“Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” John 4:13-14 (Read John 4:1-14)

Though the Jews usually had no dealings with Samaritans because they were a mixed people and had corrupted the Old Testament Scriptures to justify their erring religious beliefs, Jesus showed compassion on this immoral Samaritan woman and offered her living water — water that gives spiritual and eternal life.

He offered her life-giving water, but she didn’t understand. She thought only of water to quench her earthly thirst and wondered how Jesus could give her such water since He had nothing with which to draw water from Jacob’s well.

Jesus told her that anyone drinking from the well of Jacob would thirst again. This water could only temporarily quench one’s thirst and need for water. But the water Jesus offered and desired to give her was different. It was a water that would satisfy her spiritual thirst — forever! The water Jesus offered and still gives would become “a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”

What Jesus was offering this woman, and what He offers to us as well, is Himself, the Messiah and Savior of the world, and eternal salvation through faith in Him and His atoning sacrifice on the cross for the sins of the world (cf. Isaiah 12).

Jesus said in John 6:35: “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.”

In John 7:37-39, Jesus said: “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” And John explained: “But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive.”

Water is, of course, necessary to sustain life, and the people living in the arid parts of Israel knew what it was to thirst.

Jesus and the forgiveness and life He won for all by His innocent sufferings and death on the cross are needed by all of us as well so that we might have eternal life.

He desires to give everyone this living water that springs up into everlasting life, for He wants no one to perish and be lost forever. He wants to quench our ongoing need for forgiveness of sins and for life in fellowship with God our Maker. He wants us to partake of Him and His sacrifice on the cross for the sins of the world by faith and live!

It is the Holy Spirit who opens our eyes to see Jesus for who He really is: the Son of God and our Savior. It is the Spirit, working through God’s Word, who assures us that God is gracious to us and offers us forgiveness for our sins for the sake of Jesus’ holy life and innocent sufferings and death in our stead. It is the Holy Spirit who brings us to trust in Jesus for forgiveness and life, and He strengthens us through the promises of His Word and keeps us trusting in Jesus.

God’s Spirit also moves and enables us to share our faith and tell others about Jesus and what He has done for us. He moves and enables us to share the water of life we have received with others so that their spiritual thirst, too, might be quenched forever!

All who come to know and trust in Jesus as Savior have the gift of God’s indwelling Spirit, who not only brings them to such faith and conviction but also keeps them trusting in Jesus and moves them to share their faith with others who thirst spiritually

The life-giving water that Jesus gives is, in all believers, a well of water springing up and quenching our spiritual thirst and giving us everlasting life. It satisfies us for eternity and continues to well up within us so that we might share it with others so that they, too, might have everlasting life through faith in Jesus!

O dearest Jesus, grant us Your Spirit and the forgiveness and life You have won for us by Your holy life and innocent sufferings and death on the cross in our stead. Preserve and keep us in the true and saving faith unto life everlasting and enable us to share this water of life with other thirsty souls. Amen.

[Scripture is quoted from the King James Version of the Bible.]