Jars of Clay

  “Jesus replied, ‘Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem.” John 4:21

  Because I didn't know, I had to look this up. 

  Wikipedia explains the Samaritans were a people who separated from the Hebrews during the time Eli was a prophet. Samaritan translates as guardians/keepers/watchers of the Torah, the Jewish holy book. They also believed theirs was the true religion of the ancient Israelites. The Samaritans worshiped the same God as the Jews but the biggest thing that kept them separated was their belief that Mount Gerizim, not Jerusalem, was the original Holy Place of Israel.

  Hmmm…that means, like the Jews, the Samaritans were waiting for the coming of the Messiah.

  Jesus came into their midst because He went against prejudice and tradition; firstly by speaking with a Samaritan and secondly, because she was a woman. (The Disciples were shocked by both these things.) She wasn’t just any woman, but a dear one, despite her having been divorced five times and living with a sixth without the blessing of a marriage ceremony.

  Divorce was easily attained in those days. A poorly cooked supper was grounds enough for a husband to divorce his wife. Jesus speaks about it in Mathew 5:32. That’s not the point of today’s post because I have a question or two to ponder.

  Were the Samaritans part of God’s chosen people? Is that why Jesus made a point of making Himself known to them? Is this why He made a point of saying the differences between the Hebrews and the Samaritans would no longer matter?  

  I believe the woman makes the answers a positive “yes” when she affirms their ancestral connection to Jacob. She also shares that the water from Jacob's well was good for his sons and animals so therefore was good enough for her. Is this metaphorical for her inherited faith practices, too?

  Yet, this woman abandoned her water jar…A symbolic representation of leaving behind religion because something, Someone, far better had poured truth into her soul! She must have been radiant as she called out to the other villagers, telling them who she had met!

  The villagers begged Jesus to stay with them. After two days, many Samaritans believed Jesus was the Messiah, the Savior of the world. Oh, had I been there to hear Him teach!

  Holy water jars that held miraculous wine. Here we learn of an empty water vessel needing to be filled. A water carrying man led the Disciples through Jerusalem. There seems to be a theme here. I believe the significance is two-fold. What is inside the jars is important because Jesus uses their contents as a jumping off point to many lessons. I now realize there is an important significance to the jars themselves. I believe them to be representative of human efforts to contain God.

  Even when Jesus is on the Cross, there was a jar of sour wine nearby. (Both sour wine and sponge were used for personal hygiene but that's a whole other topic.) Is this a final, condemning metaphor for the Jewish religious practices that placed Law above love? When Jesus had tasted it, while being crucified because of a religion that usurped the truth found within its own teachings for the sake of its own existence, He said, “It is finished!” and died. (John 19:29-30)

  Jars of miraculous wine and a jar of sour wine bookend Jesus' teaching: the Message that changed the world by revealing the love of God in all its un-containable, wondrous majesty and simplicity.

  Wow. There are some pretty heavy jars I need to stop lugging around. AMEN!