Living Water

Living Water (by David Peterson at The Rock Of Jesus Church)

While passing through Samaria, Jesus paused at a well while His disciples went to a nearby city for provisions. At noon, He was joined by a woman who came to draw water and Jesus asked her for a drink. She raised the question of how improper it would be for her to do so, with Him being a Jew. Then, as recorded in John 4:10: Jesus replied to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who is saying to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” Jesus is referring to Old Testament scripture when He says “living water” and His metaphor for her is that He provides eternal life in a spiritual sense.

Gregory of Nazianzus, a Trinitarian theologian from the 4th century AD, once wrote; “He began His ministry by being hungry, yet He is the Bread of Life. Jesus ended His earthly ministry by being thirsty, yet He is the Living Water. Jesus was weary, yet He is our rest. Jesus paid tribute, yet He is the King. Jesus was accused of having a demon, yet He cast out demons. Jesus wept, yet He wipes away our tears. Jesus was sold for thirty pieces of silver, yet He redeemed the world. Jesus was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, yet He is the Good Shepherd. Jesus died, yet by His death He destroyed the power of death.” Jesus is everything to us and he provides living water eternally.

The renown Fanny Jane Crosby wrote a significant hymn called “The Living Water” in 1909. Here is the first stanza and refrain;

Come to the fount of healing,

Come, come today,

Now is the time accepted,

No more delay.

Refrain:

List to the Bride and Spirit,

List to their pleading call,

Jesus, the living water,

Freely will give to all.

Jesus gives and gives and gives!

Let us pray: Loving Lord Jesus, humbly we ask You to provide us with Your living water to renew our souls and quench our deep thirst. Then, may rivers of living water flow out of our hearts, so that all who drink will be nourished forever. Amen.