. You must believe that he hung his head and, for you and me, he died. You must believe that three days later he rose from the dead with all power in his hands, even the power to make us the children of God (Jn 1:12).
Let us pray,
Heavenly Father, thank you for teaching us about your Living Water. Thank you for loving people like the Samaritan woman, because it lets us know that we too can receive your love. Thank you for choosing people like the Samaritan woman to worship you and witness for you, because it lets us know that you desire the same for us. Thank you for allowing your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die in our place so that all who believe in him can be forgiven. Thank you for raising Jesus from the dead with all power in his hands, even the power to make us the children of God. Father, help us to always believe in your Son, Jesus Christ. Fill us with your Holy Spirit so that we can live for you and share the gospel of Jesus Christ with others. In Jesus Christ’s might name we pray, Amen
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