Have you ever been so thirsty that you were desperate to get a drink? Physically that can happen, especially if we are working hard or walking in a dry, desolate place where water isn’t easy to find. Spiritually we can be thirsty too. When we don’t have a close relationship with God, either because we haven’t given our hearts to Him or we are walking in sin, it can be like walking in a desert with no water. Life is dry, especially during those times of trial. Jesus is that Living Water for our souls. In John chapter 4 we find the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. She was a woman who not only was thirsty physically but also spiritually. Jesus gives her the solution…Himself. John 4:13-14 says, “Jesus said, ‘Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up in him for eternal life.’” (CSB)
The Samaritan woman was thinking only of physical water, she wasn’t even considering anything spiritual. As we read the story, we see that she is a woman who is not someone of high reputation. She’d been married five times, and now is not married and living with a man who wasn’t her husband. Most likely, because of her reputation, she was treated poorly. Other women probably didn’t want to have anything to do with her, and if she showed up at the well looking for water, they would all either leave or turn their backs on her. But Jesus specifically went to Samaria to have this encounter with her. He wanted to alleviate her spiritual thirst. He tells her that He has water that will never make her thirsty again. She doesn’t understand what He means.
In his commentary, J Vernon McGee says, “Jesus makes it clear that He is not talking about water in Jacob’s well. Rather, He is making a contrast, you see. Today the crowds are going to the water holes of this world, seeking satisfaction. They also are constantly looking for the physical, not the spiritual satisfaction. But now Jesus has created a desire in this woman’s heart for the spiritual water.” She begins to ask Him about this water. He tells her about her life, and she is shocked. I’m sure she was asking, “How does He know these things about me?” I think she was so shocked that He knew her sin, that she decided to change the subject and started a theological discussion on where the proper place was to worship God. But Jesus didn’t let the conversation get side-tracked. He told her, “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23-24 KJV) He deals with her sin. He treats her with compassion, and He ministers to her just in the way He speaks to her. She asks Him if He is the Messiah, and He tells her that He is. At that moment she becomes a Believer and immediately she runs to town and tells everyone she meets about Jesus. She says, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” (John 4:29 CSB)
Before she met Jesus, she was a woman with no hope. She was living a life of sin, looking for something or someone to fill the emptiness in her heart. But when she puts her life in Jesus’ hands, she has a whole new outlook on life. Jesus changed her heart and it changed her so much that she went immediately and witnessed to others in the town, and they came and were changed. They saw the change in her and wanted the same thing she had found. Jesus gave them that Spiritual Water, that Living Water. Only that Living Water can take away our Spiritual thirst, can bring change and hope, can make us whole, and bring everlasting life. When we surrender our lives to Him, He gives us Living Water!
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