Water Of Life

Jesus Christ In The Writings Of John
JESUS THE WATER OF LIFE

Lesson Text:
John 4:5-14 (KJV) [also study John 4:1-42]

Subject:
Jesus Teaches a Lesson on the Water of Life

Golden Texts:
“Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” (Rev. 22:17)
“Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.” (John 4:14)

Lesson Plan:
1. INTRODUCTION
2. THE TEACHER RESTING BY A FAMOUS WELL (VS. 1-6)
3. THE UNLIKELY STUDENT (V. 7)
4. THE WISE APPROACH (VS. 7-9)
5. GREAT OBSTACLES OVERCOME (V. 9)
6. A LESSON ON THE WATER OF LIFE (VS. 10-14)

Setting of the Lesson:
Time: Probably December A.D. 27, inferred from the saying of Jesus in v. 35.
Place: Province of Samaria. At Jacob’s well, near Sychar (commonly identified with the village of Askar, less than a mile north Jacob’s well; about 2 miles west of modern Nablus), in the valley between Mts. Ebal and Gerizim.
Place in the Life of Christ: At the close of the Judean ministry and beginning of the Galilean ministry. The end of the first year of His public ministry. Jesus – now about 31 years old, having preached about a year. John the Baptist – Preaching at Enon, near the Jordan, between Jericho and the Sea of Galilee.

Inductive Study of the Lesson:
a. The main theme of this study should be the water of life. The verses under each heading should be brought together, and the different thoughts and various aspects they present should be summed up, making a full and clear statement of the subject as revealed in the Bible, applying it to daily life.
b. The thirsts of the soul: Psalms 42:1-3; Matthew 5:6; 16:26; Romans 7:23, 24; Psalms 51:1-10; 63:1-3; Revelation 3:17.
c. The failure of the world to satisfy the thirst: Ecclesiastes 1:12-14; 2:1-11; Romans 7:18-24.
d. The Water of life. The symbol: Psalms 46:4; 42:1; 23:2; Matthew 5:6; John 4:10, 14; 7:37, 38; Isaiah 55:1-3, 10-13; 41:17, 18; 44:3; 35:1, 7; 12:3; Revelation 22:1, 2; Ezekiel 47:12; 36:25. John 1:1-14 (Nothing in all literature or all history is more worthy to be written indelibly on the heart).
e. The water of life. The Holy Spirit: Luke 11:13; John 4:14; 7:37-39; 14:16, 17; 16:13; Acts 2:1-4, 16-18; 10:44, 45; Joel 2:28, 29; Zechariah 14:8; Ezekiel 36:26, 27; Proverbs 4:23.

Research and Discussion:
The prejudice between Jews and Samaritans.
Jacob’s well and its associations.
Jesus’ method of winning this disciple, compared with
His method with Nicodemus.
The water of life.
How Jesus made the Samaritan woman realize her spiritual thirst.
True worship.

1. INTRODUCTION

a. The thirsts of the soul. The urgent need of the water of life. Thirst is a type of the intense human desires impelling men to activity, satisfying happiness, life and progress. Absence of physical moisture from a man’s body for a day or two brings indescribable distress, and if continued long enough will cause death.

Consider Coleridg’s “Ancient Mariner” who finds, “Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink.”

It has been said that of all the physical wants man can feel, none is capable of being raised to such a pitch of intensity as the want of water.

This expresses the pain of unsatisfied desires of the soul. For every person is full of wants, longings, desires, hopes, both of the body and soul. There are thirsts for pleasure, power, money, respect, love, and knowledge. There are thirsts for friendship and love of God, forgiveness, immortal life, holiness, happiness, usefulness, heaven, a larger sphere, and broader life. The larger the soul; the greater its thirsts.

The greatness of any being is measured by the number of his desires and thirsts; by their quality; by their capacity, intensity.

The soul grows from the satisfaction of these hungers and thirsts. A soul with no appetite is sick. Education, civilization, progress, goodness, always increase the thirsts of the soul.

