From the Pulpit: 'The thirst Jesus quenches has to do with knowing eternal life'

By: 
Pastor Jim Steen, Spirit of Truth Church

During the summer months it can be particularly obvious how important it is to have water to drink. When we are outside for an extended time with temperatures in the 90’s or hotter, we can become very thirsty and dry. And when we are feeling particularly thirsty, how awesome a cup of cold water can be!

“Back in the day”, before we had many of the comforts that we enjoy today – like A/C in our cars – Ted and Dorothy Hustead offered road weary travelers free ice water as they made their way across South Dakota. The free cold water was such a big deal to hot / dry travelers that Wall Drug went from an insignificant drug store to a booming oasis along I-90.

There was a Samaritan woman who met Jesus at a well. (You can read about it in John, chapter 4). It was about noon and there is a strong probability that she went to the well at that time of the day (when it was hot) so that she could be alone; wanting to avoid those who would look down on her because of her “reputation”. As she was drawing water from the well, Jesus asked her for a drink. That made her uncomfortable, and Jesus responded to 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 reminded Jesus that he had nothing to use to draw water out of well. But Jesus made it clear to her that he was not talking about water from the well; he was talking about quenching a thirst that is deeper and more profound than the water from a well could quench. The thirst Jesus quenches has to do with knowing eternal life.

When Jesus first responded to her, he talked about the gift of God. (“If you knew the gift of God…”)  The “gift of God” quenches a thirst within us in the depth of our soul. The “gift of God” that Jesus offered to the woman at the well, and that he offers to you and me, is to have our dry, thirsting, desperate soul quenched with “living water”. This woman Jesus met at the well needed more than water in her bucket. She needed to know “the gift of God” to quench the despair and turmoil in her heart.  She needed to know the affirmation and forgiveness that she was thirsting for; she needed to know life that is given from God.  

It is what we all need to know – and it is only from Jesus Christ that we can know it. When you are reminded this summer of your need to have a drink of water, I hope you will be reminded of an even greater thirst that Jesus Christ quenches for you when you receive the “living water”, the “gift of God” for eternal life.

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