A few weeks ago you read the story of how my brother Dee and I helped our dad dig a well in our backyard many years ago. Before Dad decided to dig our own well, we had to haul all our family’s water needs from a community well nearly a mile from our house.
Almost everyone in Sand Springs, where we lived, went to this common well for their water. The well was very shallow, no more than eight or ten feet deep, and located close to a small stream that ran through the area. It was owned by one of the families in Sand Springs, but it was accepted that anyone who wanted to could get water from that well. It was the never-ending job of having to haul water that made Dad decide to begin to dig our own well.
The water from the community well was clear and sweet, very good for cooking and drinking. It was what is called “soft” water. That meant it had few minerals and other impurities in it. That also made it good to use for bathing or washing clothes. Mother often mentioned what good water it was.
Can you imagine the disappointment of our entire family after our well was finally finished and we discovered that the water we worked so hard to find was almost unusable? It was “hard” water with many minerals and impurities in it. Ways of treating hard water were not very good back in those days. Mother and Dad had to remove the minerals in our water by adding lye, a poison, to the water. Even with this harsh treatment, the water from our well was still too “hard” to use. The water was so bad it was like taking bad-tasting medicine when we tried to drink it. We had to go back to hauling water from the community well.
In Bible times there were wells very much like our well - they were dug by hand. There was one called Jacob’s well and the Bible says it was deep. Jacob’s well must have been like our community well with clear, sweet water, because many people came there to draw water for their needs. This well was near a town called Sychar in a country called Samaria.
One day as the Lord Jesus was traveling through Samaria, He came to Jacob’s well. John 4:66Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. (John 4:6) tells us, “Jesus . . . being wearied with His journey, sat . . . on the well.” John 4:66Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. (John 4:6). Can you imagine how wonderful it would have been if one day Jesus had been sitting on our community well when I went to haul water? It proved to be really wonderful for a Samaritan woman from Sychar when she came to haul water that day.
Just like you and me, this woman was a sinner. God’s Word, the Bible, plainly tells us that we are all sinners, but this woman’s life had been a long history of living in sin. Some of you boys and girls may say, “I have not done very much wrong.” But the Bible says about each one of us, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way.” Isaiah 53:66All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6). Though this woman who found the Lord Jesus sitting on Jacob’s well was a very bad sinner, she discovered He had a tender heart and that He loved her and wanted to cleanse her from her sins.
The Lord Jesus began a conversation with the woman, that led her to see and admit she was a sinner and to want to receive Him as her Saviour. Jesus, being the Son of God, knew all about the woman’s sins and knew exactly how to win her poor, sinful heart. He simply started the conversation by asking for a drink of water from the well.
She was surprised that Jesus, being a Jew, would even speak to her because she was a Samaritan. In those days the Jews and Samaritans didn’t even talk to each other.
Boys and girls, Jesus loves you just the same no matter what country you live in or what color your skin is. And Jesus answered the woman’s question by saying, “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give Me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water.” John 4:1010Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. (John 4:10). The Lord Jesus was not talking about good sweet water like the water from our community well or from Jacob’s well. He was talking about the water of life -eternal life which He will give to any sinner who will come to Him.
Jesus wants to give you eternal life. To receive eternal life you must, like the Samaritan woman, admit that you are a sinner and “believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name.” John 20:3131But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name. (John 20:31). You can be sure you will not be refused if you simply come to Jesus, admitting that you are a sinner, and receive from Him that drink of “living water.” He said, “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise [no way] cast out.” John 6:3737All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (John 6:37).
ML-06/27/1993