Heaven is not the quiet of “Nirvana,” but larger vision, more and purer desires to be satisfied. You cannot be satisfied without the “desires.” Every time we thirst after righteousness, and the thirst is satisfied, we have a larger vision of what righteousness is a more heavenly thirst, a larger, fuller, sweeter satisfaction. There can be no heaven if these great thirsts go unsatisfied.

b. This world can never satisfy the thirsts of the soul. The ambitions, longings, thirsts for wealth, power, and pleasure, are never fully and continually satisfied by anything the world or flesh can give. The pleasures clog as in Johnson’s “Rasselas,” where is described one who in the absolute perfections of the Happy Valley was so discontented that with great difficulty he climbed over the surrounding wall of mountain crags and escaped.

Even common bodily appetites are only partially satisfied without the spiritual and heavenly. This world cannot satisfy the spiritual thirsts of the soul. Seeking satisfaction in this world is like trying to quench thirst by drinking salt water. The more we drink, the thirstier we are.

Under the most favorable circumstances, Solomon tried all the world had to give, finding all to be vanity and vexation of spirit. Alexander conquered the world, but it did not satisfy his soul; and, if he could have conquered all the worlds that stud the heavens, he would still have wept for more. Why? Because God has never created a single human soul so small and poor that it can be filled only by the material universe. Literature is filled with expressions of the failure of trying to satisfy the soul with worldly things.

c. The water of life. Jacob’s well was a type of the sources of earthly good. As God has made the world full of streams to satisfy our bodily thirst, so He has made it full of springs to satisfy our natural longings and desires. And by each fountain of earthly good Jesus still sits, pointing men to the higher and better things of which it is a hint and a type. By earthly pleasure He points to heavenly and spiritual joy; by earthly riches He teaches us of treasures in heaven; by earthly love He points to heavenly love; by earthly desires to heavenly desires; by earthly activity and business to zeal and earnestness in the kingdom of God.

Living water denotes the gift of the Holy Spirit. This was preeminently the promised gift of the Father (see especially Is. 44; Joel 2), beautifully and most aptly symbolized by the flesh, springing water, which, wherever it comes, makes the desert rejoice and everything live.” (Ezek. 47:9) [Schaff]

It is the source and life of every virtue, every good, including all the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22, 23), every cleansing, life-giving, beautifying influence in the world.

As many sided as man is, so is the religion of Jesus many sided. As He has made music for the ear, light and beauty for the eye, water for thirst, food for hunger, so He has something to meet every want and satisfy every thirst of man. Even the wants of our physical nature are not perfectly satisfied except through Him. Our food is not perfect unless we eat and drink to the glory of God, and have with it not only “the feast of reason and the flow of soul,” but the flow of gratitude and love. To be perfect, our natural wants must be transfigured. Jesus transforms the whole life, making the desert blossom like the rose. The living waters are inexhaustible because there is no limit to the sources of supply, just as the fountains and springs are filled from the limitless ocean, by means of God’s “cloud chariots.”

There are more of the influences of God’s Spirit waiting for us than we can receive. We might as well expect to breathe all God’s air, or use all His sunlight, as to exhaust the gifts of His Holy Spirit He urges us to receive.

Christ does not give us a cup of water, from which we can drink up and the contents be exhausted, but a fountain of water in our own souls, ever flowing, ever fresh, inexhaustible. This is what completes the gift, making it perfect. It is not a cistern, but a fountain. It is not outside; it is within us.

Illustrations
“The Conquest of Arid America,” by William E. Smythe (Harper), shows how water from the mountains can transform the arid desert regions of our western plains into gardens and orchards and prosperous homes. “It lies there a clean blank page, awaiting the makers of history – the goodly heritage of our people.”

“Water, water, water, is Mr. Smythe’s refreshing burden. He reiterates and magnifies Pindar’s definition of the virtue of water as the purest and best. He sees in it the qualities of an elixir for civilization. Irrigation is next to providence in the regeneration of humanity.”

The need of churches, the people, the whole country is the reception of God’s gift of the living waters through His Holy Spirit, making the moral desert “blossom as the rose” (read Is. 55).

