John 4:11, commentary and pictures

At Jacob's well the woman takes the offer in a literal, physical sense, objecting that the stranger has no rope, jar or bucket to draw with and the well is deep, and asking where such water could come from. She sees only a tired, thirsty, dusty traveler and measures him against Jacob who gave the well to his children and cattle, not discerning that the source of life-giving water and divine grace stands beside her. The living water offered is Christ himself, his grace and spiritual life, the truth of his word to be received by believing, meditating and living it. Unlike well water that leaves the drinker thirsting again, the water he gives quenches thirst forever and becomes within the receiver a spring welling up into everlasting life, purifying, refreshing and healing the soul. It is freely given to every thirsting soul that asks by faith, and received aright it makes the receiver a giver who refreshes others and brings them to Christ, as she left her waterpot to call her city to him.

Encounter at Jacob's Well

The woman hears the promise of living water in a wholly literal, physical sense as ordinary water to be drawn from Jacob's well before her. Seeing that He has nothing to draw with, no rope, jar, bucket or vessel, and that the well is deep, she objects on practical grounds and asks from where He could get such water. Her earthly-minded answer shows how worthless the hopes of this world are and how necessary the water of life is, for earthly blessings however great or numerous can never satisfy the mind or cleanse the soul.

She sees before her only a thirsty, tired, wayworn and dusty traveler and does not yet discern the spiritual meaning of His words. She does not recognize Him as the source of life-giving water and divine grace, which purifies, refreshes, strengthens and heals the soul and springs up to everlasting life. She does not know who stands beside her, thirsting for truth herself while the Truth able to enlighten her speaks to her.

She measures Him against the honored patriarch Jacob, who gave and provided the well for himself, his children and his cattle. Cherishing the natural feeling that no other well could equal that provided by the fathers, she asks if He is greater than Jacob. In fact He is greater, as the only begotten Son of God who was before Abraham.

The exchange takes place at Jacob's well at Sychar, where Jesus, weary from travel, rests beside the well. When she comes to draw water He asks her for a drink, and He uses that request for ordinary water to open the way to offer the water of life and to reach her with truths about His spiritual kingdom. Her report afterward helped bring many Samaritans to hear Him and believe.

Her light, bantering manner begins to change as she feels the solemn import of His words, yet she still fails to comprehend and answers with doubt and questioning. She tries to enter into controversy, and her dispute over the deep well and whether Christ is greater than Jacob belongs to the commencement of His mission work. It is strange to her that a Jew should ask drink of a Samaritan, a class of people the Jews thoroughly despised and hated.

She looks backward to the fathers and forward to the Messiah's coming while the Hope of the fathers, the Messiah Himself, is beside her and she knows Him not. This illustrates thirsting souls today who sit close by the living fountain with refreshing water near yet look far away for the wellsprings of life and will not believe it is close by.

Gift of Living Water

The living water is Christ himself, his grace and spiritual life and blessing, the water of life and salvation and the spiritual drink from the fountain of living waters, for whom the whole being longs. Her question about where such water could come from contrasts Jacob's ordinary well water with this gift, which satisfies the cravings of mind and heart and brings the joy and hope of the gospel. Receiving it means receiving Christ's grace, which becomes a source of life within the believer as a well springing up to eternal life, and makes the thankful heart like a spring continually overflowing in blessing to refresh others and meet the needs of souls ready to perish. That gift of grace is often nearer than is thought, unseen until it falls and often wholly unexpected, and when received by faith and patient waiting it surprises as he surprised the woman of Samaria, coming down like showers upon the fruitful earth through the Son by whom God has supplied dews and showers of grace.

Well water leaves whoever drinks thirsting again, but the water Christ gives quenches thirst forever and becomes within the receiver a spring and inner well springing up into everlasting life, giving daily converting power, spiritual life, and Christ dwelling within. Earthly blessings, however great or numerous, can never satisfy the mind or cleanse the soul, showing how worthless the hopes of this world are and how necessary the water of life is. Jacob's well serves as a parable of Christ the Fountain of Life extending to the close of time, whose gift when drunk refreshes the soul and warms and invigorates it. That living water is received by dependence on the Holy Spirit and prayer, not by human might or power, so those united in solemn work must first talk with God, hide self in Jesus, and receive the Holy Spirit, then speak with gentle words full of spiritual tenderness.

