John 4:7-15

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.”

John 4:7-15

This is such a fascinating interaction that we find here in John 4 between Jesus and this Samritan woman.  As the woman enters the scene to draw water, Jesus asks her for a drink.  We find out that Jesus is alone since his disciples had gone into the city to buy food.  Question: If Jews have no dealings with Samaritans, why would the disciples go into the city to buy food from the Samaritans?  I guess things like business and buying food do not count.  Instead, asking for a drink is a bit different.

Jesus asks her for a drink to which she questions his actions: “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?”  Why is he even talking to her?  Not only is she a Samaritan, but she's also a woman.  Not only is she a Samritan and a woman, but she is perhaps outcast from her society due to the fact that she comes to draw water at noon.  Perhaps she did this to avoid the rest of the people who would typically draw water when it wasn't quite so hot outside.  In any case, it is a surprise to her and probably to the reader that Jesus would even speak to this person.

Jesus raises the surprise by saying something else unexpected: “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.”  How weird is that?  In response to her surprise that he is even talking to her, Jesus tells her that she should actually be asking him for a drink.  If she actually knew, she would ask him.  What is it that she is supposed to know?  Jesus's words are, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,'"  What she is to know in regards to asking Jesus is the gift of God and who he is.  AMP takes the liberty to interpret the gift of God as eternal life.  Who he is is revealed to her later when he tells her that he is the Messiah.  What Jesus would give her (as he refers to in what he says to her) is not just a drink, but living water.  If we jump ahead to what Jesus says next, we find that this living water is that which causes the drinker to never be thirsty again.  Instead, it will "become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life".

To what Jesus says she is still confused.  Where does this man even get this water from?  She shows her confusion in what she says next, seeing that he has nothing to draw water with and that the well is deep.  This seems to her as the only source of water, so if he were to give her a drink, it seems quite impossible for him to do so.  She obviously wonders, where does he get this water from?  She actually goes on to make another point about the well.  Jacob gave them this well and she wonders if he is greater than Jacob who gave them this well.  We know that the answer is "yes".  Jesus is most certainly greater than Jacob.  However, at this moment she still doesn't get it (and perhaps that's understandable).

Jesus still gives a somewhat odd response.  Wouldn't the typical response be to answer where he is getting this living water from?  Instead, Jesus simply tells her more about his living water in compared to regular water.  Drinking from regular water will only satisfy ones thirst for a period of time, but that person will eventually get thirsty again.  However, Jesus' living water will satisfy ones thirst forever.  The way he puts it is as follows: "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."

Jesus doesn't stop there but adds to what he has just said: "The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."  I'm not entirely sure if this explains how someone would not thirst after drinking Jesus' living water or if this is something that happens in addition.  It would make sense that a spring of water would continue to satisfy ones thirst since it seems like a continuous supply of water.  AMP takes liberties to explain that this spring of water is "[satisfying his thirst for God]".  However, this may also be something in addition to satisfying ones own thirst.  This may be because Jesus tells us that this spring is "welling up to eternal life".  Perhaps it's both explaining and adding something.  Either way we get a picture of a spring of water within someone that is connected to eternal life for that person.

I guess at this point Jesus finally has her intrigued.  As impossible as it sounds, is it not intriguing to be offered water that will cause one to never be thirsty again?  I can imagine that some people would not be as keen to jump at this opportunity.  In fact, we know this to be true.  Since Jesus is actually speaking of more than just water, we know that many do not choose to accept Jesus' offer.  In any case, we see the woman who is now intrigued asking for this water.  She says that she doesn't want to have to keep coming to this well to draw water.

Now the question is: will Jesus simply give it to her now that she wants the living water that Jesus is offering?  If what Jesus says in this chapter is any indication of what is to come, then he most certainly will not.  In fact, if you think about it, she really only wants the water because she will never be thirsty again.  She still doesn't know who Jesus is.  To put it another way, she merely wants the benefits but cares nothing for the giver himself.  Is this not typical?  John Piper puts it this way:

“The critical question for our generation—and for every generation—is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ were not there? ”

-John Piper

There is more to be said and more to be done.  We are only  half-way through this conversation.