Untitled Sermon (4)
The Ingredient of Satisfaction (vv. 10–13) 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.” (v. 10) On the surface it sounds like Jesus was simply saying that if she had known who he was and had asked him for a drink, he would have given her clean, sparkling, flowing water instead of the comparatively stagnant water of Jacob’s well. It is possible on a literal level that this could be what he meant since the Greek words for “living water” mean “flowing water,” as in a stream. However, I do not think that is the case for several reasons. First, when he used the term “living water,” she probably understood something more than the physical because that phrase has many Old Testament associations. In Jeremiah 2:13 Jehovah calls himself “the spring of living water.” Psalm 36:9 was an oft-quoted passage, as it is today: “For with you is the fountain of life.” Similarly Isaiah 55:1 says, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters.” Psalm 42:1 states, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” Furthermore, the messianic kingdom was talked about as a time when “living waters” would slake the thirst of mankind. So when Jesus used this expression, virtually everyone in the Hebrew or Samaritan tradition would have had an intimation of what he was saying. Taken together with the fact that he said in verse 10, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink,” it is clear that the woman understood what he was saying and that her rejoinder was not just a simple statement. “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?” (v. 11) What the Samaritan woman understood him to say was that God was the only one who could satisfy her longing, but even more, Jesus was claiming to be the one who could give her the divine drink she needed. From our advantaged position we know he was talking about the impartation of life through the Holy Spirit. As we read a little later in John 7:37: “If a man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” What Jesus was saying to the woman was this: Nothing will ever satisfy our longings and dissatisfactions except for a long and continuous drink of God the Holy Spirit. In contrast: “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again.” If unbelievers could be convinced to really believe Christ’s claims, they would be saved from untold misery and would receive inexpressible joy into their lives. The truth is, those who drink of the natural wells of life will thirst again, and they can never quench their thirst with the natural waters of life. Companionship and intimacy—the natural waters of life—will not satisfy people’s longings. Jesus makes it clear, the whole body of Scripture makes it clear, and all of us who have lived most of our lives make it clear that companionship and sexual intimacy do not satisfy the thirstings of the soul. Notwithstanding the fact that these things are created by God and are given to us by him for immense pleasure and fulfillment in life, they do not quench our deepest longings. Many maintain a false courage that reasons that while this may be true for others—true for my parents (what do they know about these things?), true for my brothers and sisters, true for my relatives, true for the pastor—it is not true for them! Such a view is incredibly egocentric, naive, provincial, and foolish! George Sanders would tell us the same thing if he could do so today. Sometimes we try to slake our thirst with materialism or exemplary achievement. In this regard, apart from the Bible itself, I do not think I could quote better wisdom than that which comes from Abdalrahman, eighth-century monarch of Cordova: I have now reigned above fifty years in victory or peace; beloved by my subjects, dreaded by my enemies, and respected by my allies. Riches and honors, power and pleasure, have waited on my call, nor does any earthly blessing appear to have been wanting to my felicity. In this situation I have diligently numbered the days of pure and genuine happiness which have fallen to my lot; they amount to Fourteen: O man, place not thy confidence in this present world! Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. (Ecclesiastes 5:10) To try to quench our thirst with the things of this world is much like those unfortunate sailors who, when they became famished, let themselves drink of the ocean, only to find themselves more wretched than they could have imagined possible. For many the futile search for satisfaction manifests itself in the “when syndrome.” When we are the age of a young child, we think life will come together when we become teenagers and get big and strong. When we are teenagers, we think life is going to shape up (from a boy’s perspective) when we get a car. When we get our car, we expect life will be fulfilled when we graduate from high school. When we are in college, we think our needs will be met by marriage. When we are married, we think it will come through children. After that, it is when the children leave home. And finally, we pin our hopes on retirement. The fact is, trying to slake our thirst with the things of the world is like eating a Chinese dinner—no matter how much we eat, in a short time we are hungry again! Jesus says, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,” and we need to believe his words! The Completeness of the Satisfaction (v. 14a) “… but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.” What a beautiful promise! Two things happen when we drink the water that comes from God. First, our thirst is completely satisfied, and second, it is permanently satisfied. I do not believe our Lord is saying we will never spiritually hunger or thirst again, but he is saying that within us is implanted such a supply of water that we never have to go thirsty. This is very much like the hungering and thirsting after righteousness by which we are filled (Matthew 5:6). Our capacity increases, and we are filled—a delicious