Jesus Speaks With the Woman at the WellBible World
4:15John 4:15
The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.
At Jacob's well the Samaritan woman answers the promise of water that ends thirst forever by asking for it in plain, practical terms, hoping she will never thirst again and never need to come to draw. Though she does not yet fully understand, her wondering attention and earnest desire show awakened faith, for she perceives He means more than the water she drinks only to thirst again. The water He offers is His grace and truth and life-giving words meeting the soul's deepest need, springing up within into everlasting life. Once received it becomes an unfailing inner well that purifies, refreshes and strengthens, so the receiver thirsts no more for the riches, honors and pleasures of the world and in turn flows out in good works to refresh others.
Wellside Setting and Request
The meeting happened at Jacob's well at noon, when Jesus sat faint from hunger and thirst after a long morning journey, with cool water close by yet out of reach because the well was deep and He had neither rope nor water-jar, and at that moment a woman of Samaria came with her pitcher to draw and He asked her for a drink. Jews and Samaritans were bitter enemies who avoided social intercourse, the Jews thoroughly despising the Samaritans and refusing to borrow from them or to receive bread or water from their hands, so that hatred withheld kindness and even His disciples did not think to ask a favor of Samaritans or to seek to benefit them. In the East water was called the gift of God and to give a drink to a thirsty traveler was held a sacred duty, yet with tact born of divine love Jesus asked rather than offered a favor, because an offer might have been rejected while trust awakens trust.
He who made the ocean and controls the waters of the deep and opened the springs and channels of the earth rested weary and depended on a stranger's kindness for even a drink, coming as the King of heaven to an outcast soul and asking a service at her hands in order to find the key to her heart. When He spoke of water that ends thirst, she answered in practical, literal terms, hoping it would keep her from thirsting and spare her repeatedly coming to the well to draw. The same request was ready on the lips of many who later heard Him invite the thirsty to drink, longing for living water that satisfies beyond the things of this world.
Astonished by the promise of water that ends thirst forever, she rested her pitcher on the well and forgot her own errand to draw and forgot the Stranger's thirst and His request for drink, lost in earnest desire to hear every word. Her interest was aroused and she looked on with wondering attention, perceiving He meant more than the water of Jacob's well which she used continually only to drink and thirst again. Her asking therefore shows remarkable faith and awakened desire for the gift He offered, though she did not yet fully understand it.
Living Water Gift
The living water Jesus offers is His grace and truth and life-giving words, meeting spiritual and not merely temporal needs and meeting the soul's deepest need, and it springs up within the believer into everlasting life. It is spiritual refreshment and grace for every soul, satisfying spiritual thirst so that the one who receives it need not thirst again or return elsewhere for satisfaction. Her response was given during a personal conversation rather than a public gathering, as she answered His words with desire for the water that gives everlasting life.
It becomes in the receiver an inexhaustible inner well continually supplied, giving strength and grace sufficient for every need, purifying, refreshing and invigorating the soul where the fountains of this world leave people unsatisfied and thirsting again. Those united with Christ have within them a living source of strength and grace for every need, with Christ Himself the unfailing source of the fountain. It is an inexhaustible supply that believers can continually receive and share.
One who tastes the love of Christ continually longs for more of Him, no longer attracted by the riches, honors and pleasures of the world, and no longer left with emptied cisterns and dry pools. Love for God and the satisfying hope of heaven spring up in good works leading to eternal life, so that righteous words and deeds flow out to refresh both self and others. Whoever receives it becomes a source of life, for the living water must also be within His followers, springing up to refresh those they influence, so the receiver becomes a giver and a missionary and Christ's love received in the heart becomes a spring of everlasting life.
The satisfaction it gives means the one who receives it need not thirst again, expressing the longing of people who recognize their spiritual need and want the satisfaction Jesus offers, a wellspring of life that endures forever. His words are the water of life, satisfying the soul in a way that worldly pleasures and outward festivities cannot, reflecting the soul's longing for what satisfies beyond the things of this world. Her asking pictures thirst for truth asking without yet knowing who gives it, for she did not know that Christ, the Truth able to enlighten her, stood beside her. It pictures thirsting souls today who sit close by the living fountain yet look far away and, though told the refreshing water is close by, will not believe, and it also represents people who fail to give Christ the recognition, sympathy and love He longs for.
