“but 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."”

 In today’s passage, Jesus meets a Samaritan woman. She is a thirsty woman who had five husbands and now lives with another man. She was very lonely and dying from unquenchable. Jesus gives her living water welling up to eternal life. Jesus satisfies her thirsty soul completely. Let’s learn Jesus who gives living water to our thirsty souls.

1. Will Be Thirsty Again (1-13)

Look at verses 1-3. “The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.” As Jesus’ ministry grew, the Pharisees became more and more envious of Jesus. Jesus wanted to avoid useless conflicts and protect his young disciples against Pharisees' harm. Jesus withdrew to Galilee with his disciples.

The most direct route from Judea to Galilee was through Samaria. When Samaria was under Assyria's rule, the Samaritans had mixed with people of Assyria. Samaritans accepted other religion and other gods. They lost uncompromising faith and came to have relativistic attitude toward the God of Israel. On the other hand, the people in Judea had kept their identity as God’s people; they had kept the law of God as their standard of faith and life. To the Jews, Samaria was a deserted land. They despised Samaritans. Jews and Samaritans never associated together. There was a huge national barrier between Israel and Samaria.

Look at verse 4. “Now he had to go through Samaria.” Jesus took the shortest route through Samaria. It was unusual. Jews did not venture into Samaria due to their religious faith. Then why did Jesus go to Samaria? Look at verses 5-6. Jesus came to a town called Sychar in Samaria. It was noon, the sixth hour when the sun was hottest in the Middle East region. Jesus and his disciples were very tired from the long journey. The disciples went into the town to buy food. But Jesus sat down by a well as if there were somebody to meet. Then a Samaritan woman came alone to draw water. Jesus came to Samaria to meet this one woman.

Who is this Samaritan woman? A world famous star or an actress? Mother Theresa who deserves respect? When we look at verse 18, she was a social outcast due to her immoral life. She was a lonely woman who came to the well alone when nobody was there. She took the noon time to avoid meeting anyone. However, today was different. Jesus came to the well waiting for her. Jesus humbly approached her. Look at verse 7. "‘Will you give me a drink?” There was an unbreakable national barrier between Judea and Samaria. Moreover, this Samaritan woman was immoral. But Jesus is the son of God who created heavens and the earth. He is the God almighty. This Jesus had full interest in one woman suffering problems. And Jesus broke the barrier by asking, "Will you give me a drink?"

How did the woman respond to humble Jesus? Look at verse 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?’” The Samaritan woman seemed to rebuke Jesus for violating social norms. She seemed to have no interest in Jesus. Still, Jesus humbly answered her. Look at verse 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.’” Jesus had a different perspective on her that others did. Her loneliness was not her real problem. Her immoral life was not the fundamental problem. There was something empty in her heart that could not be filled with anything. Jesus saw this. She needed living water, the gift of God. She was thirsty. Jesus was the best gift of God who could quench her thirst.

Still, She did not understand Jesus' spiritual words. Moreover, she could not see anything Jesus had to draw water with. Look at verses 11-12. “‘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?’” The well they were talking by was Jacob's well. It was a very old well where Jacob, all his descendants and even animals drank from and quenched their thirst. Samaritan woman also came to the well everyday. For several thousand years, water never stopped coming out from the well. To the woman, the water from Jacob's well was historically the best.

But what does Jesus say about Jacob's well? Look at verse 13. “Jesus answered, ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again.'" The water in Jacob’s well would quench thirst for a short time, but soon a person would be thirsty and come to this well again. Jacob's well is like a little joy people come and drink for their thirst. Many people come to Jacob's well. They have no other thoughts that this is the best well. The problem is Jacob's well quenches their thirst only for a short time. No matter how much they drink, they become thirsty again.

It was the same for this Samaritan woman. She had five husbands. It is quite unusual for a woman, even in our time, to have five husbands. She must have been an attractive and able woman. So many men were interested in her. But she could not maintain her marriage relationships. She may have loved a handsome man, a rich man, an honorable man, a man with a high sense of humor, and finally a sweet and kind man. Even though she went through five men, she was not satisfied. She was just looking for one man to love her, but she did not know why she was still thirsty. Now she was living with another man who seemed to love her.

