John 4:9-30
“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
The Lord has long been calling out to those who are spiritually thirsty, inviting them to come and drink freely of the water that only he can provide. We can see this in the Book of Isaiah when he says, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!” (Isaiah 55:1) and also in Jeremiah, where God describes himself as the “Fountain of Living Water” (Jeremiah 2:13; Jeremiah 17:13). So it’s not surprising that Jesus would extend this same invitation to the Samaritan woman at the well, knowing as he did the turmoil of her past and the unanswered questions of her heart.
The woman had been argumentative at first, protesting that Jesus didn’t have anything to draw water with, and why did he think his water was so great anyway? How could it be better than the water in her well, which had once belonged to Jacob himself? But Jesus patiently sidestepped her protests, brushing past the temporal in order to focus on the eternal – “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
She still didn’t get it, however. We can’t hear her tone of voice, but we can still discern the note of flippant skepticism within her response as she says, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” This woman is typical of so many of us who have toiled through life with our heads down, preoccupied with the immediate tasks necessary for daily survival, while inwardly our hearts yearn to worship our creator. We just don’t know how. It takes a supernatural encounter with the Lord to roust us from the stupor of our temporary existence and cause us to shift our gaze to what lies beyond.
“Go, call your husband and come back.” – This is not the hard sell tactic of a timeshare sales presentation (“both spouses required to attend”) this is the sound of Jesus drawing back the bow as he prepares to shoot an arrow straight into the painful recesses of her heart:
He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet.” (John 4:16-19)
Thunk! The arrow hit the target! We know this because she immediately says, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.” Or maybe it wasn’t so immediate. Maybe she took a moment of silent reflection before speaking again. In either case, it’s clear that she’s been jolted away from her mundane task of fetching water, for she begins to question him about spiritual things. As Jesus continues to talk with her, faith springs to life within her heart. She forgets her thirst, for she has discovered the Fountain of Living Water. Leaving her water pot behind, she rushes back into town to tell the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did; isn’t this the Christ?!”