Jesus as the living water

Jesus was a master at taking everyday situations and teaching us deeper spiritual truths. That's the story in John 4. As the story begins we find Jesus at a well in Samaria. Apparently he is thirsty, but he also has something other than thirst on his mind.

To begin the conversation, Jesus asks the Samaritan woman for some water. The story is full of interesting details. For instance, why was the woman coming to the well at noon? Why was Jesus talking to a woman or a Samaritan? Apparently, Jesus had a plan for the woman's life that included more than helping her get some water from Jacob's well at Sychar.

I see three important truths in this story that we can apply to our lives. One, Jesus is willing to cross barriers to communicate God's love and life. Two, Jesus is the only true source of spiritual water on the planet. And three, Jesus had one great purpose in life. Let's try to break these down and apply them to our lives.

#1: Crossing barriers -- Bill Hybels wrote a book called "Walk Across the Room". In the book Bill suggests that all we need to do as Christians is walk across the room and make ourselves available to others, if we want to share our story of God's love and his grace in our lives.

Jesus is a great example of this in John 4. He not only walked across the room, he crossed some major barriers. First of all, no Rabbi in that day would have been caught dead having a spiritual discussion with a woman. Jesus overlooked this artificial barrier. Second, the Jews and Samaritans hated each other mostly for good historical reasons (come to the Sunday gathering and I'll explain). Let's just say that the Samaritans were illegitimate as far as the Jews from Judea were concerned. But Jesus ignored this barrier as well. Third, this woman was not an "upstanding citizen" (maybe that's why she was drawing water at noon). This woman had experienced brokenness and failure in her life and most likely was an outcast. This didn't stop Jesus either.

Jesus didn't allow man-made barriers to keep him from sharing the good news of God's love with others. We shouldn't either. When is the last time, you walked across the room to tell someone else about God's goodness in your life. Go for it!

#2: Jesus is the only true source of spiritual water on the planet. The overarching point of the story in John 4 is Jesus' identity as "living water". There is a passage in Jeremiah (2:13) which condemns God's people because they have forsaken "springs of living water" and turned to "cisterns made by hand". This is still true today.

The human condition has one common denominator - pain, misery, disappointment, and failure and the desire to get away from it! Call it Murphy's law or original sin, we've all experienced it. And we are all looking for something better. We want to live a satisfying and full life. But there is often just one problem. We tend to look in the wrong places or crate our own artificial wells.

To the woman at the well who was still depending on her spiritual father Jacob to quench her spiritual and physical thirst, Jesus offered himself and a relationship with God as "living Water".

#3: Jesus had one great purpose in life. How many purposes do yo have in your life? Do you have a purpose? Jesus had one. He wanted to fulfill his father's will for his life and proclaim the good news of God's kingdom (John 4:34). Jesus never veered off this course.

How about you? Are you wandering or are you on course? Join us this Sunday morning as we take a look at these three truths and experience the beauty of Jesus as the "living water". See you Sunday!

Blessings, Pastor Tom