NEVER, NO NEVER

 

Saturday, July 30, 2022

 

NEVER, NO NEVER

 

John 4:13-16

13 Jesus answered her, All who drink of this water will be thirsty again.

14 But whoever takes a drink of the water that I will give him shall never, no never, be thirsty any more. But the water that I will give him shall become a spring of water welling up (flowing, bubbling) [continually] within him unto (into, for) eternal life.

15 The woman said to Him, Sir, give me this water, so that I may never get thirsty nor have to come [continually all the way] here to draw.

16 At this, Jesus said to her, Go, call your husband and come back here.

AMP

 

          There are many ways to approach this story but only one speaks to our spiritual condition. We might delve deeper into a better understanding of the geography. Doing so, we would learn that the distance from Judea to Galilee which Jesus traveled as noted in John chapter 4 is 70 miles. This trip would have taken about 2 1/2 days.

 

          We might focus on the culture and animosity between the Jews and the Samaritans. When Israel divided into two kingdoms, the northern kingdom called Israel ultimately established their capital in the hilltop city of Samaria. When Assyria conquered Israel and the result was that the foreigners brought their pagan gods to be worshipped along side the God of Israel (2 Kings 17:29-41). The Samaritans were a blended race, and their worship was a corrupted Judaism. Jews from Judea in the south avoided them.

 

          As I said earlier, the only thing that speaks to our condition is the encounter of broken humanity with pure holiness. Holiness stooped to make contact, to understand, and to feel the deep soul-thirst of the broken woman. Carefully and gently, almost surgically, Jesus identified her sin and her pain. She felt her need for living water but could not quantify it and could not satisfy it alone.

 

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!

Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me!

Underneath me, all around me, is the current of Thy love

Leading onward, leading homeward to Thy glorious rest above!

Samuel T. Francis

 

Dear Savior, thank you for the constant source of spiritual refreshment. How it cools, soothes, and cleanses me! AMEN