One day while the Syrian sun was beating down on the city of Samaria, Jesus sat down at the curb of Jacob’s well. The intense heat had taken its toll on Jesus as He was very weary from His journey. A Samaritan woman came to draw water from the well, and being thirsty, Jesus asked her for a drink of water. The racial and religious prejudice between the Jews and the Samaritans, let alone a man addressing a woman, would forbid such a request. He had to break down those walls in order to gain entrance into the woman’s darkened heart and mind.
The woman ask, “How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria?” Jesus said to her, “If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith to thee, give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and He would have given thee living water.” She responded, “Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?” (vs. 10, 11) Jesus was offering the woman the water of eternal life, but like so many, she did not understand His offer and responded, “Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with and the water is deep.” She was stating a fact that even she did not understand its depth of meaning. When Jesus laid bare her sinful life, she recognized Him as the Messiah. She ran into the city and said, “come, see a man, which told me all things which I ever did: is not this the Christ.”
The Scriptures tell us that “the heavens declare the glory of God and firmament showeth His handiwork…the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.” C. S. Lewis said, “Even though the creation reveals God the Creator to us, one can know more about a man listening to his conversation, than looking at the house that he built!” Jesus said, “If thou knewest WHO it is that saith to thee.” Jesus was offering Himself as the object of her faith. The Son of God the Savior of the world.
The great mysteries of the Christian faith do not lend themselves to the definitions of the finite mind. Mere intellectualism and human reasoning is too short a rope to reach the cool, sparkling, living waters below. Some allow their head outstrip their heart. What we are unable to comprehend with our head we can appropriate by faith in our heart. “The world by wisdom knew not God…the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”
There are many ropes that people rely on to reach water in the depth of the well that always prove to be too short:
1. The mere intellectual approach to God will forever keep him from making a decision for Christ. “If any man will DO His Will, he shall KNOW of the doctrine, whether it be of God…” J. Henry Jowett says, “One can act their way into thinking quicker than they can think their way into acting. We often look for reality (Vision) in the midst of argument…here we are counseled to look for it in the midst of obedience.” He is not a discovery that comes thru research but He comes to us thru divine revelation.” “Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God” When the head receives divine revelation through His word, it then requires a response of ones volition (WILL) to make it valid.
2. Some depend on their own good moral life style. The Apostle Paul did this for many years and found himself coming up short in the end. We read of his devout and devoted religious life recorded in Philippians 2: 5-6. “Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.”
3. Some are depending on their own good works. Martha was the embodiment of this type of person. She worked feverously but took no time for love and devotion to her Lord. Service is important, even imperative, but it cannot be a substitute for true worship. “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4: 24)
4. There are those who try to be religious and pious as the Pharisees. They said their long prayers, tried to bind me with heavy burdens that they would not even bear, and all the time they were fleecing widows out of their money.
There are those who would say that Jesus was using psychology in hopes of gaining a hearing from this woman who came to the well to draw water. I will be the first to say that no one knew the principles of psychology better than Jesus. “He needed not that any should testify of man; for He knew what was in man.” (John 2: 25) Jesus knew that hers was not a psychological problem but a spiritual problem, a problem of sin. You cannot deal with sin on a psychological level, it needs the blood of Christ in forgiveness and cleansing.
If Jesus functioned only on the basis of psychology, He would not have been so accusatory and pointed to the Sadducees, Pharisees, and High Priests. He would have tried to win their favor by seeking their praise and approval. Instead He exposed their hypocrisy and wickedness and they pursued Him to His death. If He was trying to win them to Himself by mere psychology, that was poor psychology indeed. Besides in psychology there is no mention of redeeming grace, no call for repentance and faith, no need for forgiveness.
The only rope long enough to reach the depths of the well of living water is the ropes of repentance and faith for the sinner’s pardon, consecration and faith for the believer’s purity, and a continual obedient and faithful walk with our Lord to reach our final reward. The well is deep but He has ropes long enough for us to draw His living water.
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