Are you thirsty?

I share the following dialogue I have been having with Jesus this past month from John 4,7-15 and 28.

A woman from Samaria came to draw after. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?”

We all go about our business with tasks we need to do as well as tasks we do to avoid the root issues. Here the woman came alone, avoiding others to get water. Perhaps she was stuck in her allowing her past and people’s perception of her to keep her stuck in false identity. Perhaps she really needed water. Maybe she has already gotten water earlier but was down, she needed to do something to keep her distracted from her own pain.

Jesus initiated. He opened an opportunity to engage.

Her defenses rose. Her need to protect herself kept her at arms distance. Was she trying to be clever? Or was she trying to create a situation were he would realize her need to reject her. She had come to believe the lies so deeply, it is like she couldn’t help but remind him that she was beneath him and he probably didn’t want her to give him water.

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw after with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.”

It is almost as if the core of her being was being poked and she knew there was something in his question that created a longing, and dare to think even hope. Yet fear of what might not be true for her, it is like she had to get something out of her mouth to protect her. She knew stuff, she could put up another truth to block her need…and vulnerability. She leaned into practicality and reasoning. It is not possible for you to get living water and besides who do you think you are?

We will do pretty much anything to escape the vulnerability our hearts need for transformation. Why is it that would find deceived comfort in a lie rather than let down our defenses? What is going to take to break that bondage?

Jesus could have given up by now…after all, he has already tried. He could see her rough edges. He could have thought, she is not ready…I’ll just pray that the truth sown will sink in one day. I’ve done what I can. BUT HE DOESN’T! He is so amazing to us. He continues to draw her and show her that she doesn’t have to be so brave.

Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a print of water welling up to eternal life. The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

She opens a window of her heart. She verbalized her longing and realization of the need that lies beneath. She was thirsty beyond knowing what to do with herself. She did not flee. She let Jesus engage her.

Jesus is showing me that I am resisting him. He is peeling back areas of my life…which I have asked Him to do. I want to be transformed. I want Him to change me. I know I can not do it. I need His truth to renew my mind. Yet when He gets to a certain point…I pull back. I avoid. I find good tasks to complete. I justify my rest and ways to look at him but keep him at arms distance. It’s like I want to be close, but not too close. Why? What am I afraid of?

So the woman left her water jar and went away into town.

As I read this line, it was if the Holy Spirit said…see, she drank from the Living Water and is no longer thirsty.

John 7, 37-39 says: Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, ‘Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’’ When he said ‘living water,’ he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him.

Holy Spirit come and pour out a fresh anointing on your children. Teach us how to let our guard down and give you permission to fully have your way in our hearts. Root out, stir up all that keeps us from walking in transformation and the truth that gives life.