Thirst - Quenching Your Deepest Desire

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THIRST

Let me tell you a story about a woman. This woman comes to the well one day to get water. She gingerly makes her approach to the well, dancing in and out of the shadows created by the rooftops she passes under. The sun was at its zenith in the pale blue sky, and everyone sought shelter from its rays at this time of the day. But not this lady. She is driven to the well. Not by her need for water. If she needed water, she would have come earlier. All of the other women come to the well in the morning to get water to aid in the making of breakfast, washing clothes, and bathing children. But this lady comes for more than water. She comes to be alone. The well at noon is the only place she knows she can be alone. And this time when she gets there, to her devastation, a man is sitting by the well. Now her plan for isolation has been thwarted. She does not intend to speak to the unidentified man. She will get her water and go. But the man interrupts the awkward silence and asks her to let down her bucket to fetch him some water. Men don’t usually come to the well. That is thought of as a woman’s job. She could tell that he was a Jew from his clothing. His clothing identified him as a religious teacher. His presence made her a bit nervous because of the tense relations between her people and His people. He also made her nervous because his presence was disturbing her isolation. So she asks him, “Why are you talking to me?” She wasn’t being rude. In fact, she did not realize that her internal question escaped from her mind and on to her lips. Before she knew it, she was wondering out loud how a man like him could be talking to a woman like her. Her question was a question of value.

This man was not supposed to be at the well anyway. But he was there for a reason. The Ancient Jews had such a hate for Samaritans that they created a path around the region of Samaria so they did not have to even risk running into one of them. But this man had to go through Samaria on this particular day. He had to meet this woman. She didn’t know it yet, but she needed to meet this man. This is no regular Jewish man. This is Jesus. And this was no chance encounter. He got to the well before this woman showed up because that is what He always does. His presence is always where you need it before you get there.

Jesus tells her that if she only knew whom she was talking to, she would have asked Him for what He had. But He doesn’t look like he has anything that can help her get what she needs. He doesn’t have a bucket to dip into the well. She looks at Him and wonders what He has to offer. Her need is so great, but He doesn’t seem to have what it takes to provide what she came to receive. He promises something called “living water”. She believes that He is talking about spring water that flows from a natural spring. Everyone knew that natural spring water was much better and fresher than well water. What she does not know is that what Jesus is offering is much better than she could imagine. She questions his ability to deliver on His promise of spring water. She knows in order to accomplish that, He would have to go deeper than the well goes. Somehow this woman knew that the most satisfying things come from the deepest places. Receiving the most satisfying water would require deep digging. She doubts His ability based on her belief that this well she has come to fetch water from is special. This well has historic significance because their ancestors gave it to her people. The well was what everyone used to get their needs met. If coming to this well was good for them, it must be good for her. She did not think about the possibility of having the same needs met in a more satisfying way. Nobody ever thought about the possibility that their thirst could be satisfied from a much deeper source. Jesus is offering her something greater than what has worked for her in the past. She asks Him what He will use to quench her thirst. When she looks at Him, Jesus does not seem to have any evidence that He can deliver on His proposal. At least she had a bucket. Jesus had nothing. Nothing but a promise. Nothing but His presence.

She carried her bucket there to get some water. Buckets were instruments used to get the water they needed. Her bucket was empty, but her needs were great. When the water ran out, she would have to come back to the well to get her supply filled again. That was her pattern.

Come to the well

Get her needs met

Run out of her supply

And come back to the same well.

The next day…

Come to the well

Get her needs met

Run out of her supply

And come back to the same well.

This happened every day, every week, every year, for years without end. She is tired. She is not just tired of the work it takes to fetch water from this well. She is tired of the same routine. She is weary of the work it takes to meet her own needs. She is tired of joy leaking out of her soul like a bucket with a small hole in it. She is tired of running out of what she so desperately needs. But that is the nature of the kind of water she is seeking. The water always runs out. It never lasts forever. Jesus tells her that the water she craves will only make her thirsty again. Her thirst was unquenchable because of what she had been using to satisfy it. He offers her something different. Something more. Something deeper. He tells her that He can give her a kind of water that will never run out. He tells her about a new type of abundance. Jesus tells her that He could put the natural spring inside of her soul so that she never has to depend on any well outside of her to satisfy her needs. He could supply an internal answer to her external pursuits. She might have thought, “Here we go again. Another person promising the world and never delivering.” She had been down that road before. But something was different about this man.

Something inside her knew He was right. And something inside her knew that He was not just concerned about her thirst for water. Jesus could see that this woman was as empty as her bucket. She needed something to deal with her emptiness. She wanted what He had to offer. She was beginning to figure out that He wasn’t talking about water or any type of liquid. This woman was beginning to figure out that this man was offering something immaterial. She begins to thirst for what He had to offer. She was thirsty, and she was tired of being that way. So she asked Jesus to give her this “thing” He promises. It is interesting that she asks for it even though she does not know what it really is. Somehow she believes that He can do what He said He could do because sometimes it’s not about knowing; sometimes it’s just about believing. So she asks for the water. Jesus’ response is startling and revealing. In fact his response seems incongruent with what she requests from Him.

He says, “Go and get your husband and come back”.

This seems to be a strange request based on what He was offering. What does her husband have to do with her receiving water for her thirst? Is Jesus changing the subject? Does he want to give this “living water to her man as well”? Not really. In fact, Jesus’ act of calling for her husband was to reveal something about the woman. She wanted this spiritual blessing from Jesus, but Jesus could not grant it until she dealt with the reality of who she really was.

She replied, “I am not married”.

Jesus already knew this and said, “That’s right. I know you aren’t married. I know you have been married five times. And I also know that the man you’re living with is not your husband either”.

What is Jesus doing? Why is he embarrassing her like this? What does it matter who she lives with and who she sleeps with? What does her sexual relationship have to do with her thirst? Everything. It had everything to do with her thirst.

Jesus was not simply offering her a spiritual blessing. Jesus began to address her spirituality in the light of her sexuality. He brings up her sexual relationship just as she tries to receive a spiritual blessing. He challenges her to understand that before she can be spiritually satisfied, she has to address her sexuality. Jesus does not say that she has to fix it. He is not offering her a condition upon which God can receive her. This confrontation is about revealing to the woman something so vital to her spirituality, that Jesus could not let the opportunity pass. Jesus was revealing the connection between her spirituality and her sexuality.

Jesus confronts her with the truth of her situation. This woman probably does not like what she is doing. She is either a single woman with a married man or a single woman having sex with a man she is not married to. In her culture and in her understanding of God’s intention for humanity, she knows she is living a life that is less than idyllic. She is ashamed. She doesn’t want to be looked at with judgmental eyes. She doesn’t want people to say anything to her. She is running from confrontation. So Jesus does what she is trying to avoid yet desperately needs. She needs someone to hold up the mirror. Jesus knows that His first step to her spiritual renewal is confrontation. She had to confront the truth of the life she was living. But more importantly, she had to confront the reality of why she was living out her sexuality in that way. Why did she have so many failed relationships? Why...