But with what wonderful tact Jesus drew the mind of this woman away from the religious differences between Jews and Samaritans. He was not to be drawn off from the main point at issue. He had asked for water, for He was really thirsty. She had come to the well for water, for it supplied a need. When she came to the well her aspirations reached no farther than a pitcher of water. So, with water for a text, Jesus proceeds to tell this Samaritan that good as the well was, and great as Jacob was, all who drank of that water would thirst again. The best the world had to offer could never satisfy her thirst. She could not help but see the truth of these words. They were but the echo of her daily experience. Now the divine Teacher proceeds to uncover another well to this woman. “Whosoever,” Jesus proceeded to say, and the whosoever included all Samaritans and the world as well, “drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst; for the Holy Spirit that I shall put in him shall be a well of water springing up into everlasting life--it shall satisfy his thirst and he shall be continually refreshed.” How deftly Jesus turned this conversation into a spiritual channel! It was done so easily that the woman was not conscious of the change. She thought he was talking about literal water, though the seriousness in his tones had awakened her utmost attention. She knew what it was to thirst, and the labor of coming to the well to carry away pitchers full on her head, only to repeat the labor with each returning day. He had awakened in her a desire, though that desire was no higher than water, and she said, “Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.” Though the woman did not understand His words, she was really, in her mind, struggling with the great problem of not thirsting any more, and of doing away with the necessity of daily coming to Jacob’s well. How the Lord delights to lead inquiring minds to the higher things of life! He saw, doubtless, by supernatural intuition, the sinful blemishes in her life, as well as the deeper aspirations of her soul which His words had awakened. How shall He get at the plague-spot which corrupted the fountain of her life? In a tender, pathetic tone he said to the woman, “Go, call thy husband!” It was a painful request to make of this poor woman, but He could not trifle. He must be faithful. The request had its desired effect. It drew off the woman’s attention from her desire for fountains of water, to see the wretched condition of her life. Yet, with a frankness that showed an honest soul, she replied, “I have no husband!” Ah! that was the point this wisest of Teachers was bringing her to. He did not want to see her husband, but He wanted her to see herself. His words probed to the plague-spot in her soul. She admitted her guilt, but could not quite bring her will to give up her manner of life.