Jesus Offered Something Greater

What Did Jesus Do?

“...whoever drinks of the water that I give will never be thirsty again.”
John 4.14

Nowadays we have literally dozens of drinks that vie for the title of greatest thirst quencher. One soft drink has assured us for years that it is “the real thing.” Another claims to be “the choice of a new generation.” There are sports drinks, and power drinks, and herbal drinks, and fruity drinks. There are beers manufactured by giant corporations, and “micro-brews” bottled by small entrepreneurs in most every village and hamlet across the land. Even water, which I grew up simply getting from the kitchen sink, now comes in enough different bottled versions to support a billion dollar industry. The thing is, the claims of all the myriad beverages aside, I still get thirsty, and I bet you do to. Don't you just wish that someone would come along with something truly greater, that could satisfy your thirst once and for all? Jesus offered something greater.

In arid lands, like ancient Palestine, thirst quenching wasn't an industry, but it was essential to life. No village could survive without a reliable source of water. Sychar, in Samaria, was one such place, where a village had been established around a well dug by the Jewish Patriarch Jacob (John 4.6). For more than a thousand years Jacob's well had been supplying water for the thirsty people of the village. Yet, after all those years, the people were still thirsty for something more. Jesus offered something greater.

The person who encountered the greater “thirst quencher” was a woman with a rather questionable past who, after having had five husbands had apparently given up on marriage, because she evidently didn't bother to marry number 6 (John 4.16-17). The promise of water that could so satisfy that one would never be thirsty again intrigued the woman who obviously was not easily satisfied (remember, she had already gone through five men and was working on the sixth). Though she desperately desired a drink of this “thirst quencher,” no well, no jug, no cup could hold the “living water” she now desired. Jesus offered something greater.

Only the wellspring of a new heart, a heart so filled with the love of Christ that it overflows in worship of the Father in spirit and in truth (John 4.23-24), can satisfy throughout this life and unto eternity. Not only the woman, but many of her fellow villagers eagerly received the water of life (John 4.39-41). Jesus offered something greater, and they quickly accepted his offer.

Now, the well where the Samaritan woman encountered Jesus still exists. An Orthodox priest mans it, and will gladly sell you a flask of water from Jacob's well. I suppose there must be enough folks who travel to Israel today who have a hankering for the water from that well, otherwise the priest would probably have found something else to do by now. Me? No, I didn't get any of the water from the well, because, years ago, when Jesus offered something greater to me, I had tasted that which truly satisfies the thirsty soul.

How about you, are you thirsty? I know there are a lot of thirst quenchers to consider. May I suggest that, if you haven't yet accepted, today would be a great day to receive the something greater only Jesus offers.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4