Cisterns or fountains
Those who drink of this living water are not selfish, but let it flow freely to all. They are not cisterns, but fountains. It is the very nature of the Christian to impart. Those imparting to others have the fullest and freshest supply for themselves. Out flowing keeps the fountain pure.

There is an oriental legend of a fountain into whose waters a good angel infused the mysterious power that a new fountain gushed wherever some drops fell on the barren plain, so that a traveler carrying a portion of this water could safely traverse any desert however wide or day, because he took with him the secret of unfailing springs; and he could impart their waters to others.

d. How Jesus awakened and deepened the consciousness of thirst. The remainder of the story shows how Jesus brought the woman to a consciousness of her sin and unworthy life, so she might feel her need, and seek the waters of eternal life. Convincing of sin and need, as a preparation for further light and life, is illustrated everywhere. No one will seek a physician unless he feels sick, or take food unless hungry or read good books without a thirst for knowledge.

SCRIPTURE READING: JOHN 4:1-6

2. THE TEACHER RESTING BY A FAMOUS WELL

For several months Jesus and John the Baptist were preaching to crowds at the same time in different parts of Judea, John extending his labors up the Jordan, but not entering Galilee, as far as we know. John, from the nature of his work, sent to Jesus those interested and desiring to be delivered from sin, till, after a while, Jesus had more followers than John. John’s glory was in self-renunciation, leading men from himself to the Messiah.

Why did Jesus leave Judea and go to Galilee?
The reason given in v 1 was the interference of the Pharisees. Jesus and John the Baptist were so different in their ways that it would be easy to bring the disciples of the two into collision, so that instead of John’s mission being a preparation; it would become a hindrance to the work of Jesus.

Illustration
Wait till the scaffolding has been taken away before furnishing the house. Let the plowing end before sowing seed in the same field.

The Greek word in v. 3 for “left” Judea is an unusual one. “The general idea that it conveys is that of leaving anything to itself, to its own wishes, ways, fate; of withdrawing whatever controlling power was exercised before.” (Westcott)

The natural result was that the growing popularity of one who claimed to be their Messiah, but disavowed their views and condemned their conduct, should awaken intense opposition on the part of the Pharisees, as well as envy on the part of the more zealous, but less Christianized disciples of John the Baptist.

It was wise, therefore, that Jesus should leave these stony and brier-overgrown fields and go to Galilee, where there were fewer prejudices and more open minds, and there get His kingdom well rooted and started, before He returned to Judea again. Hence He left Judea, by one of the great highways leading to the valley between Mt. Ebal on the north, and Mt. Gerizim on the south, and came to

4:5 ... “A city … called Sychar … that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.” (See Gen. 33:18-20; 48:22) Few places in Palestine, after Jerusalem, have had so much of Bible history connected with them.¹ Abraham, Jacob, Joseph’s bones from Egypt, the great meeting on entering Canaan, the decision to divide the kingdom, etc., are all connected with this place. Vincent points out that “Sychar” means drunken town, or lying town. “No spot in all the Holy Land was more lovely and attractive in natural scenery, and none was richer in its varied associations than that region which came within the sweep of the eyes of Jesus as He sat down to rest by the well.” (Trumbull)

4:6 ... “Now Jacob’s well was there.” “One of the few sites about which there is no dispute. It is a short half mile south of Askar, and a mile from Nablus, the ancient Shechem. It is at the fork of the roads which lead to these two villages. The well is 75 feet deep, but originally much deeper, as the bottom has been filled up with rubbish. The well is about 7 feet, 6 inches in diameter, but the mouth of it is a narrow neck 4 feet long, and only large enough for a man to pass through with arms uplifted.” (Hastings’ Bible Dictionary)

Ryle noted that this reference contains all that is known about this well, as to its origin; because the Bible nowhere mentions Jacob digging a well, although it is recorded that Abraham and Isaac dug wells. Coffman writes, “Still, this reference is enough. The well is still there and is, in all probability, one of the few authentic places that can be identified as the place where Jesus sat.”

