1 When Jesus realized that the Pharisees were aware He †  was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John 2 (although it was not Jesus who baptized, but His disciples), 3 He left Judea and returned to Galilee.

4 Now He had to pass through Samaria. 5 So He came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Since Jacob’s well was there, Jesus, weary from His journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

9 “You are a Jew,” said the woman. “How can You ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) 

10 Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God and who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

11 “Sir,” the woman replied, “You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where then will You get this living water? 12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock?”

13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. 14 But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.”

15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water so that I will not get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

REFLECTIONS

Written by Paul Bogg

Growing up, I don’t ever really recall a time when I carried a drink bottle around. I don’t even think I really owned one. These days, I see them everywhere – my wife, my kids, and pretty much every kid at school has one. And with good reason too – water is vital. When we have water with us, it helps satisfy thirst, which is our body’s signal to tell us that it needs water to not die. Why do we get thirsty? Well, sometimes it’s because it’s a hot day and we can get dehydrated. Sometimes it's because we have just done exercise. Or sometimes, we might be sick and increasing our fluid intake helps our bodies to recover.

In today’s passage, Jesus tells the Samaritan woman at the well: “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.” What Jesus is getting at here is that there is something that we as human beings need even more than water, something like water but somehow better. There is also something in us that produces thirst – not a thirst that physical water can satisfy, a thirst for this living water that only Jesus can provide.

Just like everyone thirsts for physical water, I believe we all thirst for this living water. But sadly, we don’t always turn to Jesus for it. Too often, we try to satisfy this thirst with all kinds of other things, like social media, toys and gadgets, or in the Samaritan woman’s case, relationships (as we will see tomorrow). But none of those things really satisfy.

The Samaritan woman doesn’t understand any of this yet – though she is making a good start: she is asking Jesus for the water he can provide. For most people, it takes time to really understand what Jesus offers us. Because the “living water” he offers is eternal life – not just life that lasts forever, but a life of true fullness and joy, life to the full (John 10:10).

The question for us today is: are you thirsty? Have you come to Jesus to ask for a drink from the water that only He can provide? Listen to these words from Revelation 22:16-17:

“I, Jesus, have sent My angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the bright Morning Star.” The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” Let the one who hears say, “Come!” And let the one who is thirsty come, and the one who desires the water of life drink freely.

Come, brothers and sisters: thirst, and drink freely from the one who, out of his inexhaustible grace, offers eternal life.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Paul is a member of our Bossley Park morning congregation.