Leave Your Jar

I have been trying to figure out what my first blog post should be. I have prayed for inspiration, written 4 posts that are still sitting in a notebook and felt a sort of pause every time I thought about posting an idea or inspiration. You see, I feel very passionately about what Gina and I are doing with this website / ministry (I think I can call it that...). The story of the Samaritan woman is so powerful and one that I had heard a thousand times but only recently began to grasp what it all meant...

St. Photina (as tradition names her) is going about what we can assume is one of (if not the most) dreaded tasks of her day - drawing water at the well in the noonday sun. She is literally feeling miserable. This is a task that is the direct result of her actions, her sin. She is reaping what she sowed. She is suffering the consequences of her actions. She is broken and struggling and sad and angry and probably filled with self-loathing and doubting everything about herself and even God. Sound familiar? Then she encounters Jesus who is waiting for her at Jacob's Well. Jesus could have met her in town or at the market, or anywhere honestly, but He chose the spot where she was the most vulnerable. The place she felt the consequences of her sin the most, the well that reminded her of her brokenness, and weakness, and sin. Jesus met her in her lowest moment.

That alone is enough for each of us to contemplate for hours, but it just keeps getting better...He speaks to her and asks her to give Him a drink. Jesus' first words to the Samaritan woman are not a request but a demand. A call for her to engage with Him. He calls her to generosity in a moment of desolation. On the surface this could seem cruel, or mean, or pushy or overly demanding to our modern day ears, but this is actually one of the most beautiful parts of the story. She is at her worst and Jesus calls her to come out of her self and serve Him, and to make Him the center of this moment. That meant that she would have to focus on Jesus, not her frustrations, sadness, embarrassment, or shame. She had to trust Him. She pretty much had nothing to lose, and she knew it - things couldn't get worse for her, so why not see what this strange man had to say.

Jesus reveals Himself to be living water and explains that she will never thirst again. Amazing! She won't have to come draw water again! What a relief for her...she immediately thinks of not having to come to the well again - the well that is the constant reminder of her sins, and failings, and self-loathing and doubt. Then comes the kicker - Jesus tells her to call her husband and she says simply that she doesn't have a husband. She wants to gloss over the real story which is the cause of so much pain for her but Jesus won't let her get away with a superficial encounter with Him. He wants her entire heart so He reveals her story to her. Jesus knows her.

This is the start of her transformation - the moment that the Samaritan woman realizes that she does not need to hide anymore, or pretend to be a better version of herself. Now she is able to have a real encounter with Jesus that will change her heart and her life. This moment was so real and so filled with love that she left her jar and began to tell everyone about Jesus...her old way of life was no longer important, she had an encounter with Jesus, and she had to tell everyone.

The story of the Samaritan woman is your story. Jesus waits for you, right where you are. He wants to tell you that you are known & loved. That is the gift that Jesus wants to offer you, but you must let him into the places deep inside that are broken and vulnerable and that maybe no one else knows about. Only then will your life be changed. Jesus is telling you that you do not need to hide, or put on a mask or put forth some cleaned up version of yourself. Listen to Him, trust that He is the living water you need, and then LEAVE YOUR JAR.