If You Knew Who It Is

And He had to pass through Samaria. So He came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as He was from His journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.

A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” (For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to Him, “How is it that You, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings 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 nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do You get that living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 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. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered Him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ). When He comes, He will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”

John 4:4-26

The noonday sun was hot, and the empty water jar pressed against the woman’s hip as she approached the well. She walked toward it as she had almost every day for many years, always hoping no one would be there. But her heart seemed to drop into her stomach when she saw a Man sitting on the rock border of the well—and, by His looks and clothing—a Jew! But she had to have water, so she proceeded as quickly as she could, glancing at Him only from the corners of her eyes. 

But He looked back at her—and shocked her by asking for a drink of water! She couldn’t hold her astonishment back: “How is it that You, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?”

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.’”

Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman has been examined and discussed since John’s gospel first came into the hands of Christians. Interpreters find here God’s sovereignty in sending His Son to speak with this woman, a picture of eternal life in overflowing, renewing water, the compassion of Jesus and His outreach to all people, the reality of spiritual worship, and much more.

It’s all there in awesome richness. But the heart of this narrative may be Jesus’ first statement to the Samaritan woman. He had asked her for the gift of a drink of water from the well; and then He introduced her to what He called the gift of God—new, ever-renewing and transforming life—what He called “living water.” There at the well, she would learn who will give that life to her—the Promised One, the Son of God, the Savior of all people everywhere who believe in Him.

Today Jesus’ words should confront even us who trust Christ as Savior, who have received eternal life by His Spirit. “If you knew who it is …you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water.”

We as Christ-followers often forget, and certainly haven’t yet learned, all He really is, and all the power and newness He will pour out into our lives.

If today is a stable, happy day, with your family content and well, with occupations before you that give you satisfaction, have you remembered Who it is that chose and provided these blessings?

Or, are you dissatisfied today, with your home, work, or relationships? Remember your Sovereign God, who gives everything, including peace and contentment, in love and compassion. Will He give all you want? Perhaps, or perhaps not, but He Who made new life possible will refresh vitality deep inside you. He gives you the desires of your heart, as His Spirit conforms your heart and mind to His.

Are you grieving, or sick, or do you have someone close to you who is? He cares, profoundly. He brings the water of life, refreshing and strengthening. The strength He gives is not always physical healing, but it comes from His grace and is as firm as granite.

Do you fear your future or the future of our society and culture? Learn who speaks to you—the Shepherd Ruler, who loves you fiercely. He directs His powerful thoughts toward you.

Jesus told the well-woman, “I who speak to you am He.” He speaks to you; He is for you.