8.21.14 "Living Water:  Old Testament … New Testament"

John 4:7-10

7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)  9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a])  10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

What a strange and compelling prophesy put forth by Ezekiel in chapters 37 and 47.  Where there was the expectation of salty, unsustainable water and absence of life, there could be found fresh water where “swarms of living creatures will live” and fruit trees grow on the banks of this river.  These trees never die and their fruit does not fail.  They continuously bear fruit and even the leaves provide healing.  This was a very special kind of water indeed!  This prophecy points to the ultimate source of “living water” unveiled in the New Testament – Jesus Christ!

In John 4:7-10, Jesus uses the same concept, that of living water, to describe to this Samaritan woman God’s ever-flowing gifts of grace and spiritual sustenance.  All she need do is simply ask.  He reaches across the social and gender boundaries of his time to show that God’s love and life-sustaining “living water” is available to us all … if we would only ask.

John