Give Me To Drink

As Jesus journeyed from Judea to Galilee, He passed through Samaria. As He traveled through, He came to the city of Sychar, which was part of the parcel of land given by the patriarch Jacob to His son Joseph. In this location was Jacob’s well, which still exists to this day. The group stopped at the well and Jesus sat down to rest from the journey while His disciples went into the town to buy provisions.

As Jesus sat there on the well, there came a Samaritan woman to draw water from the well. Jesus, looking at her, said, “Give Me to drink.” The woman, surprised that a Jew would speak to her, said, “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’ response transcended the simple conversation that they were having, and went straight to the spiritual level. He said, “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 gift of God is, of course, eternal life through Jesus our Lord, but Jesus here is suggesting something that goes far beyond our initial conversion experience. He is talking about a fountain of living waters that flows up from a personal relationship with Jesus, and continues from conversion. It is a day to day walking with Jesus that causes us to discover Who He really is – knowing Who it is that speaks to us. The Samaritan woman, however, was still stuck in the natural and asked how He was going to draw water having nothing to draw with. As I read this, I think of those who are so stuck in the traditions of men that they find it hard to believe that a man can be qualified to preach the Word of God without having some formal teaching such as Bible college, or seminary. The early disciples were just simple men with very little to “draw with,” as men judge things; but they knew Jesus, and walked daily with Him, and learned His ways.

The woman went on to ask if Jesus were greater than the Samaritan’s father Jacob, who gave them the well, and drank from it himself. It is amazing how careful we are to maintain our traditions – even when we are presented with the Fountain of Living Waters Himself. Jacob was certainly a man who knew and walked with God, but the Samaritans based their standing with God in what Jacob did, not in what they knew of God first hand. Yes, Jacob built this well, but drinking from it was not making anyone more spiritual. Many of these “wells” were alright in their time and place, but God never intended for us to drink from them forever. He intends for us to be like the man described in the 84^th Psalm. “Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them. Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools. They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.” Wouldn’t you like to be the one who leaves a well wherever you go, even through the dry valley experiences of your life?

Martin Luther dug a “well” in Wittenburg in 1517 when he posted his 39 theses on the door of the church and began to preach justification by faith instead of buying indulgences from the Catholic clergy. Zwingli, Calvin, Knox, the Wesleys – these men and many, many others, all furthered certain truths and began reforms that were good and blessed in their time. These men didn’t expect that their followers would stop at the truths that were revealed to them and not go on to learn more of Christ. Jesus said, “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Jesus wanted the woman to realize that there was a source of spiritual renewal that was far beyond the same old, same old that she had known. He wanted her to become a disciple and continue in the things that He had to show her. He told 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 then asked for this living water. She had been thirsty for a long time and she believed that Jesus was the fulfillment of all of her yearning, and all of her searching. Jesus told her things about herself that He had no way of knowing in the natural, and this convinced her that He was indeed sent from God. She went into the city telling everyone, “come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did.”

When asked where the correct place to worship God was, Jesus said, “The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” How we worship the Father is a much more important question than where we worship Him. After all, it is we, His servants, who are the Church, not a building, or tabernacle, or temple. We must learn to worship Him in spirit and in truth. We must be filled with His Spirit so that these living waters will constantly be flowing in and through us. We should be afraid of substituting religious head knowledge and doctrinal traditions for a life in the Spirit.

One last point that occurs to me in this account is that Jesus began this whole conversation by asking the woman of Samaria to give him a drink. Jesus asked her to refresh Him. In asking myself how I could possibly refresh my Lord, I was reminded of these verses from Matthew 25:

“When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

This is truly what the Lord is looking for in us: to be wells of living water everywhere we go. To give refreshing, hope, and courage to every life that we touch that is thirsty and seeking more of God. If you are feeling thirsty right now, and wanting to know more of the fullness of God’s Spirit in your life, then ask Him to give you this Living Water so that you may thirst no more. Be careful, though; He just may want to talk to you some about “all things that ever you did.” After all, He is interested in transforming us into His image. He does not reveal our faults and our sins in order to condemn us, but that we may be saved by His glorious grace. Once saved, then, He wants us to continue in the truth and in our spiritual growth. In this way, we can actually refresh our Lord by refreshing those whom we encounter, and minister to them out of the well of our relationship with Jesus Christ. Won’t you come and drink from this Fountain of Life and find in Jesus a “well of water springing up into everlasting life?”

Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.

Isaiah 12:2,3