Never Thirst Again

Intro: Endless Water Magic Trick

How many of you have seen the magic trick where someone pours all the water out of a vase until it is empty, tips it back up, and then is able to pour out more water?

And then does the same thing a few more times

A magic trick to give the illusion that the vase is magically refilling itself so that the vase never runs out of water

I confess that I thought about buying the vase to actually perform the trick here instead of just describing it

The jugs I saw online to perform the illusion were like 6-7” tall - just not big enough to be worth it

So instead you just get to hear me describe the trick

Transition

I was thinking about that magic trick as we come to our passage in the Bible tonight

This woman comes to draw water from a well when she encounters Jesus

When Jesus mentions that someone who drinks of the living water he provides will never thirst again, she is here for it

She wants a magic trick, an endlessly refilling jug of water so she never needs to trudge to the well again

But what she receives from Jesus is so much greater

With that, let’s pray

Pray

From Nicodemus to Woman at the Well

Last week, and if you were not here, I encourage you to go to our website or YouTube channel and listen because we looked at the most famous words in the Bible from John 3:16, we saw Nicodemus encounter Jesus

Nicodemus, the highly educated, upper-class Jew,

He was a religious and political leader of high moral character, high reputation, high standing, and high influence in society

Contrast that with this woman we just read about

Nicodemus had two names, a Jewish and a Greek name

This woman’s name is never mentioned in the text

Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a religious leader for the Jews

This woman was a Samaritan, a half-breed Jew

Nicodemus had high moral character

This woman had been married and divorced from 5 men and was sleeping with another man even at the moment of this encounter

Nicodemus was “the teacher of Israel”

This woman tried to ask a theological question about something of which she had no idea

Nicodemus had a high reputation and standing

This woman went to the well in the middle of the day because she, well, she had a reputation in town alright…

After all, why would someone go by herself in the heat of the day with the sun scorching down

Why wouldn’t someone go to the well in the cool or the morning with all the other women?

She was the object of scorn and ridicule throughout the town

Every day she woke up in shame and embarrassment

All eyes on her, not in mercy or compassion, but in scorn and disdain

Call to Believe

There is so much in John 4 we could look at and discuss

But we are going to try and make sure today that we don’t miss the forest through the trees

As we have seen, John told us exactly why he was writing this book

John 20:31 “but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

John records the encounters of people from all walks of life with a purpose: to call us to believe in Jesus!

So maybe you hear those descriptors of Nicodemus you think that you resonate with him

He was successful, educated, hard-worker, followed the rules

But he needed to believe in Jesus to receive salvation from his sin, not just public affirmation for what he had done

And so do you

Or maybe you hear those descriptors of the woman at the well and you resonate more with her

You’ve experienced scorn

You carry the guilt of all your past actions

It’s less painful to go to Publix at off times when you are pretty sure you won’t run into someone you know

The shame, the embarrassment haunts you every waking moment, and some of the moments when you are not awake

But she needed to believe in Jesus to receive salvation from her sin, not just escape from the public scorn for what she had done

And so do you

Nicodemus approaches Jesus under cover at night because he had a lot to lose

This woman was at the well in the heat of the day because she had nothing left to lose

But both of them needed the redeeming work of Jesus to find the life they deeply desired

And so do you

Because whether you resonate more with Nicodemus or with the woman, whether your sins are hidden and private or publicly on display, the Bible teaches what we call total depravity

Every one of us is a sinner

Every one of us has violated the commands of God

And that sin has infiltrated all of our being

When we talk about total depravity we don’t mean that we are as bad as we could be

Theologians have a term for that - “utter depravity” - but that is not what we believe the Bible teaches

Rather, total depravity is the idea that every part of us bears the result of our sin and has been affected by our sin

And we all need a Savior, the Savior

Transition

So how does this encounter this woman has with Jesus at the well invite us to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and by believing to find life in his name?

6 things from this text that I want us to see about Jesus

Jesus ordained the encounter

John 4:1–5 “Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. And he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.”

Notice that phrase “he had to go through Samaria”

show map

Now, speaking from a geographic perspective, that was not precisely true

In fact, most Jews would go out of their way to avoid going through Samaria

Even though it was the shorter distance, it was to enter into the domain of those half-breeds

So they would go way out of the way to avoid going through Samaria even though it was significantly shorter

But this is providential - that is, exactly according to the plan of God

“He had to go through Samaria” because God had ordained this encounter

Even that the disciples had gone off to find food and Jesus stayed behind at the well was part of the ordained providence of God

The Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q11, states that “God’s work of providence are, his holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions.”

Jesus went through Samaria for this moment, for this woman, for this town

Jesus is greater than Jacob

John 4:6–12 “Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.””

