Laying Down our Water Jar

“A woman of Samaria came to draw water… ‘Sir…you don’t even have a bucket, and the well is deep.  You aren’t greater than our father Jacob, are you?’  Then the woman left her water jar, went into the town and told the people.”  John 4:7, 11, 28

This story is very familiar to you I am sure.  It is the story of a woman who chose the hottest part of the day to fill her water jar, when the fewest people would be there.  This is the story of a woman who felt daily shame.  She had discarded four husbands already, and was living with the fifth man unmarried.  As she traveled to the well with the water jar on her head, I wonder what was going through her mind?  Did she have regrets?  Was she really in love with this man or was she just tired of trying?  Were there still dreams in her heart and hope in her soul?  I’ll bet her mind was a million miles away, just like our minds get overwhelmed when looking at our decisions in the rear-view mirror.  Did she feel shame when she realized that Jesus knew everything she had done?  But what happened next was the tender moments she shared with Jesus.  The beautiful exchange between two strangers who ended up connected as one.  The Samaritan woman who had lowered her water jar 1000 different days into the well finally drew water that lasted…water that sustained…water that was a continuous flow of nourishment.  That water was Jesus and she would never be the same.

I remember when one of my children was struggling emotionally, and was lowering the water jar into wells that were dangerous.  I lived in fear and heartbreak for many years.  I specifically remember choosing parts of the day to do errands when I believed the fewest people would be out and about.  I didn’t want to look in their eyes of judgment, sadness, concern or pity.  I only wanted to fill the jar, and quickly close myself up in my house.  But we were never meant to lock up our castles…to lower the gates of our kingdom.  Like the woman in our story, she had little faith in Jesus accomplishing what He said.  She pointed out that the well was deep, and He had nothing to draw with.  The truth is that we will always draw things that do not satisfy until we draw near to Jesus.  He knows everything we fill our jars with, and calls to us to lay it down.  He wants to be our full nourishment and desire, so He can do great things in and through us.

So, I ask you to consider what is in your water jar that never fully satisfies?  What would our lives really look like, if we lay them down and pick up the fullness of Christ?  What did she have to lose on that hot day in the desert, and what do we have to lose today?