Leaving My Jar Behind

One of my favorite things about the Holy Spirit is how He can give us a brand new revelation about a passage of scripture we've read a million times.

I experienced this recently as I was studying the story of "The Woman at the Well" again. 

The story goes that one day, a Samaritan woman goes down to a well to draw water. Although drawing water was a communal activity, every day she would go to the well alone to avoid running into townspeople who looked down on her.

She was an outcast with several failed marriages, and after five husbands, she settled for living with a man she wasn't even married to. 

An Unexpected Encounter

But one day, the Samaritan woman went to draw water, as usual and met a man named Jesus who changed her entire life.

Jesus used one conversation to uncover her sin, reveal himself as the Messiah, and offer her living water.

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:13-14

Naturally, when the Samaritan woman has a revelation of who Jesus is and His promise to quench the thirst of her soul, she can’t help but share the good news.

After this encounter with the Lord, she goes out to her town and shares her testimony:

“Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” They went out of the town and were coming to him. John 4:29-30

Jesus, Our Redeemer

I love this story so much because it demonstrates the redemptive nature of God. He can literally use anyone to share the gospel. He’s not fazed by our sin or what we’ve done. He is THE redeemer of stories.

In my experience, a lot of the studies and sermons about this passage focus on the precious gift of living water, freedom from the Old Testament law, and the charge to evangelize.

While all these applications are incredibly important, when I read the story this time, one seemingly insignificant line jumped out at me.

The Exchange

Right after the Samaritan Woman receives the gospel and right before she goes out to her town to testify, the scripture says:

So the woman left her water jar and went away into town. ‭‭John‬ ‭4‬:‭28‬‬‬ 

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read this story and glossed over this small but loaded line. Before the woman went out to share the good news, she left her water jar behind.

I think this is so powerful because it shows us that there is an exchange that happens when we truly experience Jesus for ourselves. When the woman came to Jesus, she was carrying something, but when she had a revelation of who Jesus was, she left it behind.

She traded a jar with limited capacity, for a Savior who can satisfy the deepest longing of our soul.

The Jars We Carry

I believe that if we want to walk in true freedom and experience the living water that Christ has to offer us, there are things we’re carrying that we need to leave behind too.

Just like the Samaritan woman, I have spent years carrying my own jars: jars of unforgiveness, idolatry, selfishness, fear of the future, people, places, and past mistakes.

I’ve held onto things I’ve outgrown, things I’ve used to give me a sense of worth, and even picked up jars that Jesus had already relieved me of. 

Why? Because sometimes the familiarity of our bondage feels safer than freedom.

The Right Well

I try to picture what it might have looked like if the Samaritan woman had proceeded to fill her water jar after speaking with Jesus. I can only imagine how tired she would have been if she tried to lug around a big old jar of water while also trying to run around town and testify.

It probably would've also seemed a bit hypocritical if she was out there telling people she found living water while still holding tight to the stale water from the well.

But the reality is that that’s how some of us look. We have received the truth that Jesus has everything we need, yet we continue to drink from unsustainable wells because, in our heart of hearts, we don’t fully believe that Jesus can save or satisfy us.

Too often we come to God seeking solutions, seeking to be healed, seeking to be free, and seeking to be whole, but we're not willing to leave our man-made jars behind.

It’s not enough to try to drink from the well that never runs dry. We must also be willing to lay aside every dead weight and sin that prevents us from experiencing intimacy with the Lord.

When you’ve spent a lifetime carrying the burdens of this world, it can be hard to truly believe that there is someone willing to take the load off of you.

But that is exactly what Jesus promises us. He says His yoke is easy and His burden is light. If we go all in and try Him for real, we will never be thirsty again.

Running into Freedom

The scripture doesn’t tell us if the woman ever went back to pick up her jar or if she went back to the man she was living with. We don’t know how her story ended.

But we do know that when she opened her heart to receive Jesus, she was compelled to go out and share Him with anybody she could find. Because she ran into freedom, many people came to know Jesus too.

Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” John 4:39

When we receive and walk in the freedom Jesus has so graciously given us, not only do we get to experience intimacy with Jesus, but we embolden others to do the same. 

True freedom is yours if you want it, so my question for you is what’s in your jar and are you ready to leave it behind and exchange it for the living water?

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us Hebrews 12:1

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