Based on the story of Jesus in the Gospel of John, Chapter 4: The Samaritan woman at the well. Please begin by reading the scripture if you are not familiar with the story.
There was only one reason the woman came to Jacob’s well. She, like many others, had a fundamental need. She was thirsty, and it was the only place she could go to meet that need. This well had become a scary place for her. In the cool of the morning, the other Samaritan women came to draw water for their families. During that time it was a bustling place; most likely filled with children’s laughter and women’s voices calling to each other. The women of Samaria would visit the ancient site carrying their jars and buckets to fill with water for the day. However; this woman wasn’t like the others. She carried much more with her than a vessel for water. Those things caused her to wait for the crowd to leave in order to draw her water alone. She didn’t want to meet the condemning eyes of the community, so she traveled the path alone in the heat of the day.
She was surprised when Jesus met her there. He was a pure Jew, not a half-blood like she was, and He was a respected Rabbi. He held himself in a way that revealed his authority and yet He was tender and accepting of her. He began a conversation, asking her for a drink. As she stumbled over what to say, her surprise was evident as Jesus described the truth about who she was. Those things she had been carrying inside: shame, hurt, fear, regret–He didn’t condemn her for those; He offered help. He wanted her to choose more. He told her of Life-giving water that would quench her thirst forever. I believe her heart leaped out of her chest when she understood the forgiveness and new life He offered.
As she faced that choice, scenes from her past must have haunted her. So many men, so many mistakes—and this man wanted her to accept what He had to offer. Could she trust Him? She realized that she had to respond to the truth about who He was, and who she was meant to be. Would she believe and let go of her past, or would she continue to draw from the well of her life that had left her thirsty?
Her decision was obvious, and her smile must have been brilliant. She left her jar behind as she ran to tell the community that had judged her for so long. This man! He told her everything, He gave her back her future and she no longer feared the people. She suddenly felt the overwhelming need to share the life-giving truth with them.
The same thing happened to me.
Just like the woman at the well, we all have needs: a hunger and thirst that go much deeper than food and water; a desire to be loved, to feel worthy, to have a purpose that is more than just what we see in this life. Nothing physical can meet these needs, they are spiritual, and only Jesus can satisfy those desires in our soul.
We are like jars that Jesus wants to fill with Living Water. The problem is, many times we want to fill our jars on our own, or we end up with things inside our jars that weren’t meant to be there. My jar was filled with stones when I met Jesus at the well. I was building a life for myself. Defining myself by what I did, who I was, what I had accomplished, and where I was going. My jar was full and heavy, but it didn’t contain water.
I had loved Jesus from childhood. I sang songs about Him in Sunday School. As a teenager, I fell in love with Him and wrote poems and stories about Him. But as a young adult, I began to treat Jesus like an old boyfriend: we were still friends, but I just didn’t love Him like I had before. I smiled when I thought of Him, but there was no passion. No motivation to draw me closer. But lately I had begun to thirst. Yes, my jar was heavy, and it was lovely on the outside. But I had begun to realize that it was full of things that just didn’t quench my thirst.
I was surprised when I met Jesus again after years of disobedience. He wasn’t like I had remembered. He was kind, but He was persistent about helping me take the rocks out of my jar. Like He did the woman at the well, He told me the truth about who He was, and the hardest part: the truth about who I was.
Inside the jar I carried so tightly was my hidden self. Stones that defined me. Here was a stone called pride, another called fear (that was a big one), and yet another called regret. Lessons that life had taught me had given me stones that I didn’t want: abandonment, loneliness, pain. Some of them the church I had grown up in had placed in my jar: mistrust, judgment, legalism. Rocks were given to me by well intentioned people like: conformity and perfectionism. Some stones were just part of my fallen humanity: stubbornness, need for comfort, apathy, denial, greed, sorrow. Sin. The big one: the one I can’t name because of the shame. The one I couldn’t admit or show to anyone for fear of judgment. Jesus wanted that one too. Reluctantly, I gave them to Him. Some all at once, some little by little until there was room in my jar for what He had for me. He asked me to choose Him, to walk with Him and to learn from Him. Suddenly, the Living Water He spoke about began to overflow in my life. It changed me. It made me stronger and weaker. It burdened me and set me free.
Am I still afraid? Of course! Sometimes what He asks me to do scares me to death. But the fear of not doing what He has asked me to do frightens me even more. I know that every time I choose my own way, it’s like putting a rock in my jar. It’s like I’m replacing that Life-giving water with a hard, cold rock. And my relationship with Jesus suffers when I choose other things over Him. I’ll be 50 years old soon. For some of you, that is as ancient as a rock! But many of you understand how quickly life flies by. I lost my mom last month. It made me realize many things, one of which is the fact that life is short and time is not promised. I only have a little while longer to run and tell people about Jesus like the woman at the well did. I only have a short time to let Jesus fill me with Living Water as I am obedient to His call. And the truth that I face is the same truth we all face. What will you carry in your jar? A little splash of Jesus on the top is not going to quench your thirst for what God planned for you from the beginning. Will you let Jesus reveal those things to you that might be taking the place of what He has for you? Will you offer Him the stones that are making your heart heavy? Please trust Him to fill you with Life-giving water and He will begin to quench the thirst in your soul. Then–be the woman at the well, and run and tell!
Alabaster Jar 