(3 min)
"Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again."
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This week's passage is part of a larger interaction between Jesus and a Samaritan woman at a well in John 4.
There were deep divisions and true animosity between Jews and Samaritans on ethnic, religious and social grounds.
In the 8th century BC, the Assyrian Empire conquered Israel, deported some Israelites and replaced them with people from other lands.
Those people intermarried with Israelites resulting in a mixed race → Samaritans.
The fact that Jesus was even interacting with this woman would have been surprising, unexpected and scandalous for many reasons.
Here are a few:
Social: Jews avoided interactions with Samaritans to the point where they would take the long way around Samaria instead of passing through it (adding 2-4 days of walking to their travels).
Gender: Jesus was a Jewish man. She was a Samaritan woman. Jewish men generally did not speak to women in public, especially if they weren't related.
Religious: Jesus was a holy man, a rabbi. This woman seems to be a social outcast (which is likely why she's alone at noon getting water at the hottest part of the day).
Jesus purposefully broke every social norm of that time to meet this one woman and offer her living water.
Saint Augustine famously said "You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”
The restlessness Augustine is referring to is an infinite thirst that all humans have. A thirst for meaning, belonging and a sense of worth.
Ultimately - whether people know it or not - our deepest desire and thirst is to be in union with God, for eternity.
In one sense, it's to return to the Garden of Eden where we existed in perfect loving relationship with God.
And nothing less than union with God will satisfy that infinite thirst.
We often seek to quench this thirst with things other than God.
We subconsciously hope that a promotion, finding a spouse, getting a house, growing a following, the next vacation or making more money will quench our thirst.
But if you've ever gotten any of those things (or maybe all of them), you know that they are exactly like physical water - they quench our thirst for a moment, but the satisfaction does not last.
In Genesis, humans start out having perfect union with God. Then, that union gets severed by sin.
Jesus offers us a path back to the Garden - back to union with God through faith in him.
"For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross."
Colossians 1:19-20
Not only does Jesus offer us a path back to union with God in eternity (salvation), he offers us the Holy Spirit today to live life from a place of being already satisfied.
We're invited to live from satisfaction, not for it.
This frees us from seeking ultimate satisfaction in things that simply can't deliver the true Garden experience. But it's up to us to take hold of that freedom.
As you memorize John 4:13-14 this week, start to notice what your mind (on autopilot) thirsts for and daydreams about:
These can be good things, but they are not ultimate things.
Picture yourself with Jesus at the well. Lay down those lesser things in exchange for the living water Jesus is offering you.
Have a blessed week,
The Malachi Daily Team
🧠 Memorize 1 passage of Scripture every other week
🤓 Learn its historical, cultural and literary context
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