10 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."
How I love this encounter between Jesus and the woman at the well for it is within this meeting that He perfectly demonstrates to us how to captivate the captive. Christ has asked our protagonist for a cup of water not so much from a physical thirst as much as from a thirst for opening conversation with her all the while crossing the prejudice boundary lines to grab her attention prior to grabbing her heart. Waving off her objection to the differences between the Jews and Samaritans, Jesus approaches this woman avoiding all occasion for dispute – some differences are best healed in that manner. I am reminded of a truth stated in Proverbs:
14 Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam; so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out. Prov 17:14 (NIV)
Jesus then spoke to her in an enigmatic way forcing her to think – “If you knew the gift of God that is being offered to you,” says He, “you would be begging for it.” Jesus’ words lamenting over Jerusalem’s rejection of Him have that same ring:
37 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Matt 23:37 (NIV)
Jesus came to set the captive free. No longer would those who believe in Him be forced to live in bondage to sin and depravation. He came to give us life and life to the full, to show the incomparable riches of God’s grace. Prior to Jesus we were objects of God’s wrath now as believers we are objects of God’s grace. Paul tells us in Ephesians:
1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. Eph 2:1-3 (NIV)
12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. Eph 2:12-13 (NIV)
The most wonderful verses make their home between these above passages giving us clarity to the supreme gift of God and demonstrating to us that there is nothing we can do to earn this gift or nothing we have done to deserve it either:
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. Eph 2:8-9 (NIV)
“It is clear then, that there is no hope for me out of Christ: for there is no other blood-shedding which is worth a thought as an atonement for sin. Am I then believing in Him? Is the blood of His atonement truly applied to my soul? All men are on a level as to their need of Him. If we be never so moral, generous, amiable, or patriotic, the rule will not be altered to make an exception for us. Sin will yield to nothing less potent than the blood of Him whom God hath set forth as a propitiation. What a blessing that there is the one way of pardon! Why should we seek another?” C. H. Spurgeon
Jesus holds the gift of life out to all and issues the sweet word to us, “Come”:
28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matt 11:28-30 (NIV)
The “living water” Jesus refers to in our verse for today is the precious Holy Spirit which is given to every believer in Christ - empowering them “to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord” and equipping them to experience life to the fullest as they die to self so that His life may flourish within them. This should be is the goal for every believer – “He must become greater, I must become less”.
“Having made Jesus his all, he shall find all in Jesus. His soul shall be as a watered garden, and as a well of water whose waters fail not...It matters not what thy need is, for there is fulness of supply in Christ, and it is there for thee.” C. H. Spurgeon