As verse 6 tells us, this encounter happens at Jacob’s well

When Jesus offers her living water, she asks if he is greater than Jacob who drank from that very well himself!

First here, can we acknowledge how amazing that well was?

Jacob lived some, approximately, 1800 years before Jesus and this woman are sitting at its edge

That they were drinking from the same well that Jacob used to drink from is pretty amazing

But second, and more importantly, that question: “Are you greater than our father Jacob?”

Jacob is the third of what we refer to as “the Patriarchs” - Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

And one of the ways God refers to himself throughout the Bible is as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

Here is just one example of when God did this, when he met Moses at the burning bush

Exodus 3:15 “God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.”

To answer her question: Yes, Jesus is greater than Jacob, of all the Patriarchs

In fact, he is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob!

Jesus is the Living Water

John 4:13–15 “Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 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.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.””

Here is the heart of this passage

Jesus asks this woman for a drink

She is surprised that a Jew would ask her, a Samaritan, for a drink

In verse 10, Jesus offered living water, which confuses her

So Jesus elaborates in 13 and 14

As water refreshes the body, so the living water that Jesus alone can give refreshes the soul and springs up as an everlasting well of eternal life

Because Jesus is the Living Water

Jesus Sees Her

John 4:16–20 “Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.””

The woman went to the well precisely so she could avoid being seen

She didn’t want all the scorn and gossip that would come with it

But to stay out of sight so no one would talk about her… or, at the very least, she wouldn’t have to hear people talk about her

She already carried all the shame and embarrassment of her actions

She didn’t need others reminding her over and over and over again how broken she was

Jesus sees her and talks to her

And he saw her with compassion

It is a statement of fact, not of condemnation

He knew she was a sinner - the reason he came was to save sinners - not to condemn them

And he doesn’t condemn her here

Then notice what happens next - she asks about where the “correct” place to worship was

Even this question feels like more hiding to me

She is scared of being seen at that intimate a level

So she tries to distract, create a diversion, change the topic by asking a theological question

I love his engagement here

He honors the question, but doesn’t get sidetracked by the question

How many of us when we are about to be found out or things start hitting a little too close to home respond like this woman and throw a curveball or try and change the subject, sometimes even with a good theology question?

Jesus sees her with compassion, engages her questions, and points her to the nature of true worship

Jesus invites her to trinitarian worship

John 4:21–26 “Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.””

So much that could be said here in this conversation

But for today, specifically note the trinitarian nature of this conversation

God is three persons in one God

And we see that here

“We will worship the Father” / “For the Father is seeking such people to worship him”

God the Father is the object of worship

“We will worship the Father in spirit and truth” / “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth”

God the Spirit enables our worship and directs our worship

“Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ)”

God the Son will reveal the truth of God and is himself the Truth Incarnate

And Jesus is the Messiah

John 4:26 “Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.””

Jesus receives all who turn to him in faith

John 4:27–45 “Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” They went out of the town and were coming to him. Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.” After the two days he departed for Galilee. (For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.) So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For they too had gone to the feast.”

After this whole encounter, the woman runs back to town - to the very people she was hiding from in shame and guilt

And invites all of them to come encounter Jesus as well

Jesus received this woman in faith

And he received all from the town who believed in him

He received all who declared that “this is indeed the Savior of the world”

Conclusion

This encounter with Jesus always amazes me when I read it or think about it

This anonymous, no-name woman, a half-breed Jew, goes to the well in the middle of the day to:

Avoid being seen,

Avoid the scornful looks

Avoid the shame and the embarrassment and

Avoid being the subject of gossip… or at least hearing the gossip of which she was the subject

There is a comedian who refers to “should’ve, could’ve, would’ve” as the “holy trinity of regret”

What a way to capture this woman’s life story

She went to the well in the middle of the day to avoid being seen and being looked down upon

Only to be seen in a deeper, fuller way than she could have ever imagined - through the tender, redeeming eyes of Jesus

She went to the well in the middle of the day to avoid the being the subject of ridicule and gossip but still needing water to drink

Only a short time later, to run back to the town not in hiding, but in shouting that she met someone who told her all she ever did

Not in shame and embarrassment, but in the freedom of forgiveness and mercy

Not quietly on her own, but in boldness as a missionary inviting the whole town to come encounter Jesus themselves

She went to the well in the middle of the day with no-name and no reputation

Only to encounter the One who wrote her name, which we still do not know, in the Lamb’s Book of Life

She went to Jacob’s well

Only to encounter the Messiah, the One who is far greater than Jacob, Jesus the Christ, the Son of God

She went to the well in the middle of the day to get enough water for maybe a day or two

Only to encounter Jesus, who is Living Water

Not a magic trick; not a jug that refills itself

But the One who makes it so her soul should never thirst again

Will you come and drink of this same Living Water?

Will you come and encounter Jesus, and believe?

Pray