The conversation stands among many positive invitations of mercy and goodness by which Christ speaks with authority and cuts away doubt and questioning whether the Lord will hear prayer and give mercy and favor and grace and salvation, and here His mission work commenced. The same desire was ready to be expressed by many who later heard Jesus invite the thirsty to drink at the temple and at the feast, longing for the living water that satisfies beyond the things of this world and meets the soul's need and gives everlasting life.
Christ's Outreach and Witness
Though a Jew, He mingled freely with the despised Samaritans in the face of prejudice and set at naught the Pharisaic customs and prejudices of His nation. 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.
His words fell upon their thirsty souls with blessed, life-giving power, awakening new impulses and opening to these outcasts of society the possibility of a new life. In this He recognized the dignity of humanity, and His willingness to offer grace at Sychar shows that His love and gifts are not limited to one race or nation. His work was not to create separating barriers or constantly thrust upon people the fact that they were wrong.
His love for the Samaritans remained unchanged despite their rude treatment of Him. Even while weary He used a personal conversation with one person rather than a public gathering to open precious spiritual truths about His spiritual kingdom. He saw her as receptive, and here His mission work commenced.
He found a place for His truth in the heart of the Samaritan woman even though she was a sinner. She represents those who hear and believe with practical faith, and the episode shows that people despised as unworthy of salvation could hunger for the light of truth. With a teachable spirit emptied of prejudice she accepted Him without any miracle because she believed His word, and was glad for the light.
She became a new bottle into which He could pour the new wine of His kingdom, unlike the scribes and Pharisees who were like old dried-up skin bottles that could not hold it. Her faith stands in contrast to those who saw mighty healings and the mighty outpouring of His Spirit and grace yet would not recognize Him because prejudice reigned in their hearts. This proves that miracles cannot convince hearts closed by prejudice, and those who have never heard the truth have hearts more susceptible to receive it than those who have long been in the truth and had the evidences yet excuse unbelief.
After speaking with Him she went into the city and published the light to her neighbors and countrymen and brought others to meet Him. Her testimony helped bring many Samaritans to come out and hear and believe for themselves. Whoever receives the living water becomes a source of life, so that the receiver springs up to refresh others as a giver and a missionary. The visit to Samaria helped prepare the disciples to carry the gospel to them.
At Jacob's well the Samaritan woman answers the promise of water that ends thirst forever by asking for it in plain, practical terms, hoping she will never thirst again and never need to come to draw. Though she does not yet fully understand, her wondering attention and earnest desire show awakened faith, for she perceives He means more than the water she drinks only to thirst again. The water He offers is His grace and truth and life-giving words meeting the soul's deepest need, springing up within into everlasting life. Once received it becomes an unfailing inner well that purifies, refreshes and strengthens, so the receiver thirsts no more for the riches, honors and pleasures of the world and in turn flows out in good works to refresh others.
Wellside Setting and Request
The meeting happened at Jacob's well at noon, when Jesus sat faint from hunger and thirst after a long morning journey, with cool water close by yet out of reach because the well was deep and He had neither rope nor water-jar, and at that moment a woman of Samaria came with her pitcher to draw and He asked her for a drink. Jews and Samaritans were bitter enemies who avoided social intercourse, the Jews thoroughly despising the Samaritans and refusing to borrow from them or to receive bread or water from their hands, so that hatred withheld kindness and even His disciples did not think to ask a favor of Samaritans or to seek to benefit them. In the East water was called the gift of God and to give a drink to a thirsty traveler was held a sacred duty, yet with tact born of divine love Jesus asked rather than offered a favor, because an offer might have been rejected while trust awakens trust.
He who made the ocean and controls the waters of the deep and opened the springs and channels of the earth rested weary and depended on a stranger's kindness for even a drink, coming as the King of heaven to an outcast soul and asking a service at her hands in order to find the key to her heart. When He spoke of water that ends thirst, she answered in practical, literal terms, hoping it would keep her from thirsting and spare her repeatedly coming to the well to draw. The same request was ready on the lips of many who later heard Him invite the thirsty to drink, longing for living water that satisfies beyond the things of this world.
Astonished by the promise of water that ends thirst forever, she rested her pitcher on the well and forgot her own errand to draw and forgot the Stranger's thirst and His request for drink, lost in earnest desire to hear every word. Her interest was aroused and she looked on with wondering attention, perceiving He meant more than the water of Jacob's well which she used continually only to drink and thirst again. Her asking therefore shows remarkable faith and awakened desire for the gift He offered, though she did not yet fully understand it.
