March 1, 2023
Did You Forget Something?
“So, the woman left her waterpot, and went into the city and said to the men, Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it? They went out of the city and were coming to Him.” John 4:28-30 (NASB)
The other day, I was helping a few men in our church carry items to a van from the building. One was a large cooler about 3 feet long. It was heavy and full of drinks and ice. As I and another younger man grabbed each side, I couldn’t believe how heavy it was. I guess my age began to show. As we got to the front of the building, I could hear ice-water sloshing around. Then, wisdom kicked in. I realized that if I dumped the melted ice, it would make it much easier to carry. It was. This might be a simple truth for you, but it brought relief to my mind, but mostly to my lower back.
“So, the woman left her waterpot…” Humorously, A. T. Robertson says, “in her excitement and embarrassment. It was too large for speed anyhow.”[1] When she heard the news, she abandoned her waterpot “and went into the city.” Think about it for a minute, she ended up abandoning the original purpose of her trip. Then notice how Jesus ends His conversation with her just as the disciples arrive. This appointed time was just for her, but it brought outreaching consequences unknown to her at the time. She never exchanged a word with the disciples before her departure. She “left her waterpot and went into the city.” What she learned was far too important than talking to the disciples. It affected her life dramatically to the point she forgot why she was there. She found that mankind does not live by bread or water. It needs something else, and Jesus gave her the answer. This woman became the “whoever” from verse 13 when Jesus said, “Whoever who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” She discarded her waterpot for living water, and the living water was already springing up within. She left her waterpot to share the “living water” she received at the well. She didn’t need a waterpot to share the living water.
Today, each one of us who have trusted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior have something to do. As we receive Him, we are to leave our old waterpot behind. Perhaps it’s that figurative waterpot that burdens your shoulders. It might be something too heavy for you to carry consistently. It weighs you down and causes you to faint at times because of its burden. There is a cure for it. That day at the well, Jesus didn’t tell her, “I have a lightweight waterpot which will lighten your load” or “This one is designed to make your burden easier to carry.” Jesus knows that once each one of us “drink from the fountain of water springing up into everlasting life,” we will run without encumbrances. We will run as if we carry no burden to tell others the good news of Jesus Christ. Our desires will be not for the things that burden us, but free us to the message of the salvation in Jesus Christ. The decision is yours today. You can carry your waterpot and depend on what it gives you each day for provision, or you can take a drink from the living water today. Take the woman at the well’s advice and drop it and share the good news of Jesus Christ.
Matthew 11:30 says, “For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”
[1] A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1933), Jn 4:28.