As we continue in our Modern Day Jesus series, we come to a passage that is often a topic of discussion in Sunday School or bible study classes. In John chapter 4 we see Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well. Passages such as this have many theological truths that can be gained from them. Typically we focus on the woman or on Jesus’ proclamation that he is the messiah. Sometimes we focus on the deity of Jesus and his conversation about this woman’s husbands, but today I want to focus on the living water that Jesus is talking about.
by Angelica Kauffman, 1796
So that we don’t take anything out of context, I want us to start back at the beginning of the chapter. John 4:1-3 give us the background, the events leading up to Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well. Jesus knew very well who he was and what he was sent to do. He also knew that it was not yet his time to die. Therefore, when the Pharisees started getting upset with him, he hit the road and headed back to Galilee.
As we continue with John 4:4-6, what I find interesting is the choice of words. It states that Jesus had to go through Samaria. We aren’t given the exact reason that he had to do this. Maybe he knew that he was going to meet this woman, but no specific reason is given. The reason I find it interesting that Jesus had to go through Samaria is because Jews didn’t normally do that. Jews didn’t really like the Samaritans. They were like those relatives in your family that keep reminding you that you’re related no matter how much you tried to forget. The Jews looked down on the Samaritans and considered them to be half-breeds.
After the conquest of the northern kingdom (722 B.C.), some of the Jews were taken away by their Assyrian conquerors while others were left behind. The rulers then sent some of their own people to live among the Israelites that stayed behind in order to intermingle with them, to marry them and have children. Empires would do this in an attempt to stop future uprisings. In so doing, many of these people, later to become known as Samaritans, began worshiping the gods of their conquerors. The Jews that had been taken away into exile stayed true to the one true God, and when they eventually came back, they wanted nothing to do with the Samaritan half-breeds. Eventually the Samaritans turned back to God, but it was too late, the Jews had already scorned them. When the Jews rebuilt the temple, the Samaritans even offered assistance, but the Jews refused their help (Ezra 4:2). This is why the Samaritans built their own temple. The Jews disliked the Samaritans so much that it’s said they wouldn’t even eat meat that had been handled by a Samaritan.
It was because of all of this history that many Jews avoided Samaria altogether. It was not uncommon for Jews travelling through Samaria to be detained for a while, so the typical route between Jerusalem and Galilee, rather than going through Samaria, was to cross the Jordan River, travel north around Samaria, and then cross the Jordan River again into Galilee. But Jesus, as it states, had to go through Samaria. He stops in the city of Sychar. It’s high noon, in the heat of the day, and he sits down by the well. He had been traveling for days and was worn out and thirsty. Continuing in verse 7.
As the story continues in John 4:7-9, we see Jesus talking with the Samaritan woman. Jews don’t like Samaritans, yet we see Jesus asking this woman for a drink. Her response to him is to basically tell him, “Don’t you know that you’re supposed to be prejudiced towards me?”
Another aspect that I want to make sure isn’t overlooked is the time of day. Jesus and the woman meet at the well, and it is high noon, the hottest point in the day. This was not the normal time for people to come to the well. Typically it was the woman’s job to go to the well and retrieve the water for the day. They would go to the well during a cooler part of the day, either morning or evening, before it really started to get too hot. Nobody wanted to be out when it was hot. Since everybody needed to come to get water and nobody wanted to come when it was hot, the cooler time of day was typically a time of social interaction at the well. The ladies would gather together, and as is common in social gatherings, they’d begin to talk. They’d talk about this and that, who was courting who and the latest juicy gossip. Yet this woman came at noon, during the heat of the day. For some reason she’d rather come to the well in the heat of the day than to talk with all the ladies about the local gossip.
As the conversation continues in John 4:10-12, there’s a bit of miscommunication. Jesus had a way of taking something of the natural world and using it to explain something in the spiritual world. Unfortunately not everyone he spoke to in this way understood what he was trying to say. We can tell by the woman’s response that she fully understood this living water to be just like normal water. In John 4:13-14 Jesus explains to her the significance of this living water.