The word for well in Greek means “fountain.” Originally it was probably a well of running water, but later became so filled up that it had only surface water for drawing. The woman in vs 11 and 12 uses the other word, meaning “cistern” or “well.” In 1866, Capt. S. Anderson was let down to the bottom of the well by rope, with great difficulty and reported, “The well is dug in alluvial soil and lined throughout with rough masonry. The bottom of the well was perfectly dry during the month of May, and covered with loose stones. I can confirm the saying of the Samaritan woman that ‘the well is deep.’”

In 1697, Maundrell determined the depth at one hundred and five feet, with fifteen feet of water. In 1838, Calhoun found nearly the same depth of water. However, in 1839 he found the well to be seventy-five feet deep with ten or twelve feet of water. In 1841, Dr. Wilson found the depth only seventy-five feet, which is confirmed by the later measurements of Captain Anderson in 1866, and of Lieutenant Conder in 1875” (Vincent). In 1914, McGarvey wrote, “All visitors of more recent date have found it dry and gradually filling up from the habit of throwing stones into it to hear the reverberation when they struck the bottom.”

A retired professor and frequent visitor to the Bible Lands, points out that while visiting Jacob’s Well in 1998, he found it in use, guarded, with flowing water; in the center of a Byzantine church. He also pointed out that the well’s depth is now about 115 ft.

4:6 ... “Jesus therefore, being wearied with His journey.” Since the Word became flesh (1:14), He also suffered from physical limitations in His humanity (Heb. 2:10-14). The perfect humanity of Jesus is evident in the Gospel of John. He alone recorded the saying from the cross, “I thirst!” and it appears that the apostle was particularly impressed with the bone-tired weariness of Jesus as He sat wearily by the well when the apostles departed to buy provisions.

“It would appear that the Lord’s unusual weariness might have resulted from the fervor and enthusiasm with which the preaching and baptizing had been accomplished in the preceding days. It was the kind of letdown that every great campaigner feels when the effort is over; and the long march up from Judea had intensified His weariness.” (Coffman)

He had probably been walking several hours, as the Orientals were accustomed to start early in the morning, .

4:6 ... “And it was about the sixth hour.” “If John used the Jewish reckoning of time, calculated from sunrise at about 6:00 a.m., the time was about noon. If John used Roman time, which started reckoning from 12:00 p.m., the time would be about 6:00 p.m.” (MacArthur Study Bible) Josephus describes Moses sitting at a well at ‘mid-day,’ weary with his journey, and the women coming to water their flocks (Antiquities 2: II, I)

4:6 ... “Sat [was sitting] thus on [by] the well.” Probably on the low curb usually placed around wells (Ex. 21:33), resting, and waiting for the return of His disciples (v 8).

Illustration
The preacher was weary, but not discouraged. Feeling “more fit to go to bed than to preach,” he looked up and said, “Lord Jesus, I am weary in Thy work, but not weary of it.”

Practical
a. Wayside ministries. Jesus was always ready for good work in season and out of season. Many of our best opportunities come to us at unusual and irregular times, as mere incidents in our regular duties.

b. Jesus weary and resting. There is a certain comfort in knowing that Jesus was weary, that He grew tired as His work pressed Him, that He felt the need of rest and longed for it. If Jesus felt weariness in His life work, and yielded to it without sinning, we also are entitled to be tired and to take rest, as a part of our likeness to Christ (Trumbull).

c. Jesus sitting by the wells of life. By every fountain of earthly good Jesus still sits, pointing men to the higher and better things of which it is a hint and a type. By earthly pleasure He points to heavenly and spiritual joy; by earthly riches He teaches us of treasures in heaven; by earthly love He points to heavenly love; by earthly desires, to heavenly desires; by earthly activity and business, to zeal and earnestness in the kingdom of God.

d. This well was a type of the Samaritan religion. Originally they had the living water of the books of Moses, and drank from them as Jacob and His sons from the living water of the Shechem well. But the water became stagnant. They never went beyond Moses; the well was so filled up with forms and prejudices and the mere letter of the law that the living water was covered up.

“The stagnant well of water, becoming muddy by agitation, and corrupt by lying undisturbed, is inferior for use and gratification, and is not like the running water of the living spring, which continually freshens itself, and runs itself clear, and is always replenishing itself in purity and copiousness, for use and enjoyment.” (Bosanquet)

There is the same danger for us today.

