“But sir, you don’t have a rope or a bucket,” she said, “and this well is very deep. Where would you get this living water? 12 And besides, do you think you’re greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well? How can you offer better water than he and his sons and his animals enjoyed?” John 4:11-15, NLT.
Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. 14 But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”
“Please, sir,” the woman said, “give me this water! Then I’ll never be thirsty again, and I won’t have to come here to get water.” John 4:11-15, NLT.
A woman who lived in Samaria had a surprise encounter with Jesus when she went to draw water at the very hottest time of the day. She came at that time to avoid the judgmental stares of the town’s women who came to the well in the cooler morning.
The woman was a ball of defensiveness. She fully expected more judgment from the strange man at the well. You can hear it in her comments to Jesus. “Why are you asking me for a drink?” and “How can you offer better water than our ancestor Jacob who dug this well?”
As the conversation continued, Jesus exposed her thirst for the divine and eternal. “Please sir… give me this water.” She had suppressed this admitted thirst under the hurts of her life – terrible partners, condemning neighbors, and religious leaders. No one had ever talked to her like Jesus did.
When Jesus taught that hungering and thirsting people would be satisfied, he had not yet met this Samaritan woman. Nevertheless, he knew that the deepest hungers of people could only be satisfied by what he was offering. Just like the woman of Samaria.
Prayer:
Father, you created us, so you, above all, knows what fuels us, What satisfies our deep aches and longings. Satisfied by the cold, pure water offered to the woman by Jesus. We pray that we, like her, will seek only this water. Not the counterfeit, impure water of the world. In Jesus’ name. Amen.