The Living Water

Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard, ‘Jesus is making and baptizing more disciples than John’— although it was not Jesus himself but his disciples who baptized— he left Judea and started back to Galilee. But he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.

A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink’. (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?’ (Jews do not share things in common 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 no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?’ Jesus said to her, 'Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.’

- John 4:1-15

In yesterday's reading, we learned of Jesus' growing popularity, as compared to John the Baptist. Because the Pharisees have now taken note of this fact, Jesus returns to Galilee from Judea. But on the way to Galilee, he must pass through Samaria. Samaria was the region to the north, between Judea and Galilee. My study bible says that this town called "Sychar" in John's gospel is identified by scholars as Shechem or a village nearby. Shechem was the first capital of the kingdom of Israel. My study bible notes that the Old Testament does not mention Jacob's well, but that he did own property nearby. A note reads: "Wells and springs are significant in Scripture because of their rarity in desert life. In the Old Testament they often symbolize the life given by God, especially a life of blessedness." The well mentioned in this story is located at the foot of Mt. Gerizim. It is maintained as a shrine to this day, from which pilgrims can drink. My study bible points out that Jesus' tired and weary condition teaches us of his full humanity, that he shared all of life with us.

The Samaritans were traditional enemies of the Jews. They were a mixed race of peoples. They worshiped the God of Israel and were awaiting a redeemer, my study bible points out. But they accepted only the first five books (the Pentateuch) of the Old Testament as their Scriptures. They had built their own temple on Mt. Gerizim (at the foot of which is the well in the story), but it had been destroyed by the Jews in 128 BC. When Jesus asks for a drink of water, therefore, the Samaritan woman is shocked that he will have anything to do with her.

Jesus answers: "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." "Living water" in the common use means fresh, flowing water from a spring, rather than standing water in a pond or cistern. But as is characteristic of John's gospel (such as the teaching on baptism to Nicodemus), Jesus' words point to a deeper hidden meaning that he beckons his listeners to seek. The woman (again typically in John's gospel) misunderstands. She replies, "Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?" This is actually the second reminder of Jacob in this gospel. The first was when Jesus met Nathanael, and told him that he would see far greater things than Jesus' awareness of his character: "You will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man." Jacob received this vision of the divine ladder, and as Patriarch he is considered a prefiguration of Christ by Church Fathers. So, this question from the Samaritan woman is a pointed question, and a very important one for the Evangelist.

Jesus replies, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life." Jesus gives us his perspective on the "living water" that he offers, the gift of the Holy Spirit. As Jacob was considered Patriarch, in the new perspective of this gospel and the birth of the Church, Jesus is indeed, greater than Patriarch Jacob. Jacob was an ancestor that founded a race; but Jesus we consider Logos, Creator. Together with the Father and the Holy Spirit - that which is the living water - he is a fount of something eternal, unending. This is spiritual reality. The living water is a metaphor for what cannot be stopped, nor contained, nor limited, and which will always give without measure. This fountain, this living water, is that of life itself.

How do we consider this water for ourselves? The woman at the well must now come to question Jesus so that she understands him better. But it is he who has drawn her out, just as he will draw out and call upon each of us. How do you view this living water? What does it do for you? What thirst does it quench, and how long can we continue to draw from it whenever we need to? There are many ways in which we thirst, and many forms of its capacity to fill our need.