Nashville, Tennessee, United States - The Upper Room Daily Devotional "Water for the Thirsty" for Friday, 24 October 2014 - Read John 4:1-26

Nashville, Tennessee, United States - The Upper Room Daily Devotional "Water for the Thirsty" for Friday, 24 October 2014 - Read John 4: The Woman at the Well
1-3 Jesus realized that the Pharisees were keeping count of the baptisms that he and John performed (although his disciples, not Jesus, did the actual baptizing). They had posted the score that Jesus was ahead, turning him and John into rivals in the eyes of the people. So Jesus left the Judean countryside and went back to Galilee.
4-6 To get there, he had to pass through Samaria. He came into Sychar, a Samaritan village that bordered the field Jacob had given his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was still there. Jesus, worn out by the trip, sat down at the well. It was noon.
7-8 A woman, a Samaritan, came to draw water. Jesus said, “Would you give me a drink of water?” (His disciples had gone to the village to buy food for lunch.)
9 The Samaritan woman, taken aback, asked, “How come you, a Jew, are asking me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (Jews in those days wouldn’t be caught dead talking to Samaritans.)
10 Jesus answered, “If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking me for a drink, and I would give you fresh, living water.”
11-12 The woman said, “Sir, you don’t even have a bucket to draw with, and this well is deep. So how are you going to get this ‘living water’? Are you a better man than our ancestor Jacob, who dug this well and drank from it, he and his sons and livestock, and passed it down to us?”
13-14 Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again and again. Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst—not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life.”
15 The woman said, “Sir, give me this water so I won’t ever get thirsty, won’t ever have to come back to this well again!”
16 He said, “Go call your husband and then come back.”
17-18 “I have no husband,” she said.
“That’s nicely put: ‘I have no husband.’ You’ve had five husbands, and the man you’re living with now isn’t even your husband. You spoke the truth there, sure enough.”
19-20 “Oh, so you’re a prophet! Well, tell me this: Our ancestors worshiped God at this mountain, but you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place for worship, right?”
21-23 “Believe me, woman, the time is coming when you Samaritans will worship the Father neither here at this mountain nor there in Jerusalem. You worship guessing in the dark; we Jews worship in the clear light of day. God’s way of salvation is made available through the Jews. But the time is coming—it has, in fact, come—when what you’re called will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter.
23-24 “It’s who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That’s the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration.”
25 The woman said, “I don’t know about that. I do know that the Messiah is coming. When he arrives, we’ll get the whole story.”
26 “I am he,” said Jesus. “You don’t have to wait any longer or look any further.”
The King will say to those on his right, “ . . . I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink.”(Matthew 25:34-35 (NIV))
One hot, humid summer afternoon I was sitting on my deck when I heard a delivery truck approaching our cul-de-sac. I watched as the driver knocked on my neighbor’s door. Mary greeted him with a smile, took a small parcel, and then said to him, “Would you like a glass of cold water?”The driver eagerly accepted her kind offer.
As this scene of Christian love and service unfolded before my eyes, I recalled how Jesus had declared that his kingdom people would be marked by their deeds of mercy, like giving a drink to a thirsty person. A simple gesture like that, he explained, was like giving a drink to him. After the driver pulled away, I went next door and thanked Mary for what she had done. She told me, “After the driver thanked me he said, ‘God bless you,’ and I told him I believe in Jesus, and he said he did, too.”
Their conversation caused me to ask myself, How many opportunities like this come my way, and I fail to do something as simple as offering water to a thirsty worker? Mary’s example reminds us as Christ’s followers to always be ready to offer both the water that quenches our thirst and the water of eternal life that Jesus gives to a thirsty world.
The Author: Jim Reapsome (Illinois)
Thought for the Day: We serve Jesus by showing deeds of kindness and mercy to others.
Prayer: Dear God, remind us to supply those in need with sustenance for their bodies but also the water of life that brings salvation to all who believe. Amen.

Prayer focus: Delivery workers
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