Evasive Answers

Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst." (John 4:13-14)

This woman had just asked Jesus a question about His ability to support His claim of being able to provide some new kind of water. She had asked Him if He was greater that her people's ancestor Jacob who had proven his worth (at least as far as they were concerned) by digging this much-needed well and then putting it to good use providing for his family, his livestock and even those generations who would come after him.

Jacob had not just talked about providing water, he did what it took to produce it. This stranger was claiming to have some sort of water but so far had done nothing that would lead her to believe that He could deliver on His claim. This woman had good reason to question His claim for she had known too many people who had made promises that didn't deliver. She was certainly interested in the idea of knowing more about this thing called “living water”, but so far there was not enough information to make His words credible.

But Jesus did not respond like many of us might do. He did not answer her question directly as we often feel compelled to do. We often feel that if we are to be truthful that we need to answer every question directly. We sometimes feel that people who don't answer plainly and directly to questioning are trying to hide something, or maybe are engaging in deception of some sort, or are trying to be evasive. So we end up falling into the trap of getting mired into an argument or stirring up a lot of prejudice far too early in our conversations with people when it might be much better to have a different perspective on how to relate to questions.

Instead of just saying to her, “Yes, I am greater than your father Jacob”, which would of course have created instant feelings of resentment and incredulity in her mind, He instead pointed out something that seemed rather obvious but that she had not even been thinking about. He drew her attention to the fact that even though we come over and over again to whatever source we are relying on to provide us with water, and no matter how deeply we drink or how satisfying it feels when we do, we inevitably always end up getting thirsty again and having to do it all over again.

This is such an obvious fact that we almost scoff at the idea of anyone even trying to use it as a valid part of a discussion. I mean, after all, of course people get thirsty again after drinking water. That is just life after all, isn't it? It has always been this way and always will be this way. This is the way the world works. If you want to satisfy thirst you have to take measures to drink something after all. But don't ever expect to find something that will permanently eliminate your need for water. That is a ridiculous idea. Who ever heard of water that could extinguish your thirst forever?

But this was actually the very compelling response Jesus gave to the original question posed by the woman. Instead of laying claim to greatness, Jesus induced yet another question in her mind and begins to arouse her heart to even more curiosity as to what the potential might really be here. This comment creates the implication that this new kind of water has properties that simply cannot be found in the water she is familiar with. And that is exactly what Jesus wanted her to begin thinking. He was drawing her outside the box of normal thinking and assumptions about life. He wanted her to challenge her own paradigms and make her begin to ask questions herself before He was ready to offer her what He had. She needed to become more conscious of her own thirst for the real kind of water before she would be prepared to receive it.

When Jesus said that this new water would turn into an internal well that would produce eternal life, she began to sense that He was talking about much more than the kind of water she was used to dealing with. We have no way of knowing, but I also wonder if some of her internal fears did not revolve around her relationship with God and her own future for eternity. Later in the conversation she wanted to know some answers to questions that apparently she had been thinking about herself. People don't usually just think about these things unless they are serious about wanting to know the truth and concerned about their future. Jesus knew this because of the Spirit's presence in His heart and He was drawing her out in the very areas where she felt most vulnerable and the most thirsty spiritually.

Jesus was clearly steering the conversation away from getting a drink for Himself and into things that would make her feel very nervous talking about. But He was also building trust in her heart not only with His words but even more so with the look on His face, the demeanor and body language she could clearly read and the atmosphere that surrounded Him in His spirit. She could sense that He genuinely cared about her heart, that He had no desire to take advantage of her and that He might be worthy of trust. Because of this she was willing to move very quickly from deep suspicion to amazing and implicit trust in His few words to her in just a few minutes.

Jesus was in effect beginning to entice her heart with a taste of the very water He was telling her about. God's passion is to draw out our hearts in a response of love and devotion to Him. But we sometimes mistakenly think that the affections that we reserve for a spouse or lover have no place in our relationship with God. This is yet another one of the devastating lies of the enemy who wants to wound the heart of God as deeply as possible. God wants our deepest affections and all of our affections of every kind. He is the only one who can be trusted with these affections fully. When we believe that some feelings are better not expressed toward God, that they are somehow contaminated or perverted by sin, then we are believing lies that still keep us from enjoying the sweet intimacy with our Creator that He longs for us to experience.

But that is the next part of this story. Right now I wanted to just focus on the fact that Jesus, instead of responding directly to her challenge of His value and ability, simply continued to dialog with her from a position of confidence and love without being affected by her skepticism. He always looks past the outward fears, suspicions and misconceptions and moves toward dealing directly with the heart issues.

I like that about God. I find it so reassuring to know that God is not judging me based on my questioning, my misconceptions, my fears or my distorted views of Him that keep me at a distance or afraid of Him. He is always in pursuit of my affections and is constantly working to disarm my defenses based on the lies about Him placed in my mind and heart by our common enemy. He is always seeking to expose those lies and replace them with truth. And as I embrace that truth about God and experience it for myself, my resistance to His presence and work in my life lessens and I can draw closer and closer into harmony with His ways and His emotions and His purity.

Father, I too desperately want to drink of this living water that You are offering. I don't want to just talk about it, I want to experience it fully, gloriously, exuberantly, joyfully. That may appear very strange to those who have known me a long time, but I want to eject those fears and to throw myself into Your arms and trust you implicitly like this woman did apparently so easily as she discovered how much You loved her. Heal me of all my fears and draw me into Your heart today. Make me an excited messenger of what You can do in the hearts of all who will come under Your influence of grace and love.