Come to the Waters

The woman at the well in John 4 has to be one of the best chase scenes in literature. Like a nature documentary, John shows our Lord on the hunt for this Samaritan woman. Jesus is the Hound of Heaven, the Lion of Judah, and he is mesmerizing to watch in action. He follows her through the twists and turns of her unbelief, the jukes of her sarcasm, and the feigns of her indifference. Jesus will have this woman as a worshiper. 

An Ocean-Sized Thirst

But in v. 16, Jesus takes a baffling turn in his pursuit. He’s been talking about living water and soul thirst, and then he says, ‘Go call your husband.’ Why the abrupt change? Where is the Hound guiding his quarry? Now I imagine if we asked Jesus what he was doing here, he would quote Jeremiah 2.13:

“My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.”

God here names two great evils. First, not drinking from the fountain of living water. And second, trying to drink from cracked cisterns, empty wells. Great evil, according to God, is refusing to be satisfied in God and seeking to be satisfied everywhere else.

That evil is what Jesus exposes in the woman at the well. Living water is only good to those who realize their thirst so after she denies having a husband, Jesus replies, ‘You are right. . . you have had five husbands [literally, you have had five men] and the man you now have is not your husband’ (4.17–18) Jesus lays bare this woman’s parched heart. She has an ocean-sized thirst, a thirst deep as the soul, a thirst yawning wide as the human heart. And she has been trying to fill that abyss with romantic relationships. She moves from man to man, cistern to cistern, trying to sate a longing only God can satisfy. 

Friends, that’s like trying to fill an ocean with a thimble. You might as well attempt to top off the Grand Canyon with a teaspoon. But before we pass judgment on this woman (which Jesus does not do), we all know the futility of this attempt. Don’t we? If you are an unbeliever, you live in waterless places. If you are a believer, we stray often. We each have our thimbles and our teaspoons. Haven’t we all run from mudhole to mudhole, thinking the next dirty sip will satisfy? The next drink, the next meal, the next girl, the next child, the next dollar, the next show, the next scroll, the next click of the mouse. . . on and on and on. No stability of desire. Endlessly digging cisterns that can hold no water. Friends, you might as well fill an ocean with a thimble. 

But Jesus offers us something far better.

An Ocean of Living Water

He says to this woman:

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. (4.10)

Or in John 7.37–38, Jesus says, 

If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’

Jesus gives us himself to satisfy our soul-thirst. But he does not merely beckon us to come to the fountain. No, he offers to put the fountain within us. When Jesus says, ‘Whoever drinks here will never go thirsty again’ (4.14), he means, ‘You need never go to another fountain. No more empty cisterns. Unlimited, eternal access to the source.’ By giving us his Spirit, Jesus gives us an internal waterfall of leaping life, gradually turning our desert hearts into Eden with a spring that will never go dry.

Come, Come, Come

So my exhortation this morning echoes God’s invitation in Isaiah 55.1: everyone who thirsts come to the waters! We already have access, but we have not yet drunk nearly enough. We are all prone to wander into desert places and waterless sins. So come, come, come, come, keep coming. Come every Sunday to savor the heady brew of Christian communion. Come every morning to drink down God’s word. Come every minute in prayer. Drink, my friends. Our triune God loves to satisfy our soul thirst.

And this reminds us of our need to confess.

‘The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.’ (Rev 22:17).

Father, you call us to be satisfied in you by your Son through your Spirit. You are the only one who can meet our soul thirst. And yet we often run to empty cisterns that can hold no water. You call this a great evil. Direct our wayward hearts back to you in this time of silent confession…