She Left Her Water Jar Behind

When we’re hungry we can eat; when we’re thirsty we can drink, and tomorrow we must do it all again. We need to continually satisfy our natural hunger. But Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35). The Samaritan woman who met with Jesus at Jacob’s well discovered this life changing truth, and her life would never be the same again.

Jesus was tired after His journey, and He said to the woman, “Will you give me a drink?” What would you do? What would I do? Would Jesus even ask me for a drink? Is He Himself not the living water of life? We may see a beggar on the street corner, holding out his cup. He has nothing. Do we walk on by, or do we stop? We need to consider carefully. Jesus said, “What you do for the least of these people, you do it for me.”

He asked the woman for a drink. As a Samaritan she regarded herself to be inferior to Jesus, and unworthy to serve Him. She hesitated. Then Jesus said, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water ... 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 4:10 &14).

Jesus could see right into this woman’s heart; every sin she had committed, right up to the present day. Jesus was the seventh man who had come into her life, and in biblical terms the number seven is symbolic of completeness and perfection. Jesus was the fulfilment of this truth to her life. “Go bring your husband,” He said. But she had had five husbands, and the man she was living with was not her husband.

These words brought conviction into the woman’s heart, as He further exposed the extent of her sinful life. Something of God began to dawn on her. She knew the Messiah was coming soon. “When He comes, He will explain everything to us,” she said (John 4:25). Then Jesus revealed His identity: “I am He.”

There was no shadow of condemnation over the woman, rather excitement at being in the presence of Jesus. She rushed back to the town where she lived, telling everyone, “I’ve just met with the Messiah!” She had left her empty water jar behind, and had indeed found the true water, the living water. Suddenly everyone was thirsty. They all wanted to meet Him.

She had gone to the well for water but had instead been filled with the living water of Jesus Christ, and her life had been transformed.

Once we have drunk from the ‘Well of Life’, we’ll never be thirsty again.

Prayer: Taste and see that the Lord is good! Thank You, Jesus, that You are always with me, filling and refilling me day by day. How can I help to generate thirst for You in others? Please help me to live my life in a way that would cause others to hunger and thirst for You, so that they too can be filled. In Your name, Amen.