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John 4:13-15

¹³Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." ¹⁵The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."

John said Jesus had to go through Samaria. There was another route, but He had to go that way. The Holy Spirit had a most unlikely appointment for Him. The Samaritans were descended from Jews who had intermarried with other nations. They had their own version of the books of Moses. The Jews looked down on them as an inferior and polluted people.

At noon Jesus stopped at a well. He was physically tired from the journey. The disciples went on to a place where they could buy some food. While Jesus was resting, a woman came to the well. This was not the normal hour to come for water, for it was the heat of the day. She was probably avoiding running into other women. Jesus asked for a drink of water. She was shocked. Jews never use the same jars that Samaritans use for fear of defilement. "You are a Jew, and you want to drink from my pot?" He told her she should be asking Him for living water. She asked Him how He was going to get the water without a pot. Jesus answered with the verses above. Read them again.

Israel is a dry and mostly barren land. Water means life for the land. Jesus applied the physical as an analogy for the spiritual. He has life giving water for the spirit of mankind. We are dry and barren without the water of life, but if we will receive it from Him, it will become a spring that wells up to eternal life.

As through most of the book of John, we see the person misunderstand the spiritual reality. She wanted the gift so she didn't have to come and face the embarrassment of seeing other women. She had a reputation. Jesus told her He knew her sin. She then tried to turn the subject into a religious debate, but Jesus went right to her heart with truth. Her testimony led many in her town to Jesus. He refused to buy into the prejudice of His culture regarding race, women, and even her moral condition. She was a soul that was in drought and thirsting for life.

Consider: How do you see the people around you?