Living Water Gift
The living water Jesus offers is His grace and truth and life-giving words, meeting spiritual and not merely temporal needs and meeting the soul's deepest need, and it springs up within the believer into everlasting life. It is spiritual refreshment and grace for every soul, satisfying spiritual thirst so that the one who receives it need not thirst again or return elsewhere for satisfaction. Her response was given during a personal conversation rather than a public gathering, as she answered His words with desire for the water that gives everlasting life.
It becomes in the receiver an inexhaustible inner well continually supplied, giving strength and grace sufficient for every need, purifying, refreshing and invigorating the soul where the fountains of this world leave people unsatisfied and thirsting again. Those united with Christ have within them a living source of strength and grace for every need, with Christ Himself the unfailing source of the fountain. It is an inexhaustible supply that believers can continually receive and share.
One who tastes the love of Christ continually longs for more of Him, no longer attracted by the riches, honors and pleasures of the world, and no longer left with emptied cisterns and dry pools. Love for God and the satisfying hope of heaven spring up in good works leading to eternal life, so that righteous words and deeds flow out to refresh both self and others. Whoever receives it becomes a source of life, for the living water must also be within His followers, springing up to refresh those they influence, so the receiver becomes a giver and a missionary and Christ's love received in the heart becomes a spring of everlasting life.
The satisfaction it gives means the one who receives it need not thirst again, expressing the longing of people who recognize their spiritual need and want the satisfaction Jesus offers, a wellspring of life that endures forever. His words are the water of life, satisfying the soul in a way that worldly pleasures and outward festivities cannot, reflecting the soul's longing for what satisfies beyond the things of this world. Her asking pictures thirst for truth asking without yet knowing who gives it, for she did not know that Christ, the Truth able to enlighten her, stood beside her. It pictures thirsting souls today who sit close by the living fountain yet look far away and, though told the refreshing water is close by, will not believe, and it also represents people who fail to give Christ the recognition, sympathy and love He longs for.
The conversation stands among many positive invitations of mercy and goodness by which Christ speaks with authority and cuts away doubt and questioning whether the Lord will hear prayer and give mercy and favor and grace and salvation, and here His mission work commenced. The same desire was ready to be expressed by many who later heard Jesus invite the thirsty to drink at the temple and at the feast, longing for the living water that satisfies beyond the things of this world and meets the soul's need and gives everlasting life.
Christ's Outreach and Witness
Though a Jew, He mingled freely with the despised Samaritans in the face of prejudice and set at naught the Pharisaic customs and prejudices of His nation. 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.
His words fell upon their thirsty souls with blessed, life-giving power, awakening new impulses and opening to these outcasts of society the possibility of a new life. In this He recognized the dignity of humanity, and His willingness to offer grace at Sychar shows that His love and gifts are not limited to one race or nation. His work was not to create separating barriers or constantly thrust upon people the fact that they were wrong.
His love for the Samaritans remained unchanged despite their rude treatment of Him. Even while weary He used a personal conversation with one person rather than a public gathering to open precious spiritual truths about His spiritual kingdom. He saw her as receptive, and here His mission work commenced.
He found a place for His truth in the heart of the Samaritan woman even though she was a sinner. She represents those who hear and believe with practical faith, and the episode shows that people despised as unworthy of salvation could hunger for the light of truth. With a teachable spirit emptied of prejudice she accepted Him without any miracle because she believed His word, and was glad for the light.
She became a new bottle into which He could pour the new wine of His kingdom, unlike the scribes and Pharisees who were like old dried-up skin bottles that could not hold it. Her faith stands in contrast to those who saw mighty healings and the mighty outpouring of His Spirit and grace yet would not recognize Him because prejudice reigned in their hearts. This proves that miracles cannot convince hearts closed by prejudice, and those who have never heard the truth have hearts more susceptible to receive it than those who have long been in the truth and had the evidences yet excuse unbelief.
After speaking with Him she went into the city and published the light to her neighbors and countrymen and brought others to meet Him. Her testimony helped bring many Samaritans to come out and hear and believe for themselves. Whoever receives the living water becomes a source of life, so that the receiver springs up to refresh others as a giver and a missionary. The visit to Samaria helped prepare the disciples to carry the gospel to them.