Evangelist Par Excellence
Jesus answered her, "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....Every one who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. John 4:10-14, RSV.
We should notice something in the dialogue between Jesus and the Samaritan woman. Namely, He refused to argue with her. Several times she attempted to draw Him into a debate: "Are you greater than our father Jacob" (verse 12, RSV)? Where is the proper place to worship God? On the mountain or in Jerusalem (verse 20)? Did you know that Jacob is our father (verse 12)? Other Jewish teachers would have hotly disputed those last two items.
But Jesus didn't take the bait. Rather, He calmly kept on track as He revealed gospel truth to her. And in the end, by not arguing over side issues and by keeping to His evangelistic message, He won her over.
The core of His offer is living water. Living water is from a running source and generally preferable to still water from the bottom of a well. But the woman could obviously see that there were no such streams available. Beyond that, she could tell that He didn't even have a bucket to get still water out of the well. Who do you think you are? she threw at Him. Do you think that you are better than our Father Jacob?
Jesus didn't get emotional at that not-so-subtle attack. He merely reiterated His offer of something better than she had ever had before.
And in the process He was making a Messianic claim. Living water in the Jewish mind was not only water from a stream; it was also a phrase linked to the coming Messianic age in which "they shall not hunger nor thirst" (Isa. 49:10), a time when the parched ground would become a pool and the thirsty land springs of water (Isa. 35:7). It was God Himself who was "the fountain of living waters" (Jer. 17:13).
The message was beginning to dawn on the Samaritan woman. She wanted what Jesus had (John 4:15), even though she wasn't sure exactly what it was.
Meanwhile, we should recognize that our Savior knew the business of how to get His message out. Be accepting, don't argue, and keep coming back to the truth of the gospel.
Jesus answered her, "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....Every one who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. John 4:10-14, RSV.
We should notice something in the dialogue between Jesus and the Samaritan woman. Namely, He refused to argue with her. Several times she attempted to draw Him into a debate: "Are you greater than our father Jacob" (verse 12, RSV)? Where is the proper place to worship God? On the mountain or in Jerusalem (verse 20)? Did you know that Jacob is our father (verse 12)? Other Jewish teachers would have hotly disputed those last two items.
But Jesus didn't take the bait. Rather, He calmly kept on track as He revealed gospel truth to her. And in the end, by not arguing over side issues and by keeping to His evangelistic message, He won her over.
The core of His offer is living water. Living water is from a running source and generally preferable to still water from the bottom of a well. But the woman could obviously see that there were no such streams available. Beyond that, she could tell that He didn't even have a bucket to get still water out of the well. Who do you think you are? she threw at Him. Do you think that you are better than our Father Jacob?
Jesus didn't get emotional at that not-so-subtle attack. He merely reiterated His offer of something better than she had ever had before.
And in the process He was making a Messianic claim. Living water in the Jewish mind was not only water from a stream; it was also a phrase linked to the coming Messianic age in which "they shall not hunger nor thirst" (Isa. 49:10), a time when the parched ground would become a pool and the thirsty land springs of water (Isa. 35:7). It was God Himself who was "the fountain of living waters" (Jer. 17:13).
The message was beginning to dawn on the Samaritan woman. She wanted what Jesus had (John 4:15), even though she wasn't sure exactly what it was.
Meanwhile, we should recognize that our Savior knew the business of how to get His message out. Be accepting, don't argue, and keep coming back to the truth of the gospel.
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