The Ultimate Thirst Quencher!

Jesus Meets the Samaritan Women
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) 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.” 11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” 13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

This is a great story which reflects Jesus' heart for lost people who matter to God.  Instead of choosing to avoid Samaria, which most Jews would have done, Jesus goes through Samaria.  Samaritans were considered unclean because they were a mixture of Jewish and other religions in Samaria.  Jewish people were exiled there and then intermarried with people from Samaria.  Hence they were considered "half breeds". 

So a Jewish rabbi would usually never interact with a Samaritan, let alone a Samaritan woman.  Jesus was thirsty after a dry and dusty trek acroos the arid region, so he stopped for a drink at a well known well.  There happened to be a Samaritan woman there.  Usually woman went to get water at the well at the break of dawn, to avoid the heat of the day.  In this case, many commentators think that she went at noon to avoid people as she had a tarnished past.  If you read further she has had five husbands, and the one she is with is not her husband either.  So you can see why she might avoid the crowds.  

When Jesus asks her for a drink she is surprised because of the above reasons.  Jesus tells her about a thirst that won't be quenched by a drink from a well.  She is curious Jesus' statement and confuses his comment by thinking he is referring to Jacob's well from the Old Testament.  This also shows she has a Jewish background, since she said Jacob was her "ancestor".

But the crux of the story is when Jesus says, "If you drink this water you will be thirsty again.  But the water I give you is the living water which will well up to eternal life."  Later the woman will go back to her town to share her testimony and say "I met a man who told me everything I ever did."  This caused Samaritans to seek out their own audience with Jesus and they all became believers.

This is a great story not only about Jesus' love for all people, but also want happens when someone far from God becomes a believer.  She went back excited toshare her testimony,  which made others curious about this Jewish rabbi.  They went for themselvest to check out Jesus.  So the question I have is:  do we make others curious about Jesus?  Do we share our own testimony with others so they might want to go and check out Jesus?  The woman at the well had her spiritual thirst quenched, and she couldn't wait to share the living water with others. May we share the living water with all who are thirsty for something more than ordinary H2O!  Something that will meet their deepest need in this life and last forevermore.