The woman then left her waterpot and went away into the city, and says to the men,
At Jacob's well a Samaritan woman has just heard Jesus say who He is, and the disciples arrive back from town. She puts down the jar she came for and walks away, and commentators read that small act as proof of a change inside her.
The water jar was not just luggage. Writers read it as the measure of her whole world, and they note that the Holy Spirit recorded that she left it.
We saw the poor woman completely absorbed with her water-pot. But the moment her conscience was fully reached, she goes off to testify to the others: if you only get Christ, He will tell you all things. She leaves her water-pot. The Holy Spirit has not recorded it for nothing. The thing that absorbed her is gone. The word and power of Jesus gave her conviction of sin. That same word and power put Christ in the place of the things that had power over her heart: Christ for my righteousness instead of my sins; Christ as the object for my heart instead of my cares.
The same writer explains why she could walk away without shame.
She left her water-pot and went into the city, filled with the thoughts of Jesus, to speak to the men of One who had told her all things that she ever did. Where the heart is full, circumstances are most forgotten. Notice too that the importance of Jesus in her mind had taken away the pain of the discovery of her state.
One writer lists the motives that might explain her rush into town, then rejects them all.
She came to the well with an empty pitcher: she left it with a full heart... But what made her a worker in the cause? Was it simply the pleasure of hearing something new? Was it the fascination of listening to a Teacher of commanding ability? Was it self-satisfaction, which enjoys the importance of carrying startling news to other people? Her news was indeed startling; her message was news — good news... But what made her a worker in the cause was that her conscience had first been dealt with by the Lord. Heart work in her came before lip service. And so it must always be in real service for Him.
She does not go somewhere new to start over. She goes to the one town where her history was public.
She leaves her waterpot in a moment, because now she has Christ instead of her cares as well as her sins. She goes away filled with unspeakable joy... Anyway, she left her waterpot and went into the city, where everybody knew her, and where people might have sneered at her, and where women would not be seen walking on the same side of the street with her, and there announced, "Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did."
Another writer draws the same line, and adds what the town now hears from her.
Now she has found a new Object in life — Christ fills her soul; so she leaves her water pot and returns to the city to become a witness, in the very place of her sin, to the One who has set her free.
Jesus gave her no instructions. That is what makes her boldness striking.
He had not formally sent her, yet she went boldly with the invitation. Nor was it merely that she told them to go: "Come, see a Man." She would go along with them. Her heart was in the current of His grace. She counted on the same welcome for others as for herself, however unwarranted that might seem. Such is the power of Divine love even from the very first.
Another writer weighs her errand against the moment she was in.
She rightly felt the all-importance of the moment, not for herself only but for others. Her ordinary duty could well wait. It meant nothing to her now to avoid the crowd of women at the well... What were critical tongues now? She had heard the Shepherd's voice... She left her waterpot therefore. To know Him was the great business. Another time was just as good for the waterpot.
The result did not stop with her.
The stream of blessing widens. The woman becomes the messenger of Christ, telling out in the city the blessing she has received... She has left her water-pot behind to carry the news of living water. Her story wins her many listeners, who come out of the city to find the One who has lit up this dark heart with His love.
- Conscience — she became a worker only because the Lord had first dealt with her conscience. Heart work came before lip service.
- Exchange — Christ took the place of what had power over her heart. He became her righteousness instead of her sins, and her one object instead of her cares.
- Forgetfulness — where the heart is full, circumstances are forgotten. She left the jar that had held her whole world where it stood.
- Boldness — no one sent her, yet she went to the town that knew her worst. She counted on the same welcome for others that she had received.
- Widening — one abandoned water-pot carried the news of living water, and the city came out to find Him.
Come, see a man who told me all things I had ever done is not he the Christ?
The woman came to the well for water and went home without it. What she carries back instead is a question, put to the neighbours who knew her worst.
She left her water jar behind. One writer sees in that dropped jar the sign of a heart with a new object.
We saw the poor woman completely absorbed with her water-pot. But the moment the Lord reached her conscience, she goes off to tell the others. If you only get Christ, He will tell you all things. She leaves her water-pot. The Holy Spirit has not recorded it for nothing. The thing that absorbed her is gone. The word and power of Jesus gave her conviction of sin. That same word put Christ in the place of the things that had power over her heart: Christ for my righteousness instead of my sins; Christ as the object for my heart instead of my cares.
Her news takes her straight back to the people she had most reason to avoid.
She is a transformed creature. I do not think any man or woman can be filled with the grace of God — the grace that met me in my sins as it met her in hers — without wanting to tell everyone else about Him. She left her waterpot and went into the city. Everybody there knew her. People might have sneered at her, and women would not walk on the same side of the street with her. There she announced, "Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did." What confidence she had in Him!
Plenty of motives could send someone running with news. One writer traces hers to what the Lord had already done inside her.
But what made her a worker in the cause was that her conscience had first been dealt with by the Lord. Heart work in her came before lip service. And so in real service for Him it must always be. And just because there was conscience work in her, she could not rest content. She had to say to the men of that city, "Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?" What she had done, and what she was, Christ had told her. A living, Divine Person had done a work in her through personal contact. He had spoken to her conscience; He had reached her heart.
Being known that fully is usually a threat. She turns it into proof of who He must be.
