Don’t Stay Thirsty

Don’t Stay Thirsty

Daily Reading: (John 4:13-14):

“Jesus answered, “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.”

Christianity is not an exclusive religion. This is so clear to everyone who listens to Jesus’ words because salvation is offered to any who will drink. This would have been scandalous in the first century what Jesus did. Because if you back up the story a bit Jesus is talking to a woman and not just any woman, a Samaritan woman. “The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?”(For Jews do not associate with Samaritans”(John 4:9).

Jesus showed how true it is that God does not show favoritism (Acts 10:34).  In fact, God so loved the Samaritans, a despised half Jew half Gentile group of people that at the height of Jesus’ surging popularity God sent Him away from the crowds for the One Samaritan woman. It is a beautiful illustration of our Shepherd leaving behind the 99 for the one lost sheep. 

“Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.Now he had to go through Samaria” (John 4:1-4).

The route Jesus took was not necessary. Samaria was between Judea and Galilee. The direct and usual way was to pass through Samaria. Sometimes, however, the Jews took a detour route on the east side of the Jordan. Because they hated Samaria that much. See Matthew 2:22. “Had to go” through Samaria is speaking of a divine leading not an only route option. “He had to” is the Greek word (dei) which means must or it is necessary, there is need of. Jesus went through Samaria where He left the gaining popularity behind because there is one unpopular person who needed His salvation.

“So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon” (John 4:5-6).

This is a historical site from the Old Testament. Jesus is at a monument, not just any monument, a monument mentioned in Genesis 33:19. The promise of the blessing (Jesus) has arrived at the altar dedicated to the covenant keeping God of Israel who has promised to bless the world through the Messianic lineage (Genesis 33:19-20, John 4:5).

“When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink” (John 4:7)? This is an invitation to friendship. When Jesus asks the Samaritan woman for a drink, it is asking culturally if she will enter into a (saving) relationship with Him? The Gospel just seems too good to be true and we see this in her response, “How can you ask me for a drink?” You can’t possibly want to have anything to do with me. How could God love me?  Because I know what I have done. I know me. And the remarkable message of the Gospel is that God knows you better than you know yourself and He thought you were worth dying for. Jesus’ invitation is a life altering one of friendship- of salvation, everlasting life, a new life, a clean whole and righteous life before God.

This woman was searching for love in all the wrong places. She was drawing her self-worth from the wrong well. She kept going back to the relationship well and it never satisfied her soul. She remained thirsty. This brings us to the two verses we start with:Jesus answered, “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 woman has encountered Jesus but is still living from her past instead of focusing on what is before her in the present, an opportunity for salvation and a new identity that brings new life. The genius of Jesus is that he meets every one of us at our point of need. The self-righteous need the law to expose their need for a Savior, what the hurting need is grace. The lost and hurting people of the world need a revelation of God our Father who loves us and does not treat us as our sins deserve as we receive the gift of His Son. When the woman finally sees Jesus for who He is her entire life changes.  

The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he” (John 4:25-26). We find that the very reason for being at the well (to have her jug to be filled with water) is left behind. Her spiritual jug has been filled and is overflowing with living water and she has to let people know. ” Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people,“Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” They came out of the town and made their way toward him” (John 4:28-30). The woman who went to the well to avoid everyone is now seeking everyone out with the good news of Jesus Christ (John 4:28-29). That’s what grace does. The crowd that ridiculed you and tried to condemn you are the same ones you are now racing after with a message of hope.

My prayer is that those whose lives have been transformed by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ will respond in the same way as the woman at the well. Maybe there is someone the Lord is placing on your heart today that could use a message of hope. Would you introduce them to Jesus so they might never thirst again?

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