SCRIPTURE READING: JOHN 4:7

3. THE UNLIKELY STUDENT

4:7 ... “There cometh a woman of [out of] Samaria.” Not the city of Samaria, seven miles away, but from the country of Samaria; one of Samaritan race and religion.

4:7 ... “To draw water.” “She did not come from the city, where there were plenty of better wells, nor would it be natural to suppose that she did so. This was the well of the cornfields, dug there for the express purpose of providing water for those employed in the sowing and the reaping of those fields. Women were often engaged in the labor of the fields, or in ministry to laborers there, and this Samaritan woman seems to have been so employed. Commonly, the women drew water for the men.” (Trumbull)

Practical
a. Notice that Jesus was always willing to teach one student, without waiting for numbers. Like this Samaritan woman and Nicodemus, He often gave His choicest thoughts to one.

b. This student was one of the most unlikely; a disreputable woman, rather bold and free in her manners, voluble of tongue, unlike most of the women who ministered to Jesus. And yet Jesus gave her His time, His best thoughts, His care. A single soul, even the poorest and most obscure, is worthy of all our efforts, our time, our earnestness, and our best truth.

c. The fourth Gospel may be called the Gospel of the Conversations, for, more than any other, it reports particular interviews of our Lord with individuals. These conversations, too, are real conversations, for Jesus was not like some famous men, who discourse in monologue. Not infrequently, He gave the thought and let them do the talking. “Christ never appears to have saved anything for a large audience, nor feared that any utterance of truth, breathed into the receptive heart of however humble a hearer, could fail of its effort.” (Vose)

d. Note how differently Jesus presents the truth to this woman and to Nicodemus, who, because he did not feel his need, needed to be shown the necessity of a new birth. This woman knew and felt her sin. It was cleansing and new life that she needed – the same Gospel from different points of view.

A character study
The woman of Samaria was a most unlikely disciple. As mentioned above, she was entirely different from the women who ministered to Jesus, such as Mary and Martha of Bethany, Salome, and the wife of Chuza.

She was disreputable;
Rather bold and free in her manners;
With a rather coarse attractiveness;
Of some native ability;
Of open soul;
A Samaritan;
Of a perverted religious training.

One might think she would have been almost repulsive to Jesus, and yet He saw the open mind, the possibilities of her nature. “It is strange that Christ should often speak His most remarkable words to the least remarkable persons” (Fairbairn). What a comfort that is to us.

SCRIPTURE READING: JOHN 4:7-8

4. THE WISE APPROACH

First. Jesus asked a favor
4:7 ... “Give Me to drink.” The Savior asked for water because He needed it, but He used the request as a means of preparing the way for His teaching. A useless request would have defeated His purpose. “It was an act full of the nicest tact, and exhibiting perfect knowledge of the human mind. He asks a favor and puts Himself under an obligation. No line of proceeding, it is well known to all wise people, would be more likely to conciliate the woman’s feelings towards Him, and to make her willing to hear His teaching.” (Ryle) .

Second
He used, as He often did, the things nearest at hand, as His text or introductory illustration – the common, every day, natural objects around Him – as a means of leading this woman to eternal truths: here the well and water-jar; by the sea, nets and fishing; the loaves for the bread of life.

Third
Jesus ignored race prejudice and religious differences entirely, demonstrating the courtesy and largeness of His heart – a most attractive factor.

Fourth
The Lord’s wisdom appears still greater when we consider the significance among the Orientals of giving drink. “Among us, even an enemy might ask or receive a drink of water without fear of compromising himself or his opponent; but not so in the East. There, the giving and the receiving of a drink of water is the seeking and making of a covenant of hospitality, with all that that covenant implies. It is not, indeed, like a covenant of blood or a covenant of salt – indissoluble; but it is like the covenant of bread sharing, which makes a truce, for the time being, between deadliest enemies.” (Trumbull)

Regarding Oriental customs it is not considered “improper for a man, though a stranger, to ask a woman to let down her pitcher and give him to drink.” (Lennep)

It is just possible that, as Sadler says, “the chances were that He would be rudely refused, as, in fact, He was on another occasion, when under similar circumstances He sought a night’s rest in one of the villages of this alien race.” (Luke 9:53) But Westcott is probably right: “He made an appeal to common human kindness that goes deeper down than religion or moral antagonisms.”

