The Gift Of God

"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" (John 4:10).

Jesus in this life story is breaking, not bending, breaking long held Jewish rules: don't associate with the Samaritans.  Who are the Samaritans? A people who long before when Israel was taken captive and deported from their land, these people were transplanted into the land of Israel.  They were of mixed heredity, half Jew and half Arabian, mixed with other peoples. Half breeds, and detested by the Jews for they not only were "half breeds", there were so audacious as to believe in Yahweh, and considered the Pentateuch as the only inspired word of God.  They built their own Temple and no longer came to Jerusalem for the required festivals. During the Vietnam War a term, "Viet Cong" became well known as to identifying a group of people who were enemies of South Vietnam.  Interesting the word "Viet" means "people"; the word "Cong" means "nothing"; therefore these people were "nothing people" and to the Vietnamese it meant "enemy." This was the viewpoint of the Jews towards the Samaritans.  We must remember, Jesus was a Jew, raised as a Jew, kept the Jewish festivals, etc.  And now, Jesus actually sat down, spoke, to a woman, a Samaritan woman by all means, furthermore He asked her to draw some water for Him to drink. He broke the rules!

Let us look deep into this narrative: the Samaritan woman states, "Sir," the woman said, "You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep..." (John 4:11a).  In our lives often the "well is deep."  We do not believe that anything can be done, even by Jesus, we make the same mistake as the Samaritan woman at the well, that He has nothing with which to draw into our well. We have forgotten or do not even know who is this Jesus.  Oh! We say, He is our Savior, and He is; He is our comfort, and He is; He is the Messiah, and He is; He is all of that and more: He Is The Almighty!  He does not hold a second position in the Godhead as to who He is: He is God, yes the Son of God in His personhood within the Trinity; He is the Almighty, the creator of all that is and there is no "well" that is too deep for Him for He does not draw up from the well, He brings down to us the Living Water. He does not reach into our well of sorrow, He brings down to us the comfort, the healing and raises us up to Him.

This is our God, Jesus, who came as a man to pay our debt of sin that we cannot pay.  He provides this "Living Water" because He is the Almighty.  When we forget that we make the mistake of lowering Him to become something less than He is. He is able to enter into our deepest "well" and bring into that "well" water of eternal life.  "Jesus answered, 'Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, (the waters in our deepest wells cannot be satisfied by our attempts to correct its depths) but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. (He brings healing to our wells of life; permanent healing) Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring (living waters, bubbling forth from the depths) of water welling up to eternal life" (rising up, fresh and anew) (John 4:13).

May we answer as did that Samaritan woman, "The woman said to him, 'Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water" (John 4:15). Quit going back to your deep well, quit trying to bring forth fresh spring water from your well, take the water from the Almighty God and our King, Jesus, He will bring down into your wells, fresh living water, and there we never return, we draw continually on His "Living Water." This spring from heaven is "welling up to eternal life."

Jesus concluded this narrative by saying, "God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth. The woman said, 'I know that Messiah (called Christ) is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us. then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he" (John 4:24-26). Then Jesus points to the open fields and says, "I tell you, open your eyes and  look at the fields! they are ripe for harvest" (John 4:35b).  Take this "living water" to our world, allow Him, the Almighty to provide this "living water" for them as He has done for you.  The Holy Spirit is working, calling out to those unsaved, He has done His part and He sends us out to reap what He has sown. "I sent you to reap what you have not worked for..." (John 438a).  Are you willing to join in the reaping of this harvest? Look around, the fields are ripe, take your eyes off your deep wells and look to Jesus.

Daily Prayer:

Father forgive me for failing to recognize Your Son for who He is, my God and Savior and the Almighty who can do for me what I cannot do for myself. Come, bring me that living water, may it spring forth from me as a bubbling spring flowing out in a bubbling beautiful brook, flowing to those in my world that need this water.  Thank you for allowing me to participate in the harvest you have sown.                    Amen