15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”
The woman now came to a false conclusion about Jesus’ remarks. She thought He was still speaking about normal water. She assumed that Jesus was not serious about His statements in verses 13 and 14. Her idea might have been, “Okay, I will humor Him to see where this goes.”
15 The woman said to Him,
Again, the woman could not grasp the significance of what Jesus said about eternal life. Yet she perceived that Jesus offered her some special water. This social outcast, who knew something of social suffering, tried to find her solution in life through material means, a source of water from a spring where she did not have to labor for it.
“Sir, give me this water,
The woman, while still thinking of H20, respectfully asked for the water that Jesus offered. Getting this water might spare her of a long walk to the well to get water. Her concern was personal convenience. She did not want to travel to Jacob’s Well on hot days again “to draw” water.
that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”
The woman still understood Jesus as speaking of literal water. Her thoughts continued to move on a mundane plane. She persisted in keeping her thinking on the natural level. Her worldview was completely materialistic. Jesus’ symbolism of eternal life completely escaped the woman. She asked for a convenient way to draw physical water so that she would not have to laboriously carry it home.
The woman was now interested in Jesus’ offer, but she did not know what it was. Her only concern was her personal convenience.
PRINCIPLE:
We carry within ourselves the authority for the essentials of God’s blessedness.
APPLICATION:
Up to this point in her life, the woman sought solution in the physical, the material, and emotional satisfaction. She yielded to her impulses. Christians do not live at the mercy of the external to direct their lives. Our motivation comes from within, not without.
It took hard labor in the hot sun to obtain literal water during the times of the New Testament. Jesus gives “living water,” spiritual water, eternal life without cost or labor. There will always be physical thirst with physical water; there will be eternal satisfaction with “living water.”
The water Jesus offers is eternal life; the drinking is faith. Those who drink physical water will become thirsty again. If they drink by faith what Jesus provides, they will never thirst again. Once saved, always saved. Physical water does not involve the soul, but spiritual water goes into the soul. Physical water is limited, only to disappear when drunk; spiritual water perpetuates into eternity.
As the water connotes life, so drinking denotes faith. Accommodating to experience is to yield to misbelief. The only solution to misbelief is to identify our misbeliefs and then find objective truth to correct our belief systems. Replacement of misbelief with proper belief gives us freedom. Jesus said, “The truth will set you free.”
