By David ReayThursday 29 Dec 2016LifeWords DevotionalsFaithReading Time: 0 minutes
Transcript:
Read John 4:27-30
27 Just then his disciples came back. They were shocked to find him talking to a woman, but none of them had the nerve to ask, “What do you want with her?” or “Why are you talking to her?” 28 The woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone, 29 “Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could he possibly be the Messiah?” 30 So the people came streaming from the village to see him. (NLT)
This well-known story features Jesus’ dialogue with a Samaritan woman at a well. It features the radical nature of Jesus’ actions—speaking not only to a woman but a despised Samaritan woman. It features his insight into her troubled life and her growing recognition that Jesus could be the anticipated Messiah. It tells us that she was eager to share this information with her fellow villagers.
And then there is the water jar. She left it behind in her excitement. Recall that she came out in the heat of day to get precious water from the well. The water was a necessity and it took a lot of effort to get to the well and then return with a full water jar. She would have done it many times, usually alone because of her dubious reputation as a woman of ill repute.
But this day, she left the water jar behind. Why? Presumably because she was so taken aback, so overcome by Jesus, that it didn’t matter anymore. What mattered most was that she had likely met the Messiah, that he didn’t reject her, that others needed to meet him too.
Which is a bit of a challenge to those of us who have grown so familiar with Jesus that it has become rather routine. Would you and I have carefully carried the water jar back home and eventually, when circumstances allowed, entered into polite discussion about Messianic expectations? There is a lot to be said for the sort of enthusiasm that reckons living water is better than H2O any day.
Blessings
David Reay