Reflection on John 4:5-42

“The woman left her water jar.” 

Did you notice that?  It seems like such a small detail, but sometimes it is in the small details where we find the greatest significance. 

After her encounter with Jesus, the woman left her water jar.  How could she do that?  How could she forget to take what is probably one of the single most important items in the household?  She forgets to take the water jar that will provide the water for the day at her house.  You don’t just forget that. 

That is like needing to buy a new refrigerator before your food spoils, going up to Lowe’s to buy it, and forgetting to load it in the truck before you head out.  You do not just forget the one thing from the house that will make certain that you live!  But, this woman did. 

“The woman left her water jar.” 

There is something about Jesus that has affected her deeply.

Maybe, it has something to do with the fact that he catches the eye of a woman at the well and engages the woman in conversation.  After-all, everyone knows that a man, plus a woman, plus a well in the ancient world equals romance. 

Think of your old testament stories.  Where do romantic relationships start nearly each and every time?  Where does Jacob’s romance story begin, the man to whom this well belongs?  You got it: a well.  The well is where the women are.  And, if a man strolls up to the well, looks at a woman, and asks for a drink, we can safely say that the man is interested.

The twist in this story is that Jesus is a Jew and he starts this romantic scene by asking a Samaritan woman for a drink.  Jews would never seek the attention of their hated enemies, the Samaritans.  They would never even touch the same drinking ladle.  The Samaritan woman knows it too.  She questions Jesus’ intentions right away.

In the end, Jesus is not seeking romance with the woman, but he is intensely interested in her.  It is almost as if he knows her.  It is almost as if she is one of his own.  It is almost as if he cares.  It is almost as if he has a stream of water that flows down from heaven, seeks the lowest points, finds all of the hidden cracks, and fills them in with heavenly grace.  How could that be?

"If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, "Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." Jesus says.

The woman, still keeping her distance from this man, states the obvious to Jesus, "Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?  Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?"

Jesus is undeterred by the woman’s attempts to push away.  Jesus understands the need to push away.  Jesus understands the pains of the past.  Jesus understands the times that love has hurt rather than heal.  Jesus understands.  Just because we push away, does not mean we are forgotten. 

Jesus continues to draw ever near saying, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life."

The woman will respond with one more attempt to push away; one more attempt to shield herself; one more attempt to stay hidden in a world that, in the end, does not care anyway.

Throwing a bit of humor Jesus’ way woman quips, "Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water."  You have to realize, getting the water daily was the bane of women’s existence in the ancient world.  It was a task loved as much as doing the laundry is today.

And, it is at the point in the story where the turning point comes.  Right here in the story is where Jesus shows his cards.  Right here is where Jesus takes a step closer to the truth.  Here is where Jesus steps into the woman’s pain. 

Jesus said, "Go, call your husband, and come back."

The woman, startled, answered him, "I have no husband."

Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying, "I have no husband'; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!"

Jesus knows her.  He knows all about her.  He knows about the pain of her broken and lost relationships.  Whether she has lost her husbands tragically to death or divisively through divorce we do not know, but Jesus knows.  He knows it all.  He knows how broken she is. 

And, that is precisely what makes the beginning of the story so remarkable. This man, knowing her pain and brokenness, knowing it all, chose to stop and talk to her.  He talked to her, in the intimate setting of a well no doubt!  He intentionally invited himself into her life…her broken, heated, Samaritan woman life. 

Jesus is water.  Jesus is a stream of water that flows to the lowest point, finding you in all your brokenness.  Jesus is living water that surrounds you, wrapping watery arms around, and encasing you in heavenly grace.  He is the water that finds you, no matter how low you go, no matter how deep the cracks, no matter how much you try to hide. 

That is the way of God’s grace.  God’s grace is water that flows down, envelops you, and springs up again in an enormous gush to eternal life.

There is no need to worship on a mountain or in the holy city in order to find God.  If God is water, then God will come down off of the mountain like melting now in the spring, or will run out of the temple, flowing under the cracks of the doors and flowing down the streets to find you.  Grace is an action of God that moves outward without your invitation. 

That is why it is grace.  It comes without any work or invitation on our part.  It is a gift of God that simply shows up at the well and shows interest even in the most uninteresting of people.

Jesus said to the woman, "I am he, the one who is speaking to you."  There it is.  There is the holy “I am.”  It is the name spoken to Moses at the burning bush.  “I am.”  It is the most holy of God’s names.  “I am.”  It is who God is, “I am.”  “I am” he.  God is with her. 

God is with you.

No matter how broken, God is with you. 

No matter how messed up, God is with you. 

No matter how much you try to push away any notion that someone cares, God shows up. 

No matter how much love has ruined you, grace floods your soul and fills you up with springs of living water; water that heals and forgives and gives you life.

Lord, give us this water always!

So, why did the woman leave behind her water jars?  Why did she forget these essential items of daily life?  Maybe it is because she found something of even more worth; Jesus Christ our Lord.