I live in Alabama where Summer is rapidly approaching. It will be hot, and anything done outside in the daytime will require the body to take in extra fluids. The average percentage of water in the human body is 60% so hydration is necessary for all of us. Quenching my thirst is something I do often. I keep water within my grasp almost all the time. Yet there is a deeper thirst that only Jesus can quench. There is nothing earthly that can satisfy this thirst. In John chapter 4 Jesus uses the simple object lesson of our need for water to share living water with the woman at the well.
I love verse 4 where we are told “And he must needs go through Samaria.” Jesus went out of His way to meet the one who was thirsty for living water. Jesus is weary and thirsty from His travels. He sends the disciples into the city to buy food while He rests at the well. It is the middle of the day when this woman from Samaria comes to draw her water. Her coming in the middle of the day was unusual because it was time for the noon meal, and the normal time for the women to come would be in the evening when it was cooler. Some have speculated that because of her lifestyle, she would not have been accepted by the other women. However, this was in God’s timing, an appointed time for her to hear the gospel. There would be no distractions from other women whispering about her. There was nothing to take her attention away from the conversation with Jesus.
John 4:7-8 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)
Now the conversation begins. She is curious as to why Jesus, a Jew, would ask her for water. The Samaritans were half-breeds and the Jews wanted nothing to do with them. Jesus answers her with puzzling words. He offers her living water. She is still thinking in the literal sense and reminds Him He has no container for water.
John 4:9-11 “Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, asks drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knew the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou would have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?”
From John 4:13 to 4:30 we have a beautiful story of the salvation of this woman. Jesus proves to Her He is the Messiah. He tells her everything about her life and she knows this is divine knowledge because they have never met. Then it happens, she believes! Next, she does what any true believer who feels the joy of salvation and understands what they have been saved from. She goes and tells others. She doesn’t wait, she goes immediately, she tells the men, maybe they were those she had had a relationship with, or just whoever came in her path. I believe it was designated as men because the women did not want to be seen with her. Because of her salvation, we see the start of a revival. These men go to find Jesus.
John 4:13-30 “Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinks of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinks 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. The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: For thou, hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly. The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he. And upon this came his disciples, and marveled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her? The woman then left her waterpot, 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? Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.”
What can we learn from this passage that we can use in our own lives?
First, Jesus was seeking her. It was not an accident that He stopped at the well. It is not an accident when we feel the tugging of the Holy Spirit. In John 6:44 Jesus said, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him.” God must be the initiator of salvation. We cannot get saved anytime we want to. Jesus loves us so much He seeks us.
Second, Jesus meets her needs, and He will meet our needs.
Third, Jesus teaches us how to witness. He used an ordinary common item such as water to start the conversation and turn it into a spiritual one.
Fourth, salvation is for everyone. There is no one beyond the reach of God’s love and desire to spend eternity with them. Prejudices are not of God; they are anti-God. We are one race and one blood.
I Timothy 2:3-4 “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.”
While I love to quench my physical thirst, nothing is greater than quenching my spiritual thirst. How thirsty are you for Jesus? Has He quenched your thirst today?