Illustration
In Scott’s, The Talisman, King Richard of England and his knights were entertained by Saladin, but when the Templar, who had just committed a foul murder, was about to drink, just as the cup reached his lips the saber of Saladin “left its sheath as lightning leaves the cloud,” and smote off the Templar’s head. Saladin had not intended to punish in this way, but said: “If I had permitted him to taste of my cup, how could I then without incurring the brand of inhospitality, have done him to death as he deserved? Had he murdered my father, and afterward have partaken of my food and my bowl, not a hair of his head could have been injured by me.”

“Jesus saith unto her, Give Me to drink.” In this account, we are confronted with remarkable contrasts between:

God and man
Man and woman
Royalty and commonality
Wisdom and ignorance
Unmarried and the oft-married
Purity and immorality

Jew and Gentile
In his commentary on John, Coffman, points out that “These multiple contrasts of race, sex, religion, moral status, marital status, social position, ability, wisdom, etc., must be accounted the most dramatic and significant of any that occurred in our Lord’s ministry. Yet, Jesus and that woman had one think in common; both wanted a drink of water. Unerringly, Jesus saw the common ground between them and did not hesitate to stand with her upon the common platform of their mutual need. How loving, tender and considerate was our Lord in His attitude toward this daughter of Samaria!”

Fifth
4:8 ... “For His disciples were gone away … to buy.” They would bring with them means with which to draw water, or they expected that at this time of day some one was sure to come along who could draw the water. Some think that John remained with Jesus and overheard the conversation he reported.

This is given as the reason why He asked the woman instead of His disciples to draw the water; and also why He could talk more freely to the woman. In many cases, reproof, advice, and entreaty are much more effective with one person alone than when others are present. The wise parent or teacher avoids the effect of the audience on the child. All of us are affected by the presence of others seeing what we do, and how we take reproof or advice. The reproved in that case usually always resist longer, and the stubborn become even more stubborn.

Illustrations and Suggestions
Notice the wise approach of Jesus to the lesson He wished to teach, which might have easily been rejected, or have failed to reach the understanding and heart of the woman. “The way to gain another’s good-will is not at first by doing, but by receiving a kindness.” (Abbott)

We are told that “When Harmosan, a Persian ruler, surrendered to Khaleef Omar, and was brought a prisoner into the presence of his captor, he asked at once for a drink. Omar asked him if he were thirsty. ‘No,’ he said, ‘I only wish to drink in your presence, so that I may be sure of my life.’ He was assured that he might rest perfectly secure; and that assurance was kept.” (Trumbull)

Note how this woman found Jesus while performing her daily duties; like the wise woman of Medina.

Examples
It’s been said, “An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.” When idle we are easy prey for the devil. The angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds while they were keeping watch by night over their flocks. Matthew was called while receiving custom. Peter and Andrew, his brother, were fishing; James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, were mending their nets, when called by Jesus.

SCRIPTURE READING: JOHN 4:9

5. GREAT OBSTACLES OVERCOME

4:9 ... “How is it that Thou, being a Jew.” The difference in dress, speech, manner, etc., made plain His nationally.

4:9 ... “Askest drink,” etc. “The wonder of the Samaritan woman was that a Jew should seek, by asking and receiving drink, to make a friendly compact with a member of a hostile race.” (Trumbull)

4:9 ... “For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.” A remark thrown in by the writer to give the reason for her surprise. “This ill-will, however, did not extend beyond familiar intercourse, for in such matters as buying and selling intercourse was allowed” (Tittmann). The slight differences in nationality (the Samaritans being a mixed race), in religion (the Samaritans retaining only the Pentateuch, rejecting the prophets), and a rivalry in temple and religious worship, separated the two sections, and the bitterness was all the greater because there was so much in common.

