The Samaritan Woman (5)

We saw last month that Jesus had entered into a discussion with the woman while He sat at Jacob's well. In verse ten He says, “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee...thou wouldest have asked of Him.” When the woman answers Him, in verse eleven, you notice that she lacks an understanding of spiritual matters. She lacks spiritual insight, but she does have a quick and ready answer to the Lord Jesus. In our times also we have people who have a ready answer. They are quick to speak, and many times they use the phrases of our forefathers. But if you listen very closely, then you can hear that they have no understanding of spiritual matters that pertain to their never dying souls. Their knowledge tends to puff them up. It is different when God comes to teach and instruct a sinner. Then it goes in the depths, my friends, and then the main object is that the name of the Lord may be honored and glorified.

“Sir, Thou hast nothing to draw with.” Oh, she looks past the Gift of God. Man by nature always looks past the Lord Jesus. It takes a broken sinner to have a need to flee unto Him. No matter how often the Lord speaks about that Living Water, we always continue to look towards the world. Man by nature wants to be blind and does not want to be disturbed. The Samaritan woman told Jesus Christ that the well was deep— and it was deep, about 100 feet deep—and that He had “nothing to draw with.” She was certain that He could not fulfill what He had told her.

Does this sound strange to you? How many times have we heard it said that way, or even thought it ourselves? People grow old under the preaching of the Word, their heart saying that the Lord cannot deliver the precious gospel unto their soul. It seems, they reason, that He cannot deliver what is being promised in the gospel. What is promised in the gospel? Eternal life and forgiveness of sins. There are those who say, “Minister, it is only for one here or there; only for a few.” What are they really saying? “Just leave me alone. I don't want to become disturbed.” When they are young, then they think that they have plenty of time left. When they are old, they say that it cannot take place anymore. Deep down we want to believe that whatever God promises in the gospel He cannot deliver. Do you know why? It is because we just want to go on in the world. We never want to come to the place where we have a need for a Savior.

There were two things in the life of this woman at this moment. In the first place, there was a question in her life: “From whence then hast Thou that living water?” In the second place we notice that she wanted to continue the conversation. She wanted to hold onto the knowledge she had of father Jacob. Is it wrong to ask questions? No, I wish there were more people asking questions about their eternal welfare. “How can it be obtained?” “What must I do to be saved?” “Were my tears true tears?” We wish there were more questions and concerns in the congregations. Do you know when it becomes difficult in a congregation? It is when everyone is satisfied and when no one needs to ask anything anymore. It becomes difficult when everyone is satisfied with his religion and with the way his life is going.

“Our father Jacob.” Jesus would instruct this woman that it was not enough to know father Jacob. It was true that he dug the well. It was also true that he gave his cattle drink from this well. However, there was also something else to be learned from the life of father Jacob. He knew something other than the water from this well. Father Jacob knew by God's grace what it was to hunger for the Living Water. When he was upon his deathbed, he said, “I have waited for Thy salvation, O LORD.” There he professed what he had learned from heaven. He professed what his hope and expectation was. Nothing could sustain him on this earth but the Living Water from above.

Jesus did not leave this woman at the well, but He answered her. It would have been just if He had walked away. He 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.” Woman, this water from Jacob's well can only take care of your natural needs. He said to her that she missed everything. The water from that well would leave her empty, and one day she would go lost if she did not possess that Living Water.

What does it mean to thirst after the water of Jacob's well? It means to thirst after the honor of this world. Some thirst for the world and all the worldly lusts. Some thirst for possessions and wealth. But, my dear friends, those things cannot satisfy us, because with those things we will go lost. Not only that, but one day we will have to leave them all behind. Jesus Christ says that we are to seek “first the kingdom of God.. .and all these things shall be added unto you.” He says to the Samaritan woman and to all of us, “The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” Take notice that the woman did not have that spiritual thirst yet. The Lord alone can awaken such a person and give him a thirst for that Living Water. We hope to see later on how the Lord awakened such a thirst in her life.

“Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.” Some of the commentators say that she spoke these words in a mocking way. They say that she mocked with the Lord Jesus Christ, saying, “If there really is anything like this, then let me drink it. I will not have to come here anymore and carry water every day.” But on the other hand it seems that she showed a certain respect for Him by saying, “Sir.”

It is clear that she did not know what David knew about thirsting, as he wrote in Psalm 42, “My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?” She knew nothing yet about that true spiritual thirst. What was missing in her life as she stood at Jacob's well, talking to Jesus Christ? Well, the knowledge of sin was missing in her life. The knowledge of sin and iniquity is a very essential thing.

We see that the Lord did not permit her to leave. As we go on with this portion of Scripture, we hope to see how the Lord opened her eyes to her sin. We will see that it was a one-sided work of the Lord wrought in her heart and life. But at this point it was missing. Is that missing in your life also? Or, has the Lord awakened you to a knowledge of sin and iniquity? Has He made you thirsty for Christ, for His blood, and for His righteousness? The poorest sinner, when his heart has been opened and he is sinking away deeper and deeper in his own miserable state, will have that desire awakened in his heart to reach out unto Him, the Lord Jesus Christ.

What is it to drink of that Living Water? It is when the Holy Ghost has come into the heart. Then the person has a living hope in his heart and tastes something of the love and communion of God for his soul. There the soul may cry out, “Lord, just a few drops of that precious water to testify in my heart that Jesus Christ knows me.”

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