“10 Jesus answered and said to her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.’ 11 She said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? 12 You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?’ 13 Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.
15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw. 16 He said to her, ‘Go, call your husband and come here.’ 17 The woman answered and said, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said to her, ‘You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly.’ 19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.
22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.” 26 Jesus *said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”
“27 At this point His disciples came, and they were amazed that He had been speaking with a woman, yet no one said, ‘What do You seek?’ or, ‘Why do You speak with her? 28 So the woman left her waterpot, and went into the city and said to the men, 29 ‘Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?’ 30 They went out of the city, and were coming to Him’” John 4:10-21.
This is the continuation of the story of the woman from Samaria whom Jesus meets at Jacob’s Well outside the city of Sychar. Like the conversation Jesus had earlier with Nicodemus this follows a pattern Jesus often uses. Jesus says something that gets the conversation started, and it is misunderstood by the person(s) listening. Jesus repeats His comment but in stronger manner, which again is misunderstood. Then Jesus pushes the listener(s) to discover and face the truth of what Jesus is saying. The woman in our story does not understand what Jesus meant by “living water” and takes His comment literally. “Living water” to Jews meant fresh water running in streams, not in a well like this well. The woman asks Jesus how He can get such “living water” in a well!
She refers to “our father Jacob” which was not accepted by the Jews. The Samaritan’s claimed to be defended from Joseph, the son of Jacob. The woman at the well is pushing back on Jesus as though He was blaspheming about Jacob who dug this well for his cattle and family, and Jesus is saying He can get fresh running water from this old well! And the woman had to have noticed that Jesus did not have a bucket from which to draw water from the well. But more to the point the Jews saw water in a spiritual sense, as thirst for our souls, and so in need of Living Waters.
John who wrote the Book of Revelation remembers these words: “6 Then He said to me, ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost’” Revelation 21:6. But notice that once again the woman doesn’t understand and mocks Jesus with these words: “Sir, give me this water”John 4:15.
When Jesus responds to her, “Go, call your husband and come here” it hits her in the face like a Mack truck! Jesus forced her to look in the mirror, forced her to look at her loose and immoral life. To which she responds: “The woman answered and said, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said to her, ‘You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly’” John 4:16-18.
Dear friends, John never calls the miracles of Jesus anything but “signs” because behind the “miracle” is a “sign” that points to the real, true miracle. Jesus wants to change us — all of us — each of us. That’s the miracle! Jesus asked for water so that He could engage this poor woman and change her life. Remember how the story ends: “28 So the woman left her waterpot, and went into the city and said to the men, 29 ‘Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?’ 30 They went out of the city, and were coming to Him’” John 4:28-30.
Pray that You will see the “signs” in your life as “miracles” that Jesus so desires to change your heart.
Oh dear Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner. Open my stoney, sinful heart to your healing Spirit. Help me to see Your loving desire to change me. And this I humbly pray in Jesus’ name, amen.
From the Bible:
“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” Ezekiel 36:26.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, you are a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” 2 Corinthians 5:17.
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another” Romans 12:1-21.
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” Psalm 51:10.
“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” Philippians 1:6.
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