“Now he had to go through Samaria. … Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.’ ... Then Jesus declared, ‘I, the one speaking to you – I am he.’” John 4:4,10,26, NIV

 

Behind the scenes, the purpose and course of this event have already been planned and now God is putting them into action. He purposefully arranges a meeting with this woman – “He had to go through Samaria.”

 

And as though she knows that something strange is starting to happen here, the Samaritan woman asks for the reason behind Jesus’ actions, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (John 4:9) However, her question about the division between Jews and Samaritans is of little importance to Jesus. He also does not press the issue further with regard to his request for water and immediately continues about the important things he wants to bring home to her – “you knew the gift of God and who it is ” that speaks to her, and what it means.

 

In fact, Jesus also wants her to understand that he is referring to spiritual things with the “living water” – the redemption from sin and the things that go with it and that God gives it through his Son whom he sent into the world, and that we can ask him for.

 

In a broader context, it is striking that Jesus, who on occasion called himself the “bread of life” (John 6:35), never called himself “the water of life”, but referred to the Holy Spirit in this way. (John 7:37-39) When we accept this water, the Holy Spirit with the Word of God ensures that there is no need for ‘drought’ in our lives again, but godliness. (cf Isaiah 58:11-12)

 

Prayer: Lord, please help me always to understand the “water of life” and to bear the fruit that it must produce. And thank you that it will also be a blessing to me, by your grace. Amen