Christ Meets Needs ... But Which Ones? John 3-4

John 4:15 (ESV Strong's)

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.”

Christ Meets Needs

I is not surprising what the woman at the well said to Jesus.  In the above verse we see the response of the Samaritan woman who meet Jesus at the well.   She would have to come to the well everyday to get water.   She was a “Samaritan” and therefore unliked and despised by the Jews.   So, the act of coming to the well was filled with contempt, bias, and bigotry, not to mention hard work.    Jesus is at the well when she shows up to get her water.  She is probably coming at a time that no one else would be there (perhaps the heat of the day).   Jesus asks for a drink and that floors her.  No self-respecting Jew would even talk to a Samaritan.   Most men would not talk to a woman in public like this.   We learn from the story that she was married five times.  So, her reputation was not that proud to begin with.  Everything about this story is shocking to the naked eye.    Yet, Jesus not only speaks to her, He offers her “living water.”   He describes this water in such a way that she believes by taking the water she will never have to come to the well agin and be embarrassed, laughed at, looked at, or ridiculed.   Who would not want that kind of water.    The Scripture does not give us tone of voice, but we might her excitement and eagerness in her voice when she says, “Sir, GIVE me this water!”   Christ, of course, is not offering her physical water.  He is talking about Himself.   He is saying that like water, the main sustainer of physical life, He is the main sustainer of spiritual life.  Jesus is talking meeting spiritual needs, she is ready to believe that He is talking physical needs.    Those who first come to Christ see Him first as meeting material and physical needs and wants.  Jesus certainly can do that.  He feed the five thousand with five loaves and two fishes, and then taught them spiritual truths.   Jesus heal the bodies of many and then gave them spiritual truth to heal their souls.    We ought not think it strange that we think Jesus will take care of the pain in our lives.  He has a track record of doing some of that.  But, He wants to heal our souls.  He wants to prepare us for HIS Kingdom and not the concerns of this kingdom.   Jesus does not always heal our circumstances but He always changes our spiritual condition.   When we come to Christ we are to come to Him for spiritual blessings.  That is the mistake early believers make.    They often want the outward physical to change without regard to the internal.  We have to come to Christ in faith that He will change the inside and restore us to a relationship with His Father.   Once we believe that, the outside with the world means far less and, eventually, not important at all.