And who is this blessed Man? One, she says, "who told me all that I ever did." He told me, but He did not tell anyone else. Then she adds, "Can this be the Christ?" Yes, she was right. This must be the Christ. Who but Christ would tell me all that I ever did, and still love me and draw me to Himself?
Her invitation does not ask them to take her word for it.
Telling them what she had heard, whom she had seen, and whom she had talked with was not enough for her. She wanted others to meet with Him for themselves. They did so. True spiritual instinct prompted her to bring them to Christ, as the thing that would settle their souls in the truth about Him.
She does not just point down the road. Her word is come, and she means to walk back with them.
He had not formally sent her, yet she went boldly with the invitation. She did not just tell them to go: "Come, see a man." She would go along with them. Her heart was in the current of His grace. Unlikely as it might seem, she counted on the same welcome for others as for herself.
Her words need no training to repeat. One writer sets that against evangelism left to the professionals.
What marks our day is so much official evangelism and so little simple, natural testimony. That testimony is the necessary outflow of full hearts — of people who have been in Christ's company and cannot help saying to those around them what it costs no education and no special gift to say: "Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?" A great and effective preacher was that poor Samaritan woman! What had made her so? What she says herself, the company of Christ. It is this that loosens the tongue and gives it real eloquence.
- Conscience — the work started inside. Heart work came before lip service, and that is the order in all real service for Him.
- Exchange — the dropped waterpot marks a swap. Christ became her righteousness in place of her sins, and the object of her heart in place of her cares.
- Courage — she takes the message into the city. Everybody there knew her, and people might have sneered at her.
- Invitation — she does not send them; she says come, counting on the same welcome for them that she had received.
- Result — she pointed them to Him, not to herself, and they came and met Him for themselves.
They went out of the city and came to him.
The woman came to Jacob's well for water and went home without it. This verse is what came of it: a whole town walking out to meet the Man she told them about.
The pot she carried stood for the routine that had filled her days. When something greater took that place, the pot stopped mattering.
The disciples are slow to feel the blessedness of the Lord's grace. But on the woman it has an immediate and practical effect. Until now her daily work had absorbed her, and the water pot was only a symbol of it. Now she has found a new Object in life — Christ fills her soul. So she leaves her water pot and returns to the city. There, in the very place of her sin, she becomes a witness to the One who has set her free.
Her errand reversed. She arrived to fill one vessel; she went back for many. What made her a worker was the Lord's work on her conscience.
She left Him, but to serve. She came to the well with an empty pitcher; she left it with a full heart. She had gone in her loneliness to the spring with her waterpot. She would return with many empty vessels — human hearts, which needed what she had known: personal contact with the Christ… What made her a worker in the cause was this: the Lord had first dealt with her conscience. Heart work in her came before lip service. And so it must always be in real service for Him.
Preaching here needed no office and no skill. It needed time in Christ's company.
What marks this day is so much official evangelism, with so little simple natural testimony according to the apostolic order — "I believed, and so I spoke". This is the necessary overflow of full hearts. Those who have been in Christ's company cannot help saying to those around what it takes no education and no special gift to say — "Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?" A great and effective preacher was that poor Samaritan woman! What had made her so? What she says herself: the company of Christ. Christ had been speaking to her. This is what loosens the tongue and gives it real eloquence.
She does not stay behind. Her invitation is "come," and she walks back to the well with them.
The moral change was immense. A new world opened to her. It outshone the present with new affections and new duties… She felt who needed Him most, and she acted at once. She left her waterpot, went off to the town, and told the men about Jesus. How well she understood Him! He had not formally sent her, yet she went boldly with the invitation. Nor was it merely that she told them to go: "Come, see a Man." She would go along with them. Her heart was in the current of His grace. It counted on the same welcome for others as for herself, however unlikely that might seem.
The natural harvest was still four months away. The Lord pointed His disciples to another one, already ripe: the people walking out of the town toward Him.
While sitting by the well the Lord had ministered to one poor woman's soul. But now, lifting up His eyes, He saw — and drew the disciples' attention to — the sight of the people streaming out of the city to meet Him. "Lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest." People could not enjoy God's blessing on the soil in an abundant harvest for four months yet. Still, there was a harvest to reap at once. It came from seed sown long before, which had sprouted and was now ripening fast under the presence of Him who will one day appear to Israel in their land as the "Sun of Righteousness."
Being drawn out by someone else's story is a beginning, not an ending. The townspeople say so themselves two days later.
This may draw people, just as the testimony of the woman who met the Lord Jesus at the well drew the men of Samaria (John 4:28-30). But only meeting the Lord Jesus Himself truly brought them to God. We see it in their words to the woman: "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world" (v. 42).
The older translation this writer quoted reads "this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world."
- Dropped — the waterpot stood for her daily routine; once Christ filled her soul, she left it where it lay.
- Dealt with — the Lord searched her conscience first. Heart work came before lip service, and that is the order in all real service.
- Declared — she used no training and no title, only what she had heard from Christ Himself. She went straight to the people who knew her worst.
- Drawn — the townspeople walking out to Jesus were the harvest the Lord pointed to. It was ripe from seed sown long before.
- Discovered — her word brought them out. His own word convinced them, and they called Him Savior of the world for themselves.