John 4:1-15 - "Christ, The Water of Life"

John 4:1-10

"When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,) He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee. And he must needs go through Samaria. Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw."

The Spirit directs us to see Him Who “must needs go through Samaria” (v. 4), not by accident, nor by the common route the Jews avoided because of long-standing conflict, but by Divine Purpose. He goes as the God Who tabernacles among sinners, yet as the One Who is truly Man, weary and thirsty at the sixth hour. His weariness is no mark of sin, for He had no sin in Him, but the fullness of the Mystery—“God was manifest in the flesh..." (1 Timothy 3:16).

At Jacob’s well, He sits with purpose, for He is already directing this woman to Him. When she comes to draw water, He says, “Give me to drink,” (v.7) showing His real humanity, the Man Who would not use His Divine Nature to ease His suffering as a man. He is “the man of sorrows, acquainted with grief" (Isaiah 53:3), and yet the very One drawing her while asking drink from her hand.

The woman is astonished that “thou being a Jew askest drink of me, for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans,” (v.9). Blindness makes sinners imagine themselves better than others—one thinking themselves above the other—but before God, “there is none righteous, no, not one,” (Romans 3:10).

Here Christ reveals the heart of Grace: “If thou knewest the gift of God… thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water," (v.10). Her problem is ours by nature—she didn’t know Who He is. Until the Spirit reveals Christ in the heart, we never ask. But when God is pleased to teach the sinner of their need, the asking becomes the effective fruit of the Spirit in the heart. As He gives the desire to ask, so He gives the Water.

Still thinking naturally, she says, “the well is deep," (v.11). Indeed—it is too deep for man. But this Water is not of man; He as the Water of Life is the Gift of God. When she asks, “Art thou greater than our father Jacob?” (v.12), the LORD answers by exposing every earthly man-made well: “Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again" (v.13). Everything drawn from man leaves the soul empty—whether great commentators, religious traditions, or labor at Jacob’s well. But Christ declares, “the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life,” (v.14). This is “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). The woman’s plea—“Sir, give me this water” (v.15) rises as the Spirit’s own work, the thirst He Himself created.

Here is the contrast of John 3 and John 4—Nicodemus and this nameless Samaritan woman. One a man of high rank, one a poor woman. One a favored Jew, the other a despised Samaritan. One strict in morals, the other of poor reputation. Yet both alike needed the same work of God. To Nicodemus Christ said, “Ye must be born again” (John 3:7). To the Samaritan woman He reveals “the gift of God” (v.10). Different words, same Truth: no sinner—moral or immoral, Jew or Samaritan—comes except the Spirit draws them.

Christ’s journey through Samaria is grounded in His eternal Purpose. “He must needs go,” (v.4) for He must bring His sheep. As He said, “I lay down my life for the sheep” (John 10:15), and again, “Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring… and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd” (John 10:16). Not a campaign to save all without exception, but the unbreakable certainty that, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me," (John 10:27).

How, then, does a sinner know? Christ answers: “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37). The coming is the evidence, not the cause. The will is not the source, but the fruit of Sovereign Grace.

Thus we see Him Who sits at Jacob’s well—the weary God-Man, the Giver of Living Water, the Shepherd seeking His sheep, the One Who must needs go, that His elect may drink and thirst no more.

“Sir, give me this Water.” May that ever be our cry!