Illustrations
The rivalry between business men is far greater between those in the same business, or the same city, than between those whose business is so different that there is no danger of collision. This occasionally happens when churches are located near one another. Sadly, many will be on the best terms with certain races as servants, but repel with indignation the same people attempting social equality.

Practical
It would not be easy to find in modern times a more difficult position as to race, social conditions and religious intolerance than that which Jesus faced at this time. He wished to gain the Jews to His cause, and yet to converse with this woman and with the Samaritans would excite prejudice against Him from the Jews. But He went straight forward in the path of duty, leaving the consequences with God. The greater the mind, the nobler the character, the more assured the position, the less power there is in prejudice.

Illustration
We often look at people, not as through a clear glass, seeing them as they really are, but as through a colored glass, or as reflected in one of those mirrors which distort every feature.

Compare the feeling toward the Jews so universal in the Middle Ages,² so strong still in Russia and France; not wholly extinct even in England and America. Has race and class died out? Jesus had reason to feel as many of His followers have felt since, that being too free with the Samaritans would prejudice His cause with stricter Jews. What are your feelings on the subject?

SCRIPTURE READING: JOHN 4:10-14

6. A LESSON ON THE WATER OF LIFE

4:10 ... “If thou knewest.” There were two things which the woman did not know – the gift of living water, and the presence of the Messiah. “The pathos of the situation strikes Jesus. The woman stands on the brink of the greatest possibilities, but is unconscious of them.” (Exp. Greek Test.)

Illustration
In a sermon titled, ‘’The Living Water,” Dr. William Harrison told the story of a father and daughter, dwellers in an old Scottish castle, so poor they could only live in the scantiest way. However, all the time they were rich, because in a secret cupboard were masses of flashing jewels, put there by some ancestor. If they had only known how rich they were. Likewise God’s utmost gift of forgiveness, strength, love, power for noble living, is presently before us, ours for the taking, if we only knew.

4:10 ... “The gift of God.” His Son and the salvation³ He was bringing to man – The Messiah and the waters of eternal life. Perhaps there is no cry more striking than that of the Eastern water-carrier – “The gift of God,” he cries, as he goes along with his water-skin on his shoulders.

Jesus here refers to Himself as the gift of God to the entire world. Isn’t it amazing? – The supreme gift of God from all eternity now sits on the ledge of Jacob’s well. We should praise the Holy Spirit⁴ for allowing us this moment in our Lord’s earthly life. This poor woman; no doubt dodging the scorn of neighbors, coming to the well in the heat of the day, suddenly meeting face to face the Lord of life. Moses finding the burning bush does not ‘hold a candle’ to this meeting. We sometimes think of this woman as pathetic, because she stood face to face with God incarnate, and yet did not know it. But are we not also blind? Are not our senses too often deadened? Are not our souls feeble, when, face to face with God, we nevertheless cannot see Him?

4:10 ... “Thou wouldest have asked of Him.” Emphasizing “thou,” Palmer points out that “spiritually, our positions are reversed. It is thou who art weary, and footsore, and parched, close to the well, yet unable to drink; it is I who can give thee the water from the well, and quench thy thirst forever.” (Cambridge Bible)

“If thou knewest . . . thou wouldest have asked.” This is the glory of that woman. These words show why Jesus had this discussion. He saw in this woman a fallen life, seeking truth. She possessed an inward quality that makes her far superior to many of every age who know the Lord of life, yet will neither ask of Him nor respond in any way to His mercy.

4:10 ... “And He would have given thee living water.” “That is perennial, springing from an unfailing source (Gen. 26:19), ever flowing, fresh (Lev. 14:5)” (Westcott), bringing life, refreshing. Schaff points out that “living water denotes the gift of the Holy Spirit (John 7:39). This was preeminently the promised gift of the Father,⁵ beautifully and most aptly symbolized by the fresh, springing water, which, wherever it comes, makes the desert rejoice and everything live (Ezek. 47:9).”

“Living water” is a reference to the water of life, the spiritual realities that lead to everlasting life in the presence of God. The metaphor was probably suggested by the thirst which had brought them both to the well. Just as the body requires water, just so the soul, if it is to live, must drink at the everlasting fountain of God’s Word.