Now, this is an intriguing proposal. Something is causing this woman to come to this well at a time in the day when nobody else would come. She’s avoiding people for a reason that is likely explained later in the scriptures. If she had this living water, she would never have to come to the well again. The woman was obviously intrigued. This is the beauty about how Jesus interacted with people. He didn’t try to push himself on them. Instead he met them where they were, got them interested, and made them start asking him. In verse 15:
In John 4:15 the woman’s interest is piqued. Jesus has told her about living water, and now she wants it. However, as we’ve said, Jesus had a way of taking normal, worldly things and using them to relate a spiritual truth. The question begging to be asked is this. What is living water? Jesus doesn’t come right out and tell us in this passage. Unfortunately, as is common throughout the Bible, in order to understand bigger, more complex doctrines, we need to glean little bits of information from numerous passages in the scriptures. Fortunately for us, this was not the only time that Jesus spoke of living water. In John 7:38-39 Jesus speaks once again about living water.
by Heiliger Geist 1714
This passage makes it clear. The living water that Jesus was giving away is the Holy Spirit which has been poured out. Jesus explained to us that while we serve and worship one God, that God manifests himself in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Throughout scripture we can see that while each is separate, each is fully God. So the short of it is, the living water that Jesus is speaking about is God the Holy Spirit. When he offers this woman living water, in essence he is offering her the Holy Spirit.
Now that we know what that living water is the Holy Spirit, the next question is, “What does living water do?” Jesus told the woman at the well that if she had known who he was she would have asked him for living water. Jesus makes it sound as if this living water is something we should want, so what exactly does it do that would make us want it so much?
We begin to get a picture in Matthew 5:6. We will be filled, but with what? Living water, of course. As Jesus explained, whoever drinks this living water will never thirst again, but he’s not talking about a physical thirst. He’s talking about a spiritual thirst, a thirst for the righteous things of God, a thirst for righteousness. This is the thirst that will be quenched by living water, a thirst, a desire, to be righteous, to be like God.
Additionally, as we’ve already read, living water becomes a spring of water welling up to eternal life (John 4:14). Remember, we’re talking about the spiritual. Physical eternal life would mean that you get to walk this earth forever, but spiritual eternal life is much more than that, as Jesus explains in John 17:3. This living water not only quenches our thirst for righteousness, our desire to be more like God, it also gives us eternal life, a relationship with God, the creator of the universe.
So far we’ve discovered that living water is the Holy Spirit. We know that living water will quench our thirst for righteousness, our desire to be like God, and it will give us eternal life, a relationship with God. The final question we have is this. How do we get living water?
In his conversation with the woman at the well, Jesus gave two stipulations for receiving this living water. First he tells the woman, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink.” Basically he’s telling her, “If you knew who I was and believed in me.” This is the same thing he told Nicodemus in John 3:16.
Before we go any further, I think it’s important that we clarify what is being said here. When this word “believe” is translated from the Greek to English, it loses a lot of its meaning. In today’s usage of the word, we often use it to say things like, “I believe Pike’s Peak has snow on it right now,” “I believe Batman is the best superhero of all time,” or “I believe that Android is superior to iOS.” However, that’s not what this word means. While we translate it as believe, it goes deeper than that. This word for believe signifies a complete trust.
Think about it this way. When I first moved to Beulah, ND, I didn’t know my way around. In order to get anywhere I had to either ask for directions or use GPS. As the GPS gave me directions, I believed that it was giving me proper directions. However, not only did I have to believe the directions were correct, the fact that I followed the directions demonstrated my trust in the GPS. If you believe in that GPS, that it will give you proper directions, then you will follow those directions. You place your trust in the hands of that GPS to get you where you’re going. The same is true with living water. If we want this living water, we must believe in Jesus. Not a simple head knowledge, but a trust. Just like with the GPS we need to believe in him and demonstrate that trust by following his directions. When you stop to think about it, it makes sense. If you want to be like God and have a relationship with God, it makes sense that the requirement is that you believe in him and trust in him.
The second thing Jesus tells this woman she needs to do is to simply ask. He doesn’t make it complicated. If you know who he is, you believe in him and want to be like him, just ask. This is what we teach in the church of the Nazarene as entire sanctification. When you thirst after righteousness and desire to be like God, he will help you to do that. The Holy Spirit will cleanse you from the inside and fill you. He’ll enable you to live the righteous, holy life that you desire to live, but it all starts with believing in him and asking him for living water.