JOHN 4:7-15 INCLUSIVELY UNIQUE

7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?”

13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I 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 won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

Jesus is all about inclusivity – to a point. Here he violates two Jewish societal taboos. First, as a man, he speaks to a woman and second, as a Jew, he speaks to a Samaritan. As usual with Jesus, the offer is all inclusive, but what is being offered is very exclusive. One would be accurate in describing Jesus’ exclusivity as so extreme as to be unique. He, and he alone, is the source of “living water;” the water that provides eternal life.

Our problem is that we confuse the offer with that which is being offered. As we already read in John 3:16, ‘For God so loved the world that gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Jesus was sent to the world, but only those who believe in him, that is, receive him, will be given eternal life. The gift is given indiscriminately, but it is only effective for those who receive and open it. The woman demonstrates the proper response: “Sir, give me this water…” She didn’t ask for water from that well, or from the Jordan River, or the Sea of Galilee, she asked specifically for the water that Jesus was offering – himself.

We are all included in the need for a Savior in order to deliver us from the death that is due us for our sins. However, the remedy for our dilemma is unique. It does not include any path that does not acclaim Jesus as the Son of God and the only sufficient sacrifice for our sins. It does not include Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Mormonism, Hinduism or even good-works-ism. Jesus is God and he will have no rivals. If we are to be faithful to our God, then we have to be all inclusive in our announcement and demonstration of the Gospel, but exclusive in our message of salvation due to the uniqueness of Christ.

Jesus, you are my Lord and my Savior, help me to share the blessings that you have poured out on me with the rest of the world. Embolden me not to fall for the lie of indiscriminate inclusivity, but show the hard love of neighbor by proclaiming that you are the way, the truth and the light – the only way to the Father. Amen.