She Left her Jar!

John 4

It may have been a warm day.  Jesus was tired from His walk as He headed north from Judea and arrived in Sychar.  That’s about a 30 mile walk.  If Jesus had a Fitbit, He’d be doing quite well in His Workweek Hustle.  He stops at a well, sits down.  His disciples leave, heading out to the local HEB or something. Jesus sits alone at the well.  When a

Samaritan woman comes, she and Jesus have a most interesting conversation.

One of the basic realities the woman reveals about herself over and over is that she is focused on earthly thoughts.  Water, only water from the well, a bucket-less Jesus, her ancestry, her desire to not become thirsty anymore, it’s a total earthly conversation from her perspective and yet, Jesus speaks to her with numerous ‘gospel nuances’ about His purpose and identity.  After Jesus leads her to see that He is the long, awaited Messiah, the disciples return from their errand run.  Yet, they don’t interrupt.  They wait.  And its then the woman does the remarkable.  She leaves her jar!

Yep, she left her jar and returned back to her people.  She left her jar right there, at the foot of Jesus!  She may miss it later, as it was a necessity to gather water for her and whoever she’d be hooking up with at the time.  However, the jar, to me, symbolizes more.  Another ‘gospel nuance’ is here, I believe, as the jar may symbolize her earthly views about life.  All this talk with Jesus about water from the well of Jacob, and the Living Water from the Well of Life, all this talk from Jesus revealing He is the source of eternal life caused the woman to leave behind those earthly things she counted on.  The jar could symbolize all of her materialistic blessings to which she clung to.  Was she putting her faith into
these earthly things in order to survive?  But now, at the foot of Jesus, there before the Well of Living Water, she lets go.  She lets go and leaves the jar behind.  She goes forth in Faith, in Truth and in the Spirit, sharing the message of Jesus to her people.  She becomes a missionary to her people and they believed her!  Then, when they come to see and hear Jesus for themselves, the Bible also tells us they believe because they heard it for themselves.  All because she was willing to leave her jar.

So I ask myself, what do I need to leave behind so that I can better share the truth of Jesus with others?  Materialistic things like too much TV and not enough Bible reading?  Too much surfing the web and not enough conversation about eternal things?  It’s time to leave my jar behind.

She left her jar.  Have you?

PRAYER:  Lord Jesus, forgive me for not seeing your Light and trusting in Your Truth.  Help me to worship God the Father in Spirit and Truth.  Give me the strength to leave my jar behind and focus on You.  Amen.

NOTE:  You will see in the 2nd half of John 4 the 2nd miracle of Jesus.  See the faith of this royal official (v. 50).  May we take Jesus at His word too!  Things like, “You are forgiven.”  “I am with you always.”  And so much more!