John 4:9b-14, There *came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus *said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food…. “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” 11 She *said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? 12 You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?” 13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
Everyone who tries to find identity, worth, purpose, destiny, or heart satisfaction from anything the world has to offer, no matter how good it may be, will always come up empty. There are no exceptions. No vocation, or relationship, or wealth, or position, or prestige will ever make a human being fully alive. That’s what Jesus was telling this woman who had been married 5 times, and was now living with a man.
Jesus also told her in verse 14 that whoever drinks of the water that he would give would never thirst. That’s an amazing statement made to this amazing woman. Jesus was saying to her that our future and our destiny is not determined by where we’ve been, but where we drink. The Lord chose this woman for a couple of reasons; one was to reveal the true nature of the Father; that He is good, and that His love reaches even the most broken scandalous people. Secondly, Jesus wanted the whole region to know that if he could transform this person’s life, as broken as it was, then he could change any life; their life. In verse four, Jesus said that the living water he offered her was a gift. Gifts are not a reward for the deserving, nor is a gift something withheld from the undeserving. It is simply something to be believed in and received, in light of someone else graciously paying for it, and offering it. This gift of course is the Holy Spirit himself whose indwelling releases the love of the Father poured out in us, and the life of Jesus lived out through us. This is Eternal Life, experiencing forever the of the love of the Father, and the life of union of the Son.