So, Jesus is in the middle of Samaria. He has to go there, He says. It is necessary. Because there are people there, who the world has forsaken, who feel like maybe God has forsaken them. There is a woman in particular, a filthy forsaken Samaritan woman, we’ll call her “Sam”, and the God•send has decided to detour through the middle of this despised region full of filthy people cuz they need to know that they are necessary NOT forsaken. Not by their Father in heaven.
So here Jesus is, sitting by this historic well, the one Jacob built back in the day, and He is legitimately thirsty after a long journey on foot in the hot summer sun. Here comes Sam, filthy, forsaken - to fetch water at a time when she expects nobody to be there, and our God•send Jesus does the UNexpected. He breaks the ice. Literally He breaks out of the confines of cultural norms and propriety and talks to this immoral Samaritan woman, asks her for water. [7,9] And Sam is like, are you talking to me? You shouldn’t be talking to me. If you knew who I am, you definitely would not be talking to me.
[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.”] If you knew Who I am, YOU would talk to ME. You would ask ME for what I came to give. I may be asking you to give Me a drink, but if you had the slightest hint of Who I am, and the gift I have to give, you wouldn’t hesitate for one second to ask Me for it. If you knew the gift of God…? (Do you?) You would ask… What is the gift of God? [3.16 - eternal life...!]
Jesus here says the gift He is offering is Living Water. Living Water. [ALL people thirst]. It’s a universal reality of the human condition. We need water [WATER = LIFE]. We in the developed world, we know how to quench physical thirst. And we are so [quenched]. We’re so quenched that we don’t understand (feel) DAILY thirst. We don’t live with thirst on a [macro level]. For these people, when you’re thirsty, you might have to walk for miles. Just to find a well. But remember, Jesus is calling our attention to a [spiritual] realm. Cuz we all have an unquenchable soul thirst [Jer 2.13]. There’s nothing in [this realm] which will truly satisfy. We don’t always realize it, but what we need, what we’re all looking for, is LIVING WATER to quench our real soul thirst, our deeper spiritual need —> ETERNAL LIFE. [=Jesus]
Jesus has to do the same thing with Sam that He did w Nic [born from above, by Spirit?]. There is a whole other realm of life, Sam, to which you are oblivious. Naturally and understandably oblivious. In fact, just to state it again, we need to be aware and wary of the things which conspire to make us / keep us oblivious to the whole realm of the [spiritual], the eternal. [Lk 12.16-21] Like maybe you think you need something physical to access something to slake your thirst? Like a bucket?
[11-12 She says to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? 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?”] Her reply here tells us that Sam (like Nic) is TOTALLY focused on the external. The temporal. "No bucket, deep well. Jew vs Samaritan, man vs woman - (i.e. ALL the reasons why she shouldn’t talk to Jesus - why what He’s saying makes no sense). And you’re just some random Jew, can’t even compare to Jacob. Who happens to be our forefather, too - i.e. I don’t see that we’re much worse off than you. Sam is like, I don’t SEE that there is ANYTHING in this for me. Plus we have this well. Totally external…
Heritage is nice. And [traditions]. Routines. They help us cope, make us feel comfortable, good about ourselves. Even when they’re dysfunctional. And then Jesus shows up at your well. In the middle of your day. Unannounced. And He’s coming to hit the reset button. Reboot the system. In fact, a whole new OS… [like trading out DOS for MAC!!!]
[13-14 Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; 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: “I have something better for you. Way better than whatever it is you’re looking to for your thirst-quenching. Better than your tradition, or your culture. Cuz if you’re honest, Sam, you have yet to find [anything] in this life that truly quenches your soul thirst. But the water I’m talking about - this water quenches your real thirst for good; it leads to eternal life.” Life-that never ends. And so [15 The woman says to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw.”] Sam is like, no thirst? PLUS no more trips to the well? Sign me up! But still focusing on the physical. Watch Jesus peel back the curtain for her:
[16-19 He says to her, “Go, call your husband and come here.” The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus says 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 says to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.”] Jesus says, You don’t know Me yet, but Sam, I KNOW YOU [Heb 4:13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.]. I know you (just like I know Nathanael, and everyone else) - and you are thirsty, Sam. Your soul is so thirsty. But this isn’t about H2O. This is not about convenience, saving you trips to the well. Let’s talk about your real need. I know you, Sam, your heart is a [sieve], and you need a new one - without which you cannot see eternal life. You need a second birth. THIS is why your soul is drinking from a well that leaves you thirsty. It will never satisfy… And Sam is like, maybe there is something here…?
[20-24 “Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” Jesus says to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You (all) 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.”][worship = to kiss before, 9x in this section] Worship = our attempts to quench our soul thirst. And so Sam is right, this IS about worship. But worship is not about [location]. It doesn’t just happen in a certain physical space on Sunday. Worship takes place/originates and progresses on the INSIDE. It’s not, where is your body? It’s not so much about where were you born. Or where you’ve been living, where you find yourself today or in this season. It’s, wherever you are, where is your HEART? What’s going on in your heart? That is where the spiritual realm and the physical realm find their [nexus]. The place where spirit and truth come together to ignite this life that lasts forever. The life we were always meant to live. We need a new heart…
[25-26 The woman says 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 says to her, “I who speak to you am He.”] Sam is like, OK, what you’re saying I don’t fully understand, but Messiah will explain it all. And Jesus is like, if you KNEW Who was/is talking to you. He says, I’m the One. Literally, I AM. Culture tries to point us to life. Tempts us towards different things: drink/eat/smoke this; go to this place. But this is not about a what, or a where. It’s about a Who. You need to know Me, stretch out and relax in Me. You may not fully understand it all - you just need to trust in Me. Knowledge itself won’t satisfy your thirst. But I will. I am that Living Water. It’s not about what you have or where you are, it’s Who. JESUS IS THE THIRST-QUENCHER!
Referenced Verses
Jer. 2:13 “For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water."
Luke 12:16 And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man was very productive. 17 “And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ 18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 ‘And I will say to my soul, “Soul, ayou have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”’ 20 “But God said to him, ‘aYou fool! This very night 1byour soul is required of you; and cnow who will own what you have prepared?’ 21 “So is the man who astores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
And a thought about the power of water: In a nutshell, hydraulic systems are bigger and slower, but provide higher precision and more power, whereas pneumatic systems are better suited for applications requiring quicker, more compact systems with lesser force and precision.
