A Disturbed Woman Series

‘Yet I say to you, and I beg you to believe me, multiply these tiny triumphs by a million, add them all together, and they are nothing – less than nothing, a positive impediment – measured against one draught of that living water Christ offers to the spiritually thirsty, irrespective of who or what they are.’

Muggeridge considered that no amount of fame or success or pleasure or worldly fulfilment comes even close to the value of the living water which Christ offers.

What do you have to do to get this living water? Jesus told the 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.’

Jesus said simply, ‘You would have asked him.’ He didn’t lay down any conditions. So the Samaritan woman asked:

‘Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.’

Jesus then told her, ‘Go, call your husband, and come here.’ Many commentators think that Jesus did this because he wanted the Samaritan woman to admit the sinful relationship that she was in. But I don’t think that’s the reason. Do we need to repent? Yes, we do. But Jesus didn’t lay down any conditions when he told the woman to ask. I think Jesus told the woman to call her husband because if she was about to commit her life to Jesus, her spouse should be involved.

In Isaiah, God says much the same:

‘Come, everyone who thirsts,

come to the waters;

and he who has no money,

come, buy and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk

without money and without price’ [Isaiah 55:1].

Like Jesus, God didn’t place any conditions on it. Jesus says, ‘Ask!’ God says, ‘Come!’ What do we need to do? Ask Jesus for living water. Come to God.

Let’s conclude. I’ve talked about three things in this passage which made a big impression on me. And they lead to three things we can do.

Jesus crossed barriers. He wasn’t bound by social norms. He did what shouldn’t be done. We should try do the same.

Jesus had a deep knowledge of scripture and was led by it. We should try do the same.

Jesus offered living water. That living water is more valuable than anything this world can offer. We need it. And it’s free!

If you haven’t yet committed our lives to Jesus, know that Jesus is reaching out to you just as he reached out to the Samaritan woman. The apostle Peter preached, ‘Repent … be baptized … and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’ Perhaps now is the time for you to do that.

And if we HAVE committed our lives to Jesus, let’s ask God to fill us with the Holy Spirit even more.

Talk given at Rosebery Park Baptist Church, Boscombe, Bournemouth, UK, 29th January 2023