John begins his New Testament book, John, by immediately introducing us to Jesus in John chapter 1. In this chapter, he wrote these profound words about Jesus, “In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind” (verse 4, NIV). To bring life to all who place their faith in Him was the reason that Jesus came. That’s why, along with saying that He is “the way” and “the truth” in John 14:6, He also said that He is “the life.” The life He offers, however, is not of this world. He offers something far better. He offers eternal life.
One of my favorite passages of Scripture where Jesus explained the eternal life He offers is found in John 4. In this passage, Jesus has a fascinating conversation with a Samaritan woman at a well. This passage is fascinating for several reasons. John tells us that in an effort to leave Judea and return to Galilee, Jesus “had to go through Samaria on the way” (verses 3-4). This was no ordinary route for a self-respecting Jew. You see, Jews and Samaritans did not get along. Jews typically avoided Samaria as they traveled, even if it meant taking a longer route. No self-respecting Jew "had to go through Samaria." Thsi was not so with Jesus. Jesus purposefully went to Samaria and was even compelled to go there. He “had to” meet a Samaritan woman at a well there. When he got to the well, Jesus was tired from his journey to Galilee and said to a Samaritan woman there, “Please give me a drink” (verses 6-7). This request surprised the Samaritan woman. First, Jesus was talking to a Samaritan when most Jewish people, especially Jewish rabbis, did not associate with them. Second, He was talking to a woman. Women were often overlooked in Jesus’ society, but Jesus saw this Samaritan woman. When she asked Jesus, “Why are you asking me for a drink?”, Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water” (verses 9-10). This statement certainly surprised her. She, like any of us, would have asked, “Where would You get this living water?” (verse 11). Her question led to this profound statement and revelation about Jesus, who said, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life” (verses 13-14). Jesus alone satisfies our longing hearts because He offers life beyond what this world offers. He offers eternal life for all who turn to Him.
Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman in John 4 changed her life completely. She “left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone” about Jesus (verses 28-29). John tells us that “many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus” because of this woman’s testimony. She had encountered Jesus and the eternal life available in Him, and that made all the difference.
Once the Samaritan woman learned about the “living water” and eternal life in Jesus, she was no longer concerned about the water she had come to draw from the well. She understood that the life Jesus offers is far greater than anything this world has to offer. May we leave anything behind in this world that holds us back from fully embracing the eternal life that is available in Jesus.
Take a few minutes today to pray for one person in your life who needs the hope of eternal life that only Jesus offers. Pray that they would come to believe in Him and place their faith in Him so that one day they can experience eternal life in Him. Pray that He would use you to make Him known.
Prayer Prompt: Use this prompt to guide you as you pray.
1 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
17 “I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
The Disciples Rejoin Jesus
27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”
28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”
32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”
34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”
Many Samaritans Believe
39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers.
42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