4:11 ... “Sir, Thou has nothing to draw with.” In other words, I have no leather bucket, “a skin with three cross sticks at the mouth to keep it open, and let down by a goat’s hair rope. Not to be confounded with the water-pot she carried (v. 28). Such wells often do not have implements for drawing water and must be provided by the user. Those dipping water from such wells are provided with small leathern buckets and a line. At the present day these skin buckets may be seen lying on the curb stones of almost every well in the Holy Land.” (Vincent)

Unconsciously she gave utterance to a spiritual truth – the water of life beyond our reach, but the rope of faith long enough to reach it.

4:11 ... “From whence then hast Thou that living water?” This indicates that the woman had previously considered the fact that Jesus was not talking about the water in Jacob’s well. While her response shows that she did not understand the meaning of ‘living water,’ in view of the fact that Jesus had no rope, still it does reveal that she understood at least a part of what Jesus was saying. In fact, as the next verse shows, she might have even suspected the metaphorical significance of His words.

4:12 ... “Are Thou greater than our father Jacob?” In other words, “Can You dig a better well than he did, or find a better source of water – a sweeter water?” Or, “can You get water without drawing it, while even Jacob had to undergo the labor of drawing?”

4:13 ... “Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again.” The natural water of the well, and all earthly satisfactions it typifies. The supply may give out. The thirst may become painful. The soul is never fully satisfied with earthly things, and the time comes when they leave the soul, in its greatest need, dying of thirst. This water satisfies only bodily thirst, and only for brief periods. Worldly supplies never fill the deeper thirsts of the soul.

4:14 ... “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him.” Emphasize “give.” The living water is a gift, requiring only that we receive it. The best things of God can never be bought. Sin has “wages,” its rewards can be bought, but eternal life is God’s gift. Perhaps the only pay one can give is love and trust.

4:14 ... “Shall never thirst.” Earth’s supply may give out. Our thirst may become painful. The soul is never fully satisfied with earthly things, and the time always comes when they leave the soul, in its greatest need, dying of thirst.

This does not contradict the Beatitudes, “Blessed are those that hunger and thirst after righteousness,” declaring that there is an unfailing supply always at hand for the thirst. Life is made up of a succession of thirsts and their satisfaction. There is no enjoyment unless there is a thirst, and unless the thirst is satisfied. This satisfaction is what is promised in this verse. The reason follows. The water that satisfies is not from without, an external supply, that may fail or be far away, but

4:14 ... “Shall be in him a well of water.” Not the word “well” used by the woman, but the word for fountain or spring, used in v. 6. Cisterns are of limited supply, and may dry up. “All attempts at the spiritual life without having the spring inside of us will be like galvanizing a corpse. Some motion like that which comes from life may be produced, but not life itself; that must operate from within.” (Deems) “The Spirit and the truth of God have entered into the life of his soul, and are felt to be an abiding, indwelling, unfailing source of spiritual peace, strength, and hope.” (Hovey)

4:14 ... “Springing up into everlasting life.”⁶ Not merely in the future, but in the present. Whosoever has this living water in the soul has eternal life, the kind of life that never fails to satisfy, never cloys, and never ends. “Fullness and richness of being, the realization of man’s true destiny through union with God, and likeness to Christ. Such life is, of course, by its very nature, imperishable” (Stevens). “It is so abundant that it is enough for everlasting needs. The water Christ gives becomes a fountain, and the fountain swells into a river, and the river expands into and loses itself in the great ocean of eternity.” (Reynolds)

Footnotes:
¹ See Genesis 12:6; 37:12; Acts 7:16; Joshua 8:33; 20:7; 24:1; 24:32; 1 Kings 12:1; 12:25.
²See Shakespeare’s “Othello.”
³For more information on salvation, see God’s Salvation in Contents section of StudyJesus.com.
⁴ For more information on the Holy Spirit, see God the Spirit in Contents section of StudyJesus.com.
⁵ See especially Isaiah 44; Joel 2. Also for more information on the Father, see God the Father in Contents section of StudyJesus.com.
⁶Compare John 7:38, 39.