The living water is the truth of the Word of God, the words Christ spoke, the bread of life to be eaten every day. It is received as thirsty men receive water, by accepting God's Word by living faith, meditating on it and practicing its principles, believing and living it, so that it becomes a vital influence in the heart. To those who love him the Word is what bread is to the hungry and water is to the thirsty, sustaining spiritual life, bringing salvation, vigor and Christlike character, greater spirituality with less sentimentalism, and purification through obedience to the truth. The soul's experience depends on what it drinks, for the water of life comes from him and sustains a life beyond the body's need for temporal bread, nourishing the soul that feeds on God's word rather than human channels or the world's turbid streams.

In Christ there is a living spring from which all may continually draw, and however much is drawn and given to others abundance remains with no danger of exhausting the supply. Earth's cisterns are often emptied and its pools become dry, but Christ is the inexhaustible well-spring of truth, the fountain of living water ever since the fall of Adam, purchased with his own blood, watching and waiting for love in return. He was just as truly the water of life to Abel, Seth, Enoch, Noah, and all who received his instruction then as he is now to those who ask of him the refreshing draft, the bread of life to be eaten every day and the water of life all may partake of by asking and watching unto prayer. Believers receive him by faith, take him into their lives, and learn from and follow his example, drawing from its fountain without diminishing the supply.

This living water gives life to the believer and is represented by the clear water that flowed from Jesus' side when he was pierced on the cross. It comes from Christ the living Rock, for the rock Moses was told to speak to represented Christ who was to be smitten once for humanity, and people receive it by speaking to Christ and asking him for it. He is himself given to anxious and troubled souls as the smitten Rock and the Rock that follows, as a river of water in a dry place, so that those who come and trust in him and drink of the water of life he gives receive a standing place for their feet and are refreshed.

The water satisfies the cravings of mind and heart, purifies, refreshes, strengthens and heals the soul, and brings the joy, hope, peace and rest of the gospel through faith. It quenches thirst for righteousness and takes away relish for degraded earthly pleasures, transient delights and the world's turbid streams, for without that thirst people turn to pleasures that cannot satisfy, like broken cisterns that hold no water, and failing to drink leaves vulnerability to the pleasure-loving spirit of the age. Its pure streams refresh and heal the drinker and all connected with him when drunk with a heart subdued by the Spirit and an eye single to God's glory.

Receiving the Water Personally

The water is given freely to every thirsting soul who asks for it, and asking means speaking to Christ and receiving him by faith as a personal Saviour. It is not obtained by human might or power but by dependence on the Holy Spirit and prayer, by talking with God, hiding self in Jesus, cooperating with him and choosing to stand in him. Receiving requires being emptied of self so the Spirit can work in the heart with saving power, and welcoming Jesus with the eternal riches of heaven. Well water leaves the drinker thirsting again, but whoever drinks the water Christ gives will never thirst, for it becomes within him a well springing up into everlasting life. That inner well both refreshes the receiver and enables him to refresh others, and those so united for solemn work for souls speak in the power of the Spirit with gentle words full of spiritual tenderness. The Rock Moses was told to speak to was to be smitten once for humanity, and now the living water from Christ the living Rock is received in the same way, by speaking to him and asking.

It must be drunk every day as fresh spiritual nourishment, like new manna, in richer and deeper draughts, and not reserved for special times or occasions. Daily drinking together with daily eating of the bread of life fits people for translation so that life will measure with the life of God, while failing to drink leaves them in the godless position of Sardis. Appropriating it brings the fresh, converting power of the Holy Spirit upon heart and character, the religion of Christ in the heart as the wellspring of life. That power lifts above worldly ambition and expels selfishness, bringing felt appreciation of forgiveness for sin and willingness to forgive those who injure and harm. It means the heavenly Guest occupies the throne of the soul, controls every impulse of the mind, and brings even the thoughts into subjection to Jesus Christ, and it must not be kept in the outer court as outward practice without faith. To thirst for deeper draughts is to have the mind deeply impressed by the Lord and to desire more light and blessing and a fuller measure of his Spirit and power from his unfailing supply of grace.

Each person must obtain it personally, like a hidden spring whose water cures disease, for no one can obtain it for another.

The water of life is set before hearers and they divide over it: some drink when the message is given, while others refuse, fill with disaffection, and remain unhealed and unrecovered when they might have been healed. The Samaritan woman listened and believed without any miracle, glad for the light, because she came with a teachable spirit ready to learn, with heart emptied of prejudice, bringing her ideas to the Scriptures rather than bringing the Scriptures to her ideas, and so she knew the doctrine and understood it and published it to her neighbors. In contrast the Jews saw majesty and grace in mighty healings and the mighty outpouring of the Spirit yet would not recognize God at work, because prejudice reigned in their hearts, showing that miracles do no good where prejudice remains and that discernment sees where God is working without needing wonders. Those who have never heard the truth and stand among the unbelieving may thus prove more susceptible and open in heart than those long in the truth who have had the evidences of God's work.

