Jn.4:7 – There *came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus *said to her, “Give Me a drink.”
I remember listening to a sermon on this verse on a long plane flight to Africa back in September of 1994. I remember being totally immersed in the love of God as I thought about Jesus having a thirst for intimacy with me. How is that even possible? I know the Lord has no need and is infinitely satisfied in Himself and His relationship of love with His Father. But there it is in black and white, “Give Me a drink”. This is why Jesus went to Samaria, on second thought that’s why He became one of us. He came so that we could be made whole. He came to get a drink as He gave us a drink. I’m not sure I understand this; honestly I don’t think any of us can quite understand much about Him. I do know this, He loves me and when I receive Living Water from Him He is also filled with unspeakable joy. Here is how Maximus of Turin describes this.
“The Savior asks for water from the woman, then, and feigns thirst so that he might give eternal grace to the thirsty. For the source was not able to be thirsty, nor was he in whom there is living water able to draw water full of earthly sediment. Did Christ thirst, then? He thirsted, to be sure, but for salvation and not [merely] for human drink. He was thirsty not for the water of this world but for the redemption of the human race. In a wonderful way, therefore, the source sitting by the well produces streams of mercy in that very place, and with flowing, living water he purifies the woman who is fornicating with a sixth man, not her husband but an adulterer. And in a new kind of miracle the woman who had come to the well of Samaria as a prostitute returned chaste from the source of Christ. She who had come to look for water brought back chastity.”
We can get pretty thirsty in this goofed up world, especially when we waste our time drinking from the wrong fountains. This story shows us just how far Jesus will go to bring us Living Water. He went to Samaria and sought out a questionable woman who was thirsty, unthinkable for a Jewish man. He also chases us down in some sketchy places and when he finds us all He says is “Give Me a drink”.