Fountain of Living Water

 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).

Jesus showed that He was not to be controlled by the cultural prejudices of His day. Although He was a male and a Jew while she was a female and a Samaritan, Jesus spoke to her despite the political incorrectness of the day, For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. The incarnation of God’s Word humbly sought a drink from a woman of Samaria. The Spirit revealed the full humanity of Christ here as in Christ God was thirsty. At the same time, the Spirit revealed the full divinity of Christ as Jesus shared precious spiritual truth with this despised woman. Jesus showed this precious Samaritan woman that He was the gift of God, that if she trusted Him she would never be thirsty again, and that He wanted to be her fountain of living water.

The Spirit of Truth teaches that Jesus Christ is the gift of God. God is good... “For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you” (Psalm 86:5). God is generous… “For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly” (Psalm 84:11). Because He is good and generous, God gives good gifts… “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17).  Jesus Christ affirms the truth that God gives good gifts to His children… “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11). And Jesus presented Himself as the good and perfect gift that this poor Samaritan woman needed. The Spirit inspired Paul to affirm Jesus as the great gift of God… “Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15).

The Spirit of Truth teaches that Jesus Christ meets every need. This woman traveled far, seeking water that would quench her physical thirst. She encountered a stranger who offered a solution to a deeper spiritual need that she was not even thinking about at the moment. The Spirit gives us another glimpse into the divinity of Christ here by showing us His omniscience and compassion. Jesus knew and exposed this woman’s real need. Then through Christ, God offered to meet her deepest need… “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).

The Spirit of Truth teaches that Jesus Christ offers believers living water. Not long after drinking water from Jacob’s well this Samaritan woman would thirst again. She would return to her same old difficult life. But she had just met Christ, the incarnation of God, whom the prophet Jeremiah identified as the fountain of living water… “O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be put to shame; those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living water” (Jeremiah 17:13). In Christ, the Word offered this needy woman a spring of water welling up to eternal life. Christ makes the same life transforming and sustaining offer to all who will believe in Him… “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water’” (John 7:38).

As we grow up into Christ we are filled to overflowing with new eternal life because He is our…

Fountain of Living Water.