Life-giving Water

"There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, 'Give me a drink... .' The Samaritan woman said to Him, 'How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?' 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... Every one who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.'"

- John 4:7, 9-10, 13.

In reading this story more closely, we find that the Samaritan woman is going to the well in the middle of the day, probably to avoid human contact. What a surprise for her to encounter Jesus, who even begins a conversation with her! He continues to tell her that He knows all about her questionable lifestyle. But that still doesn't stop Him from offering her His "living water."

The woman is so excited about Jesus that she leaves her water jar behind and goes back to her village, to the very people she was probably trying to avoid, to tell them all about Jesus, saying, "Can this be the Christ?" And "many Samaritans from that city believed in Him because of the woman's testimony, 'He told me all that I ever did.'" (John 4:29, 39)

Even though Jesus asked this woman for a drink, I think He was truly thirsting for her soul. He thirsts for each of us and is overjoyed when we leave our "water jars" and inhibitions behind to tell others, "Can this be the Christ?"