15.e. ““Sir, give me this water”

John 4:7  Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. And he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 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.

A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 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.) 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.” 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? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 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.” 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.”

The woman was impressed by the friendliness of Jesus. It was unusual for her to hear a kind greeting from a Jewish man, for, generally speaking, Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. For many reasons, this woman would have been despised by most of the religious leaders in the days of Jesus. She was a woman, a Samaritan, and a woman of questionable reputation. Yet, in the interview with Nicodemus John showed us, Jesus has something to say to the religious establishment. In the meeting with the Samaritan woman at the well John showed us, Jesus has something to say to those despised by the religious establishment.  Jesus says a couple of things that invite curiosity in this woman; “If you knew the gift of God”, “If you knew who it is who says to you”, “He would give you living water”.

These same questions are asked over and over again to the heart, mind, and soul of individuals every day; “Do you know Jesus Christ, the gift from God”, Do you know who it is and why He was sent”, and “Do you know that all who believe in the living water, Jesus Christ will have eternal life”?

The answers to these questions get answered many different ways; I don’t know who Jesus Christ is but I want to hear more about the Gift of God and eternal life, I have heard of this Jesus Christ and think He must have been a special man but what does that have to do with me, I am a good person and have no need of the Gift or the living water, I have heard of Jesus Christ and think He is a fictional character made up by man.  I am so much wiser than those weak-minded people who are swayed by fairy tails. I think it is foolish to believe in fairy tails like Santa, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, or Jesus Christ.

We never know when the Holy Spirit of God will reveal to our hearts the Gift, Need, and Eternal Live.  Does this revelation hit deaf ears and stone-hard heart, or does it land on waiting ears and softened heart.  This is a mystery I do not understand.  Some of those with the deafest ears and hardened hearts somehow get softened and respond to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Some of those with what appears to be receptive ears and pliable hearts respond with rejection.  Every person will have a chance to accept or reject the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Eternal life or eternity in Hell is based on the choice to believe in, cling too, rely on, and trust in Jesus Christ.