Continuing in John 4 from last week (where Jesus asked a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well for a drink of water), the narrative reaches what we might call a “teachable moment”. Jesus has started a conversation while breaking down a cultural barrier, and this has resulted in a question back to Him. Now, He has an opportunity to share some good news with the Samaritan woman, who otherwise might have awkwardly gone about her water-drawing in silence, uncomfortable that a member of an opposing culture was also at the same well.
Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?
John 4:10-11 NIV
Jesus uses this question to talk about living water, but – like Nicodemus, who suggested that being born again meant going back to the maternity ward (I’m paraphrasing, here) – the Samaritan woman interprets the comment literally, and wonders how Jesus would get water from the nearby well. Apparently [ref. Bryant & Krause, p.114-115, 118-119], this well was cut into a spring, so it was “living” water in the sense of being fresh, so her misinterpretation is understandable.
The Lookout suggests that this gift of God is “the same word used in Acts 2:38 for the Holy Spirit”. In this suggested parallel, the living water that springs up to eternal life within us (see verses 13-14) is the Holy Spirit, who was given to believers after Jesus’ return to Heaven (as recorded early in the book of Acts) and Who continues to indwell believers in Jesus today.
In fact, Jesus’ message to Nicodemus (see John 3:1-21, in the chapter of John previous to this one) seems to have had a number of things in common with this conversation at the well in Samaria: Jesus is describing something that is unexpected to the hearers. In both cases, He takes the time to share more details, even if some of them might not be fully appreciated until others – like us – can read the same words in the context of the rest of Jesus’ ministry.
Next, though, in verse 12, the woman asks a question that sounds rhetorical, but to which the answer is eternally significant. To paraphrase her comments, “You’re not greater than Jacob, are you?” And, by doing so, she references (possibly intentionally) a common ancestor of both Jewish and Samaritan people. If she had referred to one of Jacob’s sons specifically, that may have been a sensitive subject that divided the two peoples (i.e., Jesus’ Jewish people and her Samaritan culture). Regardless of her reasons for phrasing the question this way, we know that the answer is a definitive “Yes!”: Jesus is far greater than Jacob.
Jesus goes on to describe this living water, although – like Nicodemus (again) – I’m not sure if the woman He’s speaking to fully grasps the spiritual component of this message at first.
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 said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
John 4:13-15 NIV
If someone just offered you a chance to never have to do a certain chore again, would you take them up on it? Commercials make offers to us like, “never clean your oven again” or “never paint your house again” or “never go to the grocery store again”. Given the chance to not have to draw water out of a well and carry it home (as she understands Jesus’ comments, still thinking pretty literally), this woman is definitely interested.
Continuing in verses 16-18, Jesus offers the woman a sort of test, or perhaps the question is meant to keep the conversation going. He asks a simple question – perhaps one that would be normal in that culture, I’m not sure. The woman answers honestly (which tells us something about her character), and Jesus tells her more details about her life that I suspect she didn’t expect any Jewish person to know about.
So, what do we do with all of this? There is certainly much to learn about the living water that Jesus provides, and the benefits of eternal life. However, I wonder if sometimes we are more like the Samaritan woman here, or Nicodemus, who gave Jesus a chance to talk with them, but missed a lot of things that He was saying because they were thinking too literally. If that sounds like you today (it certainly describes me sometimes), be encouraged that Jesus didn’t give up on either of these students. Sometimes, asking questions and being willing to listen to Jesus’ answer is all that He needs from us.
I’m still not sure if Jesus ever got that drink of water from the well, but let’s study more about what happened after this in the next article.
From Sunday School lesson prepared for December 17, 2023
References:
- The Lookout, December 17, 2023, © 2023 Christian Standard Media.
- Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
- The College Press NIV Commentary – John, by Beauford H. Bryant and Mark S. Krause. © 1998 College Press Publishing Co.
Those Who Sin Differently 