Thirsting for this water is hungering for righteousness and for the bread of life and the water of salvation, a longing desire for healthy faith in the gospel and saving grace received through the Word, song, and prayer. It is longing for hearts changed from pollution to purity, with light coming to minds darkened by sin, and drinking brings out of darkness into gospel light with spiritual healing and peace and hope and joy even when the body is hopeless and dying. It means laying aside selfish, worldly principles, denying self and taking up the cross, realizing the value of souls for whom Christ died, refusing to gain the whole world at the cost of the soul, living up to Christian profession, and purifying the soul through obedience to the truth. Without that thirst people turn to pleasures that cannot satisfy, like broken cisterns that hold no water, seeking temporary pleasure or relying on changing feelings instead of what satisfies. Drinking from the fountain quenches thirst so fully that the desire to have one's own wisdom regarded as superior is satisfied, and the drinker no longer drinks the murky water of the valley.

Becoming Givers to Others

Receiving the living water makes the receiver a giver, for Christ's grace becomes within a source of life that refreshes others and turns the one who drinks into a missionary who brings people to Christ. The woman at the well first thought only of ordinary water to be drawn from the well, not yet understanding the water of life for the soul's deepest need, but after hearing Him she was convicted of sin, believed in Him, and carried His words to others. Her desire became so absorbing that she left her waterpot, forgot her errand and even His thirst, and hurried into the city to call friends to Christ and carry the truth to her countrymen. Many Samaritans of that city believed on Him through her testimony as she brought them to hear Him, and those same words have continued to exert influence for the saving of souls through the years since.

Workers and ministers must understand and receive this gift for themselves, for the water He gives satisfies spiritual thirst and becomes within the recipient a spring leading to everlasting life. Those who would refresh thirsting souls must drink of that water of life and salvation themselves, and the Lord gives fitness for the work to those who drink. Only those who have drunk deeply of the water of life can save souls, and they must keep their own souls quickened by the life and Spirit of the Lord so they can impart living water rather than offer dry words. Ministers must keep their own spiritual life and joy alive rather than let its springs dry up, drinking of this living water and being satisfied rather than longing for exciting amusements or change. So drinking and being satisfied they find strength, fitness for work, and power to save souls.

What is freely received is to be freely imparted, for those who have received Christ as personal Saviour are not to shut themselves away for fear of contamination but to let their power to communicate become a blessing. Christ dwelling within becomes a well of water springing up to everlasting life, pouring life, strength, grace, peace, joy and love into hearts through faith, so that words help others and lead minds to God. Their surrounding influence saves rather than harms as they sow seeds of truth and righteousness that bear fruit, sharing Christ's words which are spirit and life and doing the work of sharing them with others. Those who have received it should bring others to this fountain, for thirsty souls may drink freely and those filled with Christ's love can bring refreshment to souls ready to perish and meet the needs of souls ready to perish to improve their own condition. This is done by speaking in the Spirit's power with tenderness, working humbly through prayer and publications scattering precious light.

A parent is to drink more deeply from the fountain of living waters so as to lead children to receive the streams of the water of life. A man and his family are likewise to drink of that life from the Lord as they follow the Saviour, even though He has no outward vessel to draw with and the well is deep.

Christ's Manner and Example

The earnest words about living water at Jacob's well show deep personal interest in a single soul, for the richest instruction was given to one individual woman of Samaria because an open receptive heart was seen in her. It is the example of readiness to instruct wherever hearts are open to receive truth, revealing the Father and the service acceptable to Him who reads the heart, speaking plainly with no parables and declaring, I that speak unto thee am He. That telling was done with consciousness of more than human greatness yet in a lowly place, entering the lives of humble fishermen and the despised, enlisting sympathy in behalf of the needy and suffering and attracting many. Hearing those words moved the woman to leave her waterpot and go into the city to call her friends to Christ, so that many Samaritans believed, and those same words have continued to exert influence for the saving of souls through the years since.

