The Well of Life :: John 4:4-26

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Jesus answered and said to her, Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a wellspring of water welling up to eternal life.

Imagine a spring of crystal clean, crisp water that wells up constantly, not merely to refresh us now but to give us new life. Imagine this source of living water providing not only pure refreshment for all the needs of this life but never running dry or flooding out. Imagine this source gushing forth in your life in such a way it produces an incredible harvest of fruit, a bounty of heavenly food that is the sweetest thing you’ve ever tasted. 

We have access to such a source.


Scientists tell us that water comprises 71 percent of our world. 

So does it surprise you then, that so many of us are dying of thirst? 


When our Lord Jesus sat down at Jacob’s well in the heat of the day in a strange land, He did so because it was necessary and he was thirsty. A Samaritan woman also came to the well, because she too was thirsty. 

Are you just as parched?

In appearance, Jesus doesn’t seem to be the kind of man who could offer any kind of help to the woman at the well. He’s worn out and empty handed. It’s hot. The land here is dry. He’s a stranger in a strange place. And she is alone. Most Jews avoid this neck of the woods, preferring either the Mediterranean coast or the Jordan River valley for their journeys between Jerusalem and Galilee. But today, Jesus is headed north, because it’s necessary .... a divine necessity ... that He stop at Jacob’s well ... 

People here are dying of thirst. 

It’s about noon, the sixth hour of the day. That’s when the woman came to the well.

So Jesus said, Give me a drink. 


Give me a drink? Really? Who are you? The woman could have rebuffed. Who do you think I am, any way? 

This conversation isn’t supposed to be happening. Jews don’t associate with Samaritans ... let alone single men with single women ... even if it is in public. Yet here’s Jesus breaking all the taboos. 

Apart from the crucifixion, this is one of the more telling moments in the life of Christ. Jesus is literally teeming with water. And here he is asking for a drink. Isn’t he the Son of God? The Creator of Water? He has already turned six huge containers of water into the best wine. He has already told an old man that by water and the Spirit he could be born again. He will go on to walk on water and calm one of the most intense storms on the sea of life. Yet here he is declaring ... Give me a drink. 

I wonder if I have ever spoken to my Lord as crassly as the Samaritan woman replied. How is it that you, a Jew, seek a drink from me? 


Why do we do that to ourselves? This woman recognized Jesus only as a Jew, with all the prejudices that we do. Jews and Samaritans have no dealings with each other, she said, just like the rich and the poor, the strong and the weak, the whites and the blacks, the men and the women, the Lutherans and the other Protestants of Appleton City. 

We are masters of separation. Just like the Samaritan woman said, our fathers worship on this mountain, but you say that is the right place where people ought to worship. 


Sin ... which is separation ... is all-consuming. It prevents us from knowing God, from recognizing God, from hearing God ... His absolutes, His love, His power, His promises of mercy. It separates us from one another, and divides us into classes. And it is killing us. Our world is literally dying of thirst in the same way Adam and Eve did as they were cast into the desert ... apart from the rivers of life.

You are sinners who sin.

It makes one wonder: Do you really know the gift of God?

If you knew ... you would have asked him and he would have given you living water. 


Sometimes, we think we know God. 

I know many of you have good devotional lives. Many of you read the scriptures daily. You pray. You come to Sunday worship regularly. And some of you even recognize the importance of coming on Wednesday night too. 

But are you really worshipping in spirit and truth? 

Are you really seeking the gifts of God? 

Had the Woman at the Well known who God was, she would have approached Jesus with the plea for the water of life instead of waiting for His plea to her. In her weariness and in her need, she would have cried out, Give me a drink. ... And he would have given her living water that would never leave her thirsty again.

Too often in what we consider a religious life, we think of ourselves as the givers of God ... giving Him a few moments of our day in prayer ... a few moments of our week in worship ... a few pennies in our baby bottles. And then we act like we don’t need to take a break from work to seek refreshment from our Lord. 

But when we are honest with ourselves, we realize we are in fact the ones with nothing and that he has everything. ... That we are broken vessels, empty cisterns of stagnant water. ... That we have been carrying around five spouses and a live-in in the palm of our hands ... That we are greedy or selfish with our tithes and offerings ... That we long for a better car, a better house, a better spouse. We think we don’t need the forgiveness of sins every week. 

We are in fact dying of thirst. 

So thank God ... 

  • That’s why you’re here today, isn’t it? 

  • That’s why you’re returning to your baptism. 

  • That’s why you’re confessing your sins and receiving absolution. 

  • That’s why you’re longing to be nourished by the Lord’s Supper.

  • Isn’t it?


And Jesus said, Believe me, the hour is coming and is now here that you are worshipping in spirit and truth.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, God has poured out his Holy Spirit upon each of you, saving you through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he pours out generously upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying.

The Word of God is that active within you. It is enabling you to join all the saints in heaven and on earth in believing and singing ...


Oh, come let us sing to the Lord, 

Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.


We do this precisely because of what Jesus has done for us, calling to us in our wilderness, meeting us where we are, despite our sin. And now most, if not all, of us believe in him and have faith in him because of the Word that became flesh to show us all that we ever did. Regardless of how we have lived our lives in the past, he still delivers to us life and salvation, freedom and forgiveness.

Jesus has come to us on our dusty mountaintop, proclaiming his Gospel to you today just like he did to that woman at the well. God in the flesh has demonstrated to you that he knows your hurts, He knows needs. And He knows you are dying of thirst. Jesus has walked miles up this mountain to nourish this Samaritan woman. 

More than that he has climbed an even bigger mountain, the mountain of your sin, to face the heat you deserve. At about the same hour on Mount Calvary, in the heat of the day, Jesus climbed upon his cross, beaten and broken, and again cried out in thirst. 

We gave him vinegar then. 

In exchange he gave us living water flowing out of his side. He who knew no sin became your sin so that you could have his righteousness. He took this sin from you, and produced in you repentance. He crucified your sin on his cross. He then buried your sin forever so that it will never be seen from again. Finally, he destroyed death for you.


I am the living water, he says. Whoever drinks of this water will be thirsty again. It is a wellspring welling up to eternal life. 

So drink from him. Read his living word that nourishes your soul. 

Jesus, empty-handed though he may be, is reaching out to all of us today, through his word, justifying all of us through the faith that he gave us to have in him. Through that life-giving water, We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And can rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 


Brothers and sisters in Christ, are you seeing how your font is overflowing in your life? Are you hearing how your Father declaring your salvation and forgiveness? This treasure is yours. It is God’s promise to you.

Now, join the Samaritan woman sharing with your brothers and sisters your testimony about what the Word of God is doing in your life. The world is longing to hear for themselves how Jesus does in fact save us all ... not only in his life, death, and resurrection ... but in his sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which confer the forgiveness of sins by His command.


Apart from Christ, we are dehydrated and parched. We are nothing but empty broken vessels. We can fill it with all sorts of things, but we can only be truly satisfied with Christ, who is our life-giving water, welling up into eternal life. This is the same water he provided that Samaritan woman, who had been broken and shattered by multiple marriages, and left parched until she began hearing the Word of Christ. 

Yes, indeed, it is no longer because of what any of you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and we know that Jesus is indeed the Savior.

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