Living Water For All

A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.)  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.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” – John 4:7-15 
 
The woman at the well had understood something so critical, not only at the time she was talking to Jesus at the well, but something that remains critical in our culture today. You see, she questioned Jesus’ request for water from her because she was a Samaritan woman, and Jews typically didn’t associate with Samaritans because of their mixed ancestry.  
 
However, what I like about her is that at some point in her conversation with Jesus, she must have realized that the preoccupation with her race and that of Jesus was other people’s problem and not her own. It only mattered to the old legalistic crowd, but it had no significance to the revolutionary mission and message of Jesus Christ.  
 
Jesus comes to reveal to her that the water He possesses is available to Jew and Samaritan alike, because they were all in need of salvation, deliverance, and healing. So she forgets about the hurt of the past and the hang ups of others, and she embraces what Jesus offers her. We all need to follow the example this woman sets and understand that Jesus came to save ALL people. His free gift of salvation is available to anyone and everyone, regardless of their past, their ancestry, their appearance, their status, or any other category. He loves us all, and He came to save us all. No exceptions.