John 4:7-14 says....

Today's devotional verses are John chapter 4 and verses 7 through 14, which read,

v.7 - There came a woman of Samaria to draw water.  Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink."

Jesus had to go through Samaria, that land between Judea and Galilee, as He is heading north.  There was a "must" to this navigation to take the shorter route through a very charged land with prejudice on both sides, Jews and Samaritans.  Jesus is physically weary and stops at a well that used to be in Israel's hands and here comes a woman of the country.  She is a Samaritan and she is also a woman.  Jesus is going to venture into two areas at once that would make Him unpopular with the current religious leadership.

Most preach that this woman is coming to the well at noon when the men would come out of the field for a drink. Most women would have come to the well in the morning to gather water for the household for the day.  Is she coming for another reason at this time of the day?  Is there a reason why she is not coming with a group of ladies which was the custom of the day?  You can sense that there is a "back story" to emerge from the encounter.

Jesus is speaking to a woman and that is a "no-no" and Jesus is speaking to a Samaritan and that is another "no-no."  He is asking her to obey His command.  

v.8 - For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.

This well site was outside of the city.  Jesus and His disciples were not so strict that they didn't purchase food from the Samaritans and then proceed to eat it.  Not speaking of Jesus, but some had prejudice of these people but still used what they produced.  These quote on quote "outcasts" were held at a distance in the mind and socially but were used for what they could give to the individual.  They wouldn't invite them into their homes for a meal around a table but they would buy there food to eat at their table.  

v.9 - Therefore the Samaritan woman said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?"  (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)

The Samaritan woman knows what the world is like during her time.  She is not ignorant of how things are.  She is questioning why Jesus, a man, would speak to a woman and why Jesus, a Jewish person, would ask of something from an "unclean" Samaritan person.  Jesus has caught her attention with His request.

v.10 - Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."

We can sense that Jesus is going from the physical to the spiritual like He did in His conversation with Nicodemus at night.  Nicodemus kept thinking that Jesus was talking about a physical second birth but Jesus was talking about experiencing a spiritual first birth after the first physical birth.  Will the Samaritan women follow suit and think only of physical water while Jesus is speaking of spiritual water?  Jesus also lets her know that there is something special about Him.

v.11 - She said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water?"

The Samaritan woman is stuck on the physical.  This man is asking for water but then offering water but He has no bucket and rope to draw from this deep well.  This living water must come from somewhere else.  So the Samaritan woman continues on.

v.12 - "You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?"

We find out the Samaritan woman knows the history of the well site.  It was during the time of Jacob that this well came into existence and was used by him and his 12 sons.  She also caught that Jesus was saying about Himself that He was special.  She is questioning Jesus not only about the water but also about the way He is addressing Himself.  She asks this question and will Jesus answer?  Jesus replies with...

v.13, 14 - Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life."

There is that "eternal life" term again that was in the conversation with Nicodemus.  We are talking about the same subject again and our teacher about this is Jesus.  Jesus makes the distinction between physical water and spiritual water like the distinction between physical birth and spiritual birth.  The spiritual water representing a saved life is different than the physical water representing an unsaved life.  The unsaved life is continually coming to the well of the world and thirsting over and over again.  The saved life has come to the well of Jesus and is satisfied forever.  

This spiritual water comes from Jesus.  He is the One who offers it.  He is the One who gives it.  Everyone who just drinks the physical water of this world will thirst for more but everyone who is given the spiritual water of salvation by Jesus and through Jesus will never thirst again because, quote, "we are His and He is mine."  Let us hold the response of the Samaritan woman for Monday and let us pray.

"Heavenly Father, what a conversation is unfolding before us.  You are offering salvation from someone so opposite that You did with the respected religious leader of Nicodemus.  You are offering salvation to someone on the other end of the social status.  You are offering the same thing.  Lord, is there any prejudice in us that we wouldn't do the same or see others like You see them without our labels?  Amen."

Pastor Adam