Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
John 4:10

“If you knew the gift of God”, isn’t that the appropriate question of the day? We live in a world of consumers. Constantly, people are seeking to find, buy, eat or drink there way into happiness. Unable to quench their thirst they move from one relationship, job, or object hoping to be satisfied. Like the samaritan woman, we keep finding ourselves left with empty buckets going back again for more. So many live chained to these patterns of disappointment and busyness. I remember an ad campaign from the 1980’s that portrayed a cocaine addict’s reasoning for his habit as he moved around in a circle repeating over and over, “So I can work longer, so I can make more money, so I can do more coke…”.
If only people knew the gift of God and how sweet it is! As Jesus’ teaching unfolds we see that there is something better than water and food and even more essential to life. He knew that after she had collected her water she would be headed back to her unstable life of shame and sin. No doubt, she felt the weight of her defeats as a greater burden than the heavy water she carried on her shoulders. Any one who has worn the shoes of divorce can understand what she must be feeling. No wonder she is living with a man unmarried, it is probably the only way she is convinced that it won’t become failed marriage number six. She seems shocked that Jesus would talk to her not just because she is a Samaritan, but why would anyone want to talk to a woman like her? He should do like most people and turn his nose up at her. Just ignore her, that’s what she would expect. She does not know the gift of God is sitting with his eyes giving her complete attention and focus. He does not look away or past her, but purposely he looks at her as one who knows her inward pain.
Are we really any different? You don’t have to be divorced to know failure. You don’t have to be an adulterer to know the shame of past sin. All have sinned and we can relate to the problems that our sins make for us. As she learned, there is a savior and he came for you. Know the gift of God. Jesus.