John 4:28-29, “28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ ?”.”
In this story Jesus had an interaction with the woman at the well. This woman had a sexually sinful lifestyle. First: Jesus began in the natural realm (v. 7). This woman was unregenerate, and the Bible tells us “the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God” (1Corinthians 2:14). He therefore spoke of something she could relate to—water. Second: Jesus swung the conversation to the spiritual realm (v. 10). He simply mentioned the things of God. Jesus made the powerful statement saying, “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.” Third: Jesus brought conviction using the Law of God (vv. 16–18). Jesus gently spoke to her conscience by alluding to the fact that she had transgressed the Seventh of the Ten Commandments. He used the Law to bring “the knowledge of sin” (see Romans 3:19, 20). This woman agreed with Jesus as to her sinful state and admitting that she had some “dirty water” in her bucket. Fourth: Jesus revealed Himself to her (v. 26). Once the Law has humbled the person, he is ready for grace. Jesus revealed Himself to her as the only one that could purify the dirty water in her life as He made His identity as Messiah known to her. However the question remains, why did this woman leave behind her water bucket?
- Perhaps she forgot it. This woman had quite a conversion with Jesus and one that would change her life forever. Perhaps in the midst of the conversation she ran back to tell the town about Jesus and simply forgot the water bucket (hence what she came there for). Sometimes when something leaves us in awe we tend to forget the immediate.
2. Maybe it was a gift to Jesus. Jesus had spoken such words of truth to her that she had never heard before. She was overwhelmed with awe after having Jesus reveal to her that He in fact was the Messiah she was waiting for standing before her. Perhaps she felt that He gave her a gift in the encounter, and she gave him a gift in leaving the water bucket for him.
3. She didn’t want it anymore. This woman perhaps felt that water bucket filling was nothing compared to what she just discovered in the Messiah.
4. Her new life began the bucket for new water! “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him,” or in this case her! She brought the message of the Messiah to her whole village and “Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” And because of his words many more became believers. They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.” Jesus gave her beauty for ashes.
Is your life an empty bucket of temporary satisfaction, or one in which flows streams of living water from within him? The Gospel is not to stay in the bucket of our lives, but is to be poured out to the thirsty. Blessings Pastor Phil
He Has Magnified His Word 