Today’s Scripture:
“But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” — John 4:14 (ESV)
Reflection
Today’s passage is about Jesus and the woman from Samaria. When Jesus was going up from Jerusalem, he came to Samaria, to the land of Sychar, near Shechem from Genesis. This place was of significant historic importance because this was where many things happened with Jacob. When Jesus got there, he was very tired and weary, so he sat beside the well. When a Samaritan woman came, Jesus went up to her and told her to give him a drink. Historically, Samaritans were people who were a mix of Jews and pagan people, creating a new social class. The woman probably looked at him peculiarly when she asked why a Jewish man was requesting water from a Samaritan woman. Jesus responds by saying that if she knew who he was, she would be asking Jesus for a drink because Jesus offers living water. When asked about Jacob and the well, Jesus tells her that those who drink of the living water will never thirst again, and that the water given by Jesus wells up to a spring of eternal life.
First thing is that for Jesus to die on the cross for us, he had to be fully God, but also fully man. We see Jesus’s humanity in this passage, when he feels weary and tired at the well. It’s ironic that Jesus tells all who are weary and heavy laden to come to him, while he is also tired, but Jesus’s divine nature and human nature are separate. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” – Hebrews 4:15. I know this isn’t talking about the same thing, but it is comforting to have a high priest who can sympathize with how I feel.
According to a Bible commentary, the woman was thinking of spring water when Jesus was talking about living water, but we know that Jesus’s living water actually refers to the water that fills up our spiritual needs. Jesus’s water not only makes us filled so that we will never thirst anymore, it wells into a spring of eternal life. The thing is, Jesus’s living water is not something that can be earned, but it is a gift, and it is something we have to ask for. I totally forgot this passage exists, but God always has amazing timing, because I think I really need my spiritual needs filled right now. Totally unrelated, but as I was thinking today, I realized how perfect God’s timing really was, and that although something didn’t go as I wanted it to go, it actually saved someone, so I guess I just realized how crazy God’s timing is with introducing this stuff into my life.