Living Water – The Hope of Eternal Life
Suggested Reading: John 4:1-42; SOAP John 4:13-14
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
John 4:13-14
Before and After Notes
I believe to fully appreciate and grow from verses 13 and 14 it is helpful to stop and look at some things that happened before and after Jesus’ well known words, “Everyone who drinks some of this water will never be thirsty again”.
Before
- First, there’s the fact that Jesus, a Jew, asked the Samaritan woman for water at the well. I believe we do ourselves an injustice if we do not attend to the fact that the woman entered into conversation with Jesus (9). She could have simply given Him a drink and gone on about her business or either of them could have ignored the other altogether, instead she entered into conversation with Jesus – and so it began.
- Second, enhancing the conversation, is the fact that the woman was versed in some of the history and truth and hope of God’s people – which was the Messiah to come – the very One who stood before her.
After
- As their conversation continued she began to realize who she was talking with and she left her water jars and ran to tell the people in the town. (28-30) You see, when we “see” Jesus for who He really is we will share Jesus – and when we share Jesus others will see Him for who He is – and they will believe … and they will “know” for themselves that He is the Messiah, the Savior of the world (41-42).
- While there may be many other things I haven’t noted from these 40 verses that surround our focus verses – there is one other thing did jump out at me … The woman was changed when she realized that Christ knew everything about her and yet he did not turn away from her or condemn her (29, 39). (On a personal note: This is the very thing that forever changed my relationship with Christ from one of a religious nature to an intimate one.)
In Between
Packaged neatly in between the before and the after are the words Jesus spoke to the woman in verses 13 and 14. It is here where we see that not only did she enter into conversation with Him – but He took time with her. He listened and answered and guided her to the TRUTH of who He was and what it meant for her.
Our Response
When we read or listen to the Word and engage with Him – we will hear and see the truth and be forever changed. Hopefully, in turn, we will want others to Know the TRUTH and be forgiven and set free and so we will tell others who He is and what He’s done.
Prayer
Father, thank You for Your Word and the hope it reveals. Help us to stop, to pay attention, to enter IN – so that we might hear and see the TRUTH and be forever changed – and then Father, grace us with the courage and the passion to share the TRUTH with others – so that they too might be saved. Amen and Amen!
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