People seek their own Jacob's well to quench their thirst. Some people are thirsty for human love. No matter how much they are loved, they feel completely empty and thirsty. Some people are thirsty for human honor. Some people are thirsty for knowledge, but only become more restless. There is no Jacob's well that brings everlasting satisfaction to a human soul. How can we quench our thirst?

2. A Spring of Water Welling up to Eternal Life (14-30)

Jesus knew her burning thirst and answered. Look at ver 14. "but 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." The living water that Jesus gives quenches one’s thirst permanently. Not only so, but it becomes a spring of water. It is a source of water overflows to others. Jesus said in John 7:37-38, "If anyone 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." Jesus invites us today. He invites anyone who is thirsty to come to him. We do not need to hide our thirst. Jesus gives a spring of water.

The woman was very happy to hear Jesus' powerful words. Look at verse 15. “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.’” She asked him for the living water. She did not want to come to the well alone again.

Look at verse 16. “He told her, ‘Go, call your husband and come back.’” The woman must have felt surprised. It had been just one day to meet Jesus, and he touched her life problem. Husband problem was the most serious problem that she never wanted to open to anyone. But Jesus told her to bring her husband, because it was her sin problem that made her thirsty. It was sin that should be revealed to Jesus and get healed. Before we come to Jesus and solve our sin problems, we can never quench our thirst nor have a spring of water.

She recalled her shameful past. She recalled five husbands, and another man living with now. She said, “I have no husband.” Jesus did not blame her as a sinner but accepted her answer. Look at verse 17-18. “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” Jesus accepted her confession. Jesus accepted the fact that she had no real husband who could quench her thirst.

Before we confess to Jesus, our sins seem to be our false husband. Sin problem makes us painful. However, it seems like our husband we should live with forever. But Jesus knows our sin problems and wants us to reveal them. Then, Jesus declares "It is not your husband" and sets us free. Jesus exposes our sins, heals and gives us a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

When Jesus healed her sin problem, she came to have a strong spiritual desire. She wanted to worship God with all her efforts which she once put to false husbands. She was thirsty before, because she could not find the true one to worship. After her husband problem was solved, she needed a new life direction. Jesus taught her who she should worship with what attitude. Look at verses 23-24. "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." She was deeply moved. She was impure and socially neglected, but God would accept her if she worship in spirit and in truth.

Look at verse 25. "The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."" It was a deep cry toward Christ, the promised Messiah. Look at verse 26. “Then Jesus declared, ‘I who speak to you am he.’” It was Jesus Christ himself who came to her, listened to her, and healed her. Finally, she met Jesus who is the gift of God and the spring of water. Now she had a spring of water by meeting Jesus. She was overjoyed and went back to her town and testified, "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" Her testimony made townspeople come to Jesus and they also quenched their thirst. The Samaritan woman became a shepherdess for people who once neglected her. A spring of water Jesus gave to the Samaritan woman now overflowed to the whole town.

These days I am more stable than ever. I have a decent job, a wife, a baby to be born, and not much but some money. I thought my heart and soul also should be more stable and comforted. But it was not. Rather, I worried more and more about my future security. And I was often obsessed with daily stress from my job. The more I have, the more I want and become thirsty. I realized that I cannot find peace and true satisfaction without Jesus. Through today's message, I remembered my Jesus. I was very much like a Samaritan Woman seeking other's love. But Jesus came to me and gave me the living water. Jesus took away my thirst problem. This is the same today. I cannot find my spiritual peace in my job, nor even my family. My deep thirst goes away when I have the spring of water that overflows to others. Jesus is the spring of water in me. I decided to live for this Jesus when I was a student shepherd. I want to learn this Jesus. As Jesus went to Samaria to meet one soul, I also want to go to anywhere with Jesus' spring of water. May God fill me with his spring of water everyday. May God use me as a messenger who delivers Jesus' great spring of water to thirsty souls.

Today we learned that Jesus is the gift of God who quenches our thirst. Jesus heals our sin problems and gives us a spring of water. Let's accept Jesus who gives us a spring of water that overflows to others.