spiral that goes on and on and on. So we never have to go thirsty again. Are you full, or is your life like a Chinese dinner? The Character of the Satisfaction (v. 14b) “Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” This is a remarkable picture because the phrase used for “welling up” is rarely used of anything but living beings. It is typically used of the movement of bodies, for instance in Acts 3:8 where the lame man is healed and we read about him running and jumping in the temple praising the Lord. But here John applies it to the water that is within us. He is saying that when we have the divine spring, it is like a jumping, leaping, dancing fountain within us. What a picture of joy and effervescence! My own heart has experienced that bounding, leaping joy that comes from having the well of water within. I have been famished and thirsty and then had “living water” overflow my life. Life with Christ is not stagnant but is full of motion and change. So often the world presents itself as exciting and energizing, but there is really nothing more boring than the pursuit of pleasures purely to satisfy our souls. Real excitement, on the other hand, comes from drinking deeply at the well of water that springs up into everlasting life. “Streams of living water will flow from within him” (John 7:37). Once God puts his fountain of life within us, our life streams out to others. Not only is there an outwardness here but an upwardness. Jesus says in the last part of verse 14 that the well of water springs up into everlasting life. This image has a vertical thrust, as if the law of gravity were taken away so that when the water springs up, it keeps going eternally. Is that not an exquisite image? In Revelation 7:17 we read: For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. This surging of water within us satisfies all our needs and ineluctably flows up into eternity. Our empty, parched lives are suddenly filled with living water—a dancing fountain—that springs up within us and continues right on into eternity. Conclusion Not long after the conversation we have been discussing, Jesus would attend the Feast of Tabernacles, the autumn harvest feast that commemorated the Israelites’ sojourn in the wilderness. It was a colorful event because pilgrims came from all around the world to attend it. They came from the entire circle of the Mediterranean and from as far away as the steppes of Russia. When they arrived, they would build tiny shelters all over Jerusalem in remembrance of their wanderings for forty years. There were even construction rules for the shelters! The walls had to be constructed so as to give shelter but not shut out the sun during the day. The roofs were thatched so the stars could be seen at night. The purpose of these rules, of course, was to remind them that they were once homeless wanderers. It was a festive event, and everyone wore their brightest clothes. It was considered by some to be the most festive of all the festivals. For instance, we read in Zechariah 14:16 that the prophet dreamed of a day when the whole world would come to Jerusalem and build shelters at the Feast of Tabernacles. The festivities featured a daily ceremony that began at the temple, where the people gathered together, then formed a processional on down to the Pool of Siloam. Alfred Edersheim, the great authority on Christ’s life, tells us that as the people came, they brought palm branches and pieces of willow and cypress to make into wands that they carried in their right hands. In their left they carried a citrus fruit called a “paradise apple.” The branches were meant to remind them of the desert, and the fruit was to remind them of the harvest. When all was ready, the music began, and the great throng headed down to the Pool of Siloam, shaking the branches and citrus fruit rhythmically to the music as they followed the white-clad priest carrying a golden pitcher. When they came to the Pool of Siloam, the priest dipped that pitcher with great joy and carried it back to the temple as the people continued singing and chanting Psalms. As they came to the gates of the temple, there could be heard three loud blasts from silver trumpets, and the priest would enter the temple confines to pour the water on the altar. It was traditionally thought at that time that to see the water poured out on the altar was the high point of a dedicated Jew’s life. Some considered it the height of joy. In fact, Edersheim records that a priest by the name of Alexander Janaeus once poured the water on the floor, and there ensued such a riot that around the environs of the temple 6,000 people were killed! As they chanted the Hallel, the great hallelujah Psalms together, there came a pause, and at that time the water was poured out on the altar. It is at that time, according to Edersheim’s calculations, that Jesus stood and cried, “ ‘If a man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.’ By this he meant the Spirit” (John 7:37–38). There could hardly be a more dramatic offer. It is essentially the same offer that Jesus made to the poor Samaritan woman. And it is an offer to us today—the offer of the Holy Spirit. The conditions upon which we may receive Christ’s offer are twofold. First, we must thirst, then we must ask. “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.” (v. 10) And the woman did ask. The 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.” (v. 15) At that point a process began that would culminate in her salvation. Is your life a Chinese dinner? Are the delights that you pursue satisfying for a short time and then gone? Or is your life a well of living water, springing up, dancing within you, streaming up to eternal life, so that you will never thirst again? If you are thirsting, why not ask for that spiritual water? Jesus always keeps his word.1 1 R. Kent Hughes, John: That You May Believe, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1999), 106–111.