Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 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. -John 4:13-14 (NIV)
Some of you have already noticed. The title of today's devotional is from yesterday's suggested readings. Did Tommy make a mistake? Shouldn't that have been the name of yesterday's entry?
It's not unusual for me to make a mistake. And yes, I could have focused on that verse yesterday. But there's a reason why I've chosen to focus on it today.
In yesterday's readings, we're told that God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. God did not not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:16-17)
It's one thing to say that God loves the world. It's another thing entirely to actually see that love in action. That's exactly what is happening in today's scripture.
Jesus is weary and stops at a Samaritan well for some rest and some water. While he is there, a Samaritan woman approaches and Jesus engages her in conversation.
Now, Samaritans and Jews did not like one another; hatred would be a more appropriate word. Jews believed that Samaritans were impure and Samaritans held the Jews in contempt for their unwillingness to accept Samaritan help in rebuilding the Temple after their return from exile.
Not only did Jesus travel through a country that most Jews would have completely avoided, he stopped to rest and enjoy a drink of water from one of their wells. Not only did Jesus engage in conversation with a Samaritan while he was there, promising eternal life as an expression of God's great love discussed in John 3:16-17, but he did so with a woman, which in that day was also very unacceptable. Not only did Jesus speak to and provide comfort to a Samaritan woman, he did so to a woman who had a history of broken relationships and questionable decisions.
The good news of this text is that when John records that God loves the world so much that He sent Jesus to save the world, God really means it. God's desire is to save the world: the people that others hate, the people that others won't talk to, the people that others seek to ignore, the people who are especially broken and void of lasting relationships, Christ came to save.
May God grant us the grace to love the world and offer the gift of living water to anyone who needs it today.
If you're interested in reading through the Bible in a year, tomorrow's suggestions are Nahum 1-3 and John 5.
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