Though a Jew He crossed Jewish prejudice and Pharisaic custom and mingled freely with Samaritans instead of building separating barriers or constantly thrusting upon people that they were wrong. He accepted the hospitality of this despised people, slept with them under their roofs, ate with them at their tables partaking of food prepared and served by their hands, taught in their streets, and treated them with the utmost kindness and courtesy. While He drew their hearts to Him by the tie of human sympathy, His divine grace brought to them the salvation which the Jews rejected, and His words fell with blessed, life-giving power upon their thirsty souls, awakening new impulses and opening to them the possibility of a new life. His visit to Samaria and His preaching of the gospel to the people of Sychar show He did not share Jewish intolerance toward Samaritans who had some knowledge of God, and that His love remained unchanged despite their earlier rejection of Him. The meeting at Sychar where salvation was preached beyond the Jewish people teaches that people regarded as outsiders also hunger for the truth and that God's kingdom has no national or social barriers.

He did not reprove her for drawing ordinary water from the well but turned the conversation toward something of far greater value, the spiritual gift He could give, the fountain of living water. He found place for the precious truth of His kingdom in the heart of the Samaritan woman though she was a sinner, making her a new bottle into which He could pour the new wine, just as when He called Matthew the publican and when He called the fishermen. He found no place for those lessons among the scribes and Pharisees, who were like old dried-up skin bottles that could not hold the new wine of His kingdom.

His work at the well offering the water of life fulfills the promise in Eden that the Seed of the woman would bruise the serpent's head, a work He continues until every soul has been tested and tried. The world's Redeemer knows the necessities of every soul and supplies spiritual refreshment to the oppressed and languid, to the parched and fainting soul. In that telling He is revealed to the weary, sin-sick soul as the Restorer, the Rest-giver, and the Desire of all nations, giving rest and peace to those who listened in Judea and just as truly to those longing for rest and peace today.

Call to Soul-Winning Work

Leading thirsting souls to living water is soul-winning work to Christ, and it is the reason for establishing sanitariums not as expensive mammoth institutions but as many small, homelike institutions in pleasant places that shine as lights in a dark place. Through properly conducted sanitarium work the influence of true, pure religion is extended to many souls by workers who reflect the sunlight of Christ's face and are as salt that has not lost its savor. There, alongside care for physical health, people of every standing, rich and poor, high and low, from all churches, may find heaven's bread and water of life, learn sound spiritual and physical habits, and receive salvation and truth for this time. The sick are separated for a time from harmful associations and surroundings to receive health-restoring treatment and wise instruction from Christian nurses and physicians, with the salvation of many souls at stake.

The living water offered is pure spiritual drink from the fountain of living waters, and all workers need to drink deeply of it by being worked by the Holy Spirit. The woman's answer trying to enter controversy on literal grounds, that there was nothing to draw with and the well was deep, shows the need for that deeper drinking rather than outward argument. The consolation ministers receive from God in this way refreshes them amid weariness and discouragement. Drinking deeper of that Fountain of life gives a saving influence in teaching the truth, steadies a restless mind, and keeps from mistaking a new phase of error for new light. Christ himself is the inexhaustible source who is received by faith, taken into the life, and followed in example, and the fountain can be drawn from without reducing the supply.

That heavenly fountain was prepared at immense cost to satisfy the thirst of men and women, while human ambition and human invention are broken cisterns that can hold no water and cannot satisfy the soul. Those who know the truth must not try to be satisfied with them but must drink from Christ himself. The water of life is given through agencies of his own planting, established at much expense to save souls as well as to cure bodies. It is connected with Jesus' mercy and love and with his death so that sinners need not perish, and receiving it involves seeing and obeying the truth. He gives that waters of salvation, bread of life, truth as it is in Jesus, and words he spoke in the world, through humble faithful followers in whom he speaks again as they scatter publications bearing precious light, pray humbly, and work unselfishly in humility of heart and simplicity of true godliness, and God blesses that work so it is respected and leads men and women to seek the source of power.

The fountain of living water comes from a divine source, not from human authority or human means, and it is open to everyone who may drink from it again and again. People should therefore seek wisdom and power from God rather than simply adopt another person's ideas. God designs all people to find this water of life, rich and poor, high and low. It is what thirsting souls need and are to be led to through Christ, and Scripture's teaching brings this spiritual life that satisfies the soul's thirst and draws the thirsty person toward the Saviour. The Bible is to be opened to those who thirst for the waters of life so they may receive that life, including those hungry and thirsty for spiritual life who are calling and praying for light while surrounded by error.

People need this spiritual provision of the water of salvation, not temporal food and daily supply only. It sustains a life beyond the body's need for temporal bread, connected with receiving and feeding on God's word which nourishes the soul. Failing to drink from this water leaves vulnerability to the pleasure-loving spirit of the age. Close connection with Christ creates hunger and thirst for his righteousness.