March 12, 2004	Read John 4
Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty.  The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”
THIRSTY SOULS ARE WATERED We’ve all been thirsty – water is one of our most basic physical needs. Water is essential for our very existence. We can survive for weeks without food, but only for a few days without water. We also have a spiritual thirst – a thirst that is part of our very nature. In the beginning we were created in God’s image, but in the Fall and in our disobedience, we are separated from God and his righteousness. Our souls are thirsty, too. Our physical thirst always returns. And when we try to satisfy our spiritual thirst with our own righteousness, our spiritual thirst always returns as well; our own goodness is never enough. The Good News from John’s Gospel is that Jesus GIVES us the water of his own righteousness. It’s complete, and it does much more than just quench our spiritual thirst. It becomes a spring of righteousness – Christ’s righteousness in us – gushing up to eternal life. We no longer look to our own righteousness, but our lives gush with the righteousness of Christ. Jesus gives his grace not to the proud or the self-important, but to the lowly. The woman at the well had three strikes against her. She was a Samaritan, a woman, and an adulteress. Jesus, unconcerned about her race and gender, pointed out her sins, showing her deep need and thirst for righteousness that she could not provide. Her reaction was to immediately go and tell others. (She even forgot to take her water pot!) The springs of living waters were already beginning to flow in her life, as she told others to come and see for themselves whether the Messiah was come. Lord Jesus, we can’t quench our own thirst. As you poured out your grace to the woman at the well, in your grace show us our sin and give us a deep thirst for your righteousness. Then give us your living water and make us springs that show only your righteousness to the world.  TIM MEYER

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