Day 844: The water of life - John 4 vs 9 - 15

9-10 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.) 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.” 11-12 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? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.”

13-14 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 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.” John 4:1-15 English Standard Version.

John, the writer of this gospel, wasn't just going over happy memories of Jesus! He had a very clear purpose in mind and chose selected incidents to press home the truth he'd stated so clearly in Chapter 3 vs 16 when he wrote: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” So, in this account of the Samaritan woman Jesus spoke to by the well, John tells us how Jesus said to her: “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again - 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.” As John may not have been there when Jesus said those words, it's likely that the woman told him herself of the conversation she had with Jesus.

This purpose of John is clearly seen in what he says later in the second last chapter of this gospel when he writes: “Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:30-31) What is a big encouragement that we can take from Jesus' response to the woman's surprise in verses 9-10?

The good news of eternal life was not just for the Jewish nation. Jesus told her that the living water He was speaking of is available to anyone who asks for it. Whoever drinks of the water Jesus gives will never be thirsty again; the water Jesus gives will become in the one who asks a spring of water welling up to eternal life. Later in this gospel John tells how Jesus used the picture of a shepherd willing to lay down his life for the sheep in his care to describe what He had come to do in the world. And, on that occasion, Jesus had said “I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” (John 10:16) Surely that was a reference to how people who were not Jewish, but who, like this Samaritan woman, would be invited to the living water of eternal life.

Living nearly 2000 years later, and when the gospel has spread widely over the world, we won't realise how startling that would have been to those first disciples of Jesus. John tells us that Jews had no dealings with Samaritans! But we must never lose sight of the important truth that the gospel should be taken to all nations. Our enthusiasm and support for missionary work should not diminish. And we should never be surprised at who can be saved. The gospel that has changed people who had been cannibals, or total drops outs from society, is able to change those who today have been caught up in powerful addictions, gender confusion, or aggressive and atheistic political views.

But what is an important truth we need to understand when it comes to this life that Jesus was speaking of? (vs 11-12 & 15)

We must realize that Jesus' words go beyond a merely physical application. We can't see eternal life now with our physical eyesight. The gospel is not promising health and riches in this world. It's looking beyond this world to eternity - and that's where our focus should be.