Three categories: take, donate, leave behind. Our church-owned flat in Hong Kong was less than one-third the size of our house in Texas. So, the move to Hong Kong required ruthlessness determination to distribute our possessions. The biggest question: what could we do without; what should be left behind? Our three children had first rights to anything we weren’t taking—similar to dividing the estate after the death of the parents. Only we were alive. The Samaritan woman in John 4 also left something behind. What was it?

Sometimes what’s left behind is material, but sometimes we may be the ones left behind. After my father died, my mother often visited his grave to scold him for leaving her behind. How did the Samaritan woman feel being left behind five times?

Left Behind

The people of Samaria were descendants of the northern Israelites, left behind when Assyria destroyed Samaria. Jews looked down on them as racial and religious half-breeds. As Jesus and his disciples traveled from Judea to Galilee, Jesus found himself left behind at Jacob’s well as the disciples went to buy food. The Greek says it was about the sixth hour. According to Jewish time, that was noon, but according to Roman time, which John used elsewhere, 6:00 PM. No matter the time, the greater surprise was that she was alone, despite being from a collectivist culture.

When Jesus asked for a drink, the rules of hospitality demanded that she accommodate him. Nevertheless, her amazement was evident. Most Jewish men wouldn’t even speak to their wives in public. And, unless they had ulterior motives, they didn’t carry on conversations with unknown women. Jesus’ request broke social, racial, religious, and cultural norms. 

Responding to her shock, Jesus claimed to be the “gift of God” who could give her “living water.”  Not stagnant cistern water but fresh, running water—a priceless gift in an area where water was a limited good. Also, he assured her the water he gave would provide eternal life. Intrigued, she asked Jesus for this water, perhaps hoping to make life easier. But God’s purpose isn’t to make our lives easier. Instead, his goal is to change and empower us so we see our challenges as opportunities for him to work. Rather than granting her request, Jesus told her to call her husband, not an unusual demand in a patriarchal society.

Confession of the Samaritan Woman

When the woman admitted she had no husband (and, therefore, no face), Jesus confessed that he knew her story. She’d married and lost five husbands. And her current roommate wasn’t her husband. Note that Jesus didn’t condemn her. Only a man could end a marriage. Maybe she was a widow or had been divorced because she was barren. Maybe her current living arrangement (possibly with a relative?) