JOHN 4:10-15
10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
11 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?
12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?
13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
14 But whosoever drinketh 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.
15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.
When we last visited Sychar, we were listening in to the conversation between this Samaritan woman and the LORD Jesus. He had just asked her for a drink of water, and she was amazed at this request. The LORD responds to her reaction here in vs. 10.
She doesn't know anything about who Jesus is, other than that He is a Jewish man; and because she doesn't really know who He is, she can't possibly know the gift that He bears: living water (JOHN 7:37).
She is of course clueless, not at all understanding what our LORD is expressing to her. She is thinking purely in physical terms, and wonders how He could draw any water from any well seeing He has no bucket to retrieve this "living water" with. The LORD encountered such 'clueless-ness' even among His own disciples (MATT 16:11; MARK 7:18-20; 8:20-22; JOHN 4:31-34).
Yet the LORD draws His water from a source far, far deeper than the deepest well in all the world. He draws this spiritual nourishment from the depths of His own heart! The heart of God, so holy, so magnificent, so quintessentially awesome and wondrous that it will take the saints all of eternity to plumb its depths (and never reach bottom!!) and discover the glory and joy that is God Himself (2 COR 3:17-18; 4:6-7).
She then asks Him the obvious question - "Are you greater than our father Jacob who gave us this well, and drank of it personally?"
Once again, she is expressing ignorance of Who it is that is sitting on that well, conversing with her.
The obvious answer is, "Yes!" He is God Incarnate, the very GOD of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - but the LORD doesn't say this to her. Note that: He is leading her gently along, carefully guiding her to the truth.
How different is this approach than the one that He used with Nicodemus in the preceding chapter. With that man, the LORD gave him both barrels, full blast. And this is the way the Spirit leads us, utilizing different methods on different occasions with different people. The fisherman is well acquainted with what kind of bait to use for what kinds of fish. And the LORD is making us into evangelistic "fishers of men" (MARK 1:17), and teaching us various approaches in declaring the One, True Gospel.
The LORD then begins to clarify the discussion, making a distinction between physical water and the living waters He is offering to this woman.
Interesting, don't you think, that He Who experienced physical thirst, Who is the Living Water Himself, is offering this woman who suffers spiritual thirst the means to quench it?
He states that any who drinks of Jacob's well will thirst again. In that statement is the spiritual truth regarding all of the things of this world. We may quench our various worldly thirsts - hunger, thirst, desires, questions, lusts, loneliness, ambitions, goals with food, water, carnal knowledge, philosophy, training, education, marriage, family, morality and other means and they may satisfy for a while, even a long while - but they cannot quench the thirst that lies deep within: a spiritual hunger, a gnawing emptiness or "vanity" (ROM 8:20-21) that is, as it's been described, a 'God-shaped hole' that can never be filled with anything* other than that which was intended to fill it - with the Spirit of God, the Living Waters, Himself!
*A review of the book of Ecclesiastes will reveal the burdensome of this fallen world and how it weighs upon our weary souls!
Yet those who partake of the Living Water - for them, the quest for satisfaction, the yearning to have that enigmatic emptiness filled comes to a startling end, because of the embracing of the Savior! He alone can satisfy - and as I have said it often before: "In a world of deceitful, empty mirages, amidst the barren bleak deserts of parched souls, there is an O.A.S.I.S! Only the Almighty Savior Immanuel Satisfies!"
There are those who have achieved all that their hearts could wish, be it fame or fortune, or both and more besides. Once achieved they think that life will be full and they shall know contentment. This is often why Hollywood is full of drugs, alcohol and promiscuity - because these 'stars' have got it all - except that "peace that passes all understanding":
PHIL 4:6-8
6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
The Samaritan woman still doesn't understand - because while she does ask to receive these living waters from this Jewish man, the reason she gives is so that she will "...thirst not, neither come hither to draw..." She's thinking that she could save a lot of time and effort by not constantly having to fetch water every day!
How patiently the LORD is with this woman, gently lead her on, until she comes to understand Who it is that speaks with her.
The world has many different opinions about who Jesus is; I'm convinced that if you ask 50 different people you'd easily get half as many answers. Yet like this woman, until they come to understand Who He is, they will never seek that which He offers: eternal life both now, infused into us by His Spirit via spiritual new birth, and a living, vital relationship with God, not merely as Creator and LORD, but also as Redeemer and Friend!
Selah - Wonderful Merciful Savior
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