On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. - John 7:37
There is a universal call Jesus makes to sinners- the call is that "anyone who is thirsty "should "come to me and drink". He adds that whoever drinks of the water that He gives, "will never be thirsty again" (John 4:14). These sort of invitations using water are also given in the Old Testament (Isaiah 55:1, Jeremiah 31:25). They are invitations to satisfy one's thirst on that which will actually work. Jesus makes this invitation to a woman, face to face.
7 There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. 9 Therefore the Samaritan woman *said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” 11 She *said to Him, “[Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? 12 You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?” 13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” 15 The woman *said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw.” 16 He *said to her, “Go, call your husband and come here.” 17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus *said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly.” 19 The woman *said to Him, “ Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” 21 Jesus *said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman *said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.” 26 Jesus *said to her, “I who speak to you am He.” 27 At this point His disciples came, and they were amazed that He had been speaking with a woman, yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why do You speak with her?” 28 So the woman left her waterpot, and went into the city and *said to the men, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; - John 4
Here, Christ tells the woman of a water and that if she drinks of this water she will "thirst no more". The woman wants of this water, and here Christ points to her, her sin. He tells her of her past five husbands and that the one she is living with now (or sleeping with) is not even her husband. It is then shortly afterward that Jesus tells her who He is- The Messiah. The disciples come and wonder why He is speaking to her (as if it was a waste of time). Now, they could have been bothered by this because 1) She is a woman, 2) because she is a Samaritan. Yet, behold the compassion of our Lord with sinners- that does not make distinctions upon race. His elect are from "every nation and tongue" (Revelation 5:9). The woman leaves her water-pot, and goes into the city to speak of someone who "told me all things I have done".
Let us look at one more verse in the old testament: 13 For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.- Jeremiah 2:13
Here, The Lord speaks of the nation of Israel and their fleeing after Idols. He says that Israel has forsaken Him (the spring of living water) and have dug their own cisterns. The digging of their own cisterns is Israel going after idols. These idols cannot do anything for Israel (can hold no water). They are empty, they can give NOTHING to them, they are of no value. Often, we are the same. We run to those things that can offer us nothing. Sin can provide some temporary relief, but after, we are empty and once again we thirst. But, Jesus offers us a water that will satisfy our thirst.
And to close, a commentary by Matthew Henry:
Grace in Christ is compared to water from a fountain, it being cooling and refreshing, cleansing and making fruitful: to living water, because it quickens dead sinners, revives drooping saints, supports and maintains spiritual life, and issues in eternal life, and is ever-flowing. To forsake this Fountain is the first evil; this is done when the people of God neglect his word and ordinances. They hewed them out broken cisterns, that could hold no water. Such are the world, and the things in it; such are the inventions of men when followed and depended on. Let us, with purpose of heart, cleave to the Lord only; whither else shall we go? How prone are we to forego the consolations of the Holy Spirit, for the worthless joys of the enthusiast and hypocrite! - Matthew Henry
In Christ, Awretchsaved
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