Living Water
Jesus and the Woman of Samaria John 4:1-26 ESV
1 Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2 (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), 3 [He] left Judea and departed again for Galilee. 4 And [He] had to pass through Samaria. 5 So [He] came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as [He] was from [His] journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.
- The Walking & The Waiting
- "Although the road through Samaria was the shortest route from Jerusalem to Galilee, pious Jews often avoided it. It says that Jesus needed to go through Samaria. The need wasn’t because of travel arrangements or practical necessities, but because there were people there who needed to hear Him." (David Guzik)
- Jesus had a need our need is to be open to God's leading and follow Him to share the gospel.
7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For [His] disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
- The Water - God’s gift
- The more intimate we are with God determines the kind of questions we ask of Him.
- James 4 tells us that we ask don't receive because we ask with the wrong heart.
- Our position with Christ is always reflected in how we respond to Christ.
- What are thirsty for today? Is it for the things of world or are you thirsting for a deeper relationship with Lord.
- This woman has an idea of who God was and of what worship should look like, but her relationship with men had conditioned her to seek only physical things from men.
- Jesus wanted her to draw from the well of God within her and not from the well she knew physically.
- The more intimate we are with God determines the kind of questions we ask of Him.
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”
- The Husband - who do we espouse ourselves to?
- The church is called the bride of Christ, but how many times have we gone astray from Him. In the Old Testament the Israelites were guilty of playing the whore with false gods, but how many times have I been guilty of this sin myself? Jesus will not reveal an issue unless He wants us to deal with it.
- We cannot deal with sin in our lives until we acknowledge it is there first. We need to get into the habit of Jesus way of dealing with us. How He does it depends on our relationship and our level of maturity in the faith.
- The Worship - who do we give our worship to?
- 2 Tim 2:23 Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. 24 And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will. ESV
- There are many today who still feel this way that because that’s how it was done that’s how it was taught it must be right.
- Jesus would not be drawn into a foolish dispute over some tradition and we should not either. When we share the gospel always point the person back to the sin and the forgiveness of truth of Christ’s gift.
- Jesus tells this woman of Samaria and us as well that the day is coming when we will worship the Lord in Spirit and in Truth. As believers we must come to the Father in the same way - In Spirit and In Truth!
- The Messiah - is He or isn’t He?
- Look again how tradition can cloud a persons judgement she knew of God and even of Messiah, but see didn’t know them In Spirit and In Truth!
- Jesus response to her and to all who seek Him with today is very clear - we must accept Him as Messiah for ourselves.
- We do not need to make things complicated but it seems that the more head knowledge a person gets the further from the truth they get.
- Jesus offer to the Samaritan woman was the gift of living water - oh how we need living water today. Water is fluid it changes, it shapes, it moisturizes and gives life.
If you’re reading this today you are probably a follower of Christ but my prayer for us all is that we would first accept His gift of eternal life and then remain like water and accept change to move and shape the people and things around us for His glory and not ours. ~Amen~