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This sermon was preached on the blessed occasion of the Baptism of Haylee Lundstrom.

John 4:5-30

⁵ So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.

⁷ A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” ⁸ (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) ⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) ¹⁰ Jesus answered 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.” ¹¹ The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? ¹² Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” ¹³ Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” ¹⁵ The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” ¹⁷ The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; ¹⁸ for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” ¹⁹ The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” ²¹ Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. ²² You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³ But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. ²⁴ God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” ²⁵ The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” ²⁶ Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”

²⁷ Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” ²⁸ So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, ²⁹ “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” ³⁰ They went out of the town and were coming to him.

Grace, mercy, peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

So much for chivalry, manners, and first impressions. Without so much as a ‘please’ Jesus commands this female stranger, “Give Me a drink.”

“Well, nice to meet You too.”

Jesus asks her for what she should be asking Him for. Jesus even tells her that He is asking her for water so she will ask Him for water.

Jesus says, “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.”

You know what this shows us? You and I don’t even know what we need until God tells us. Our asking always falls short. But thank God that He is better at giving than we are at asking. We ask for a serpent, and He gives us a fish. We ask for a stone, and He gives us bread. If we ask for a sip of water, He gives living water.

Jesus says, “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.”

Imagine how enticing that would have been for her. Think of what this woman had to do every day: Every day, she would wake up and walk to the well lugging an empty jug on top of her head. Every day, she would hook that jug to a rope, lower it down the deep hole, and heft it back up again. Every day, she would have to carry the water back to her house so her family could drink, cook, and clean. Every single day.

Hard work. Thirsty work. And she had to do it again and again. Outside of death, there was no end to her need, her work, or her thirst.

For this woman, getting water from Jacob’s well was a daily reminder of the Law and of sin. While your job is a blessing from God, it is also a reminder to you of your sin. Because of sin, you now get food and water by the sweat of your brow. Just to stay alive physically is work. But you need something more. You need to have a restored relationship with God so that you can live eternally with Him. But to do a work to merit eternal life is impossible.

Because of our sin, this world now runs by the Law. But the Law is all work, and it never ends. No matter how hard you work at keeping the Commandments, there is always more to do. With the Law, you can do all the right things, but if your heart is not right, even doing the right thing is still sinful.

The Law promises life but doesn’t deliver it (Ro. 7:10). It might quench your thirst for a little while. You might feel good when you do a good work, but it doesn’t impress God. And even when you feel good about your works, the thirst for righteousness returns quickly because the Law always demands more.

Repent. The water of Law and works does not work precisely because you work for it, and the work only makes you more thirsty. You need living water. You need grace water. You need what Jesus offers.

“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.”

By asking her for a drink, Jesus is reminding the woman that she is thirsty for something better than water from a well.

Only Jesus can give water that quenches the eternal thirst for righteousness. Jesus gives this water without you having to work for it. Jesus has done it all for you.

For you, Jesus lowered Himself into the well of death. When He died, His side was pierced with a spear and out came blood and water. After three days, Jesus drew Himself out of death and, now, He lives. He did this so that He could give you the living water that springs from His pierced side – water that wells up as a spring of eternal life.

Haylee, today you are baptized. Today, Jesus has given you this living water. This water of your Baptism has joined you to Jesus’ death and resurrection and is always enough to satisfy your thirst for righteousness.

Haylee, and all you baptized believers, because of what Jesus has done you have peace with God. God has demonstrated His love for you in that while you will still a sinner rebelling against Him, He died for you giving you His grace, His love, His forgiveness, and His mercy. God has poured His love into your hearts through the Holy Spirit whom He has given to you.

Jesus never gets His drink in this text. But that’s no problem. Your Savior, is always more interested in giving than receiving.

When Jesus tells this woman that He is the Messiah, she leaves her jar. That is an important fact. She left her work and her labor behind. Jesus had given her everything she needed. So, she went and told the whole town about this Jesus who gives better than she could ask.

You here today, drink. Drink from Jesus’ waters. Drink in His Baptizing you. Drink of His righteousness, His innocence, and never thirst again. Amen.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.