comment: "It is precisely this impressive fact [that the Lord asks for no spiritual commitment] that dis-
He Demands True Worship
Unfortunately, she still seemed to be thinking in terms of literal water. "She said to Him, 'Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself, and his sons, and his cattle?' " (John 4:11 – 12).
If only she knew — He was incomparably greater than Jacob and His water infinitely better than Jacob's water. He tried to explain more about the unique properties of His living water: "Jesus answered and said to her, 'Everyone who drinks of this water shall thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life' " (vv. 13 – 14). This was water to quench a parched soul.
Her response was immediate: "Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty, nor come all the way here to draw" (v. 15). Apparently she still was somewhat confused about whether He meant literal water or something spiritual. Either way, she wanted this living water!
One writer says of this exchange:
It is hard not to be impressed with the magnifi cent simplicity of the transaction which Jesus proposes to this sin-laden Samaritan woman. Its very lack of complication is part of its grandeur. It is all a matter of giving and receiving, and no other conditions are attached. . . . Th ere is no eff ort to extract from the woman a promise to correct her immoral life. If she wants this water, she can have it. It is free! . . . It must be emphasized that there is no call here for surrender, submission, acknowledgment of Christ's Lordship, or anything else of this kind. A gift is being off ered to one totally unworthy of God's favor. And to get it, the woman is required to make no spiritual commitment whatsoever. She is merely invited to ask.3
But that interpretation misses the point entirely. At this juncture, even though she did ask for it, Jesus did not simply give her the Water of Life. She asked for it and presumably would have accepted it had He given it outright. But Jesus was not looking for a cheap pseudoconversion. He knew she was not
3. Zane C. Hodges, Th e Gospel Under Siege (Dallas: Redención Viva, 1981), 14. Hodges adds this comment: "It is precisely this impressive fact [that the Lord asks for no spiritual commitment] that distinguishes the true Gospel from all its counterfeits." But again, it is a mistake to presume that the words of Jesus recorded in this passage represent a model gospel presentation. Nothing in Jesus' message to this woman even hints at the truths of His death, burial, or resurrection. He does not mention the idea of substitutionary atonement, or even faith itself. No one — including Hodges, I presume — would argue that the gospel excludes all those truths.