Living Water

I have many favorite Bible stories taken from the Word of God. One of my favorite is that of John 4:1-45. In this story, Jesus and His disciples were traveling and they took a short cut through Samaria to get to Galilee. You see, back in that day, Jews and Samaritans were not fond of each other. As a matter of fact, the Jews would cross the Jordan twice to avoid going through Samaria.  Jesus did not follow this practice and He led His disciples into Samaria, near the town of Sychar, in a field of where Jacob had given his son, Joseph. In that field was a well called Jacob’s Well. Jesus was so wearied from His travels that He sat down at the well.

Let us look at the text from John 4:1-6, “Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John ² (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), ³ he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. ⁴ And he had to pass through Samaria. ⁵ So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. (The sixth hour was noon and in the heat of the day.)

So, Jesus is sitting there and along comes a Samaritan woman to draw water for her household. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” His disciples were not there as they had gone into a nearby town to purchase food for them and for the journey. The woman asked Jesus why He had asked her for a drink since the Jews and Samaritan’s had no dealings together. As a matter of fact, Jews despised Samaritans. Jesus asked her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is asking you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you the Living Water.” The woman still did not understand as her response was that He did not have anything to draw water from the well because of how deep it is. Where do you get that Living Water?

See John 4:7-15, “⁷ A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” ⁸ (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) ⁹ 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.) ¹⁰ 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 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? ¹² 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 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ 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.”

Now look at verse 13, Jesus said “Everyone who drinks of this water (Jacob’s Well) will be thirsty again.” The water that Jesus was talking about is from Jesus and will provide a spring of water welling up to eternal life. Then the woman asked Jesus to give her the living water so that she does not have to come to the well anymore.

Then Jesus makes an astounding proclamation to her. See John 4:16-26; “¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” ¹⁷ The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; ¹⁸ for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” ¹⁹ The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” ²¹ Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on 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 the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 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 he comes, he will tell us all things.” ²⁶ Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”

When Jesus told her to go and call her husband, He already knew that she did not have a husband but have had five husbands and that the man that she was with now was not her husband. With that, she perceives that He is a prophet. Jesus gives her an invitation to believe in Him when He tells her that the hour is coming that neither this mountain nor Jerusalem will be the places to worship the Father. He told her that she worships what she does not know but true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The time “is now here” because Jesus is present and has begun the work leading to the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Church. Jesus has opened an invitation for her to believe in Him and accept Him as the one and true Messiah.

Meanwhile, the disciples came back and saw that Jesus was talking with the Samaritan woman. Then the woman quickly went back to her town and started to tell everyone “Come see a man who told me everything I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” The Word said that they “marveled” at the fact He was talking with her. See John 4:27-30, “²⁷ Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” ²⁸ So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, ²⁹ “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” ³⁰ They went out of the town and were coming to him.”

After the woman left, Jesus’ disciples urged Him to eat, but Jesus said, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish His work.” Jesus goes on to explain that although harvest is four months away, the harvest of men’s souls is ripe and the fields of hearts changing are ready to harvest right now.

See John 4:31-38, “³¹ Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” ³² But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” ³³ So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” ³⁴ Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. ³⁵ Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. ³⁶ Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. ³⁷ For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ ³⁸ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

In the final passages of John 4:39-45, it is learned that the Samaritans of the town believed the woman’s testimony. I can imagine that they came running as fast as they could across the fields to see the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior of the world. Many of the Samaritans believed in Jesus while He was at that town. They were so hungry for the “truth” that they asked Jesus to stay with them. Jesus stayed for two whole days, teaching and converting Samaritan’s to follow the God of Israel who will be the God of the world. When Jesus departed after two days, He went to Galilee where the Jews who were at the feast welcomed Him with hugs and open arms. The Galileans had seen all He had done in Jerusalem.

John 4:39-45, “³⁹ Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” ⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. ⁴¹ And many more believed because of his word. ⁴² They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.” ⁴³ After the two days he departed for Galilee. ⁴⁴ (For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.) ⁴⁵ So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For they too had gone to the feast.”

Jesus is no longer just the Savior and Messiah of Israel, but He is the Savior and Messiah of the entire world. He was well received by a hated class of people as their hearts were hungry for the “truth” of our Heavenly Father. They believed in Him.

Jesus came into the world to save it and not condemn it. See John 3:16-17.

Do you want to know Jesus? Do you want to drink the living water which only through Jesus can you obtain through belief and forgiveness?

The Bible says in Romans 3:23, that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

In Romans 6:23, it reads, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Look in John 3:3, “Unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Why did Jesus come to die?

In John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me.” One cannot get to Heaven unless they know Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

Look at Romans 10:9-11, “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”

In 2 Corinthians 5:15, “and He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.”

The final verse is from Revelation 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” Jesus stands at your heart’s door and knocks. He wants a relationship with you. Once you accept Him as your personal Savior, He will minister to you through His Holy Spirit.

Don’t put this off any further. Please pray this prayer.

Dear Jesus, I am a sinner. I believe that you are the Son of God and that you came into the world to save it. I believe you died on the cross to save me of my sins. I believe that you rose from the grave on the third day. I ask you to come into my heart and forgive me from all the sins and trespasses I have ever committed. Thank you, Jesus, for saving my soul. I pray this in Jesus Name! Amen!

Copyright February 25, 2021. Marketplace Evangelism Ministries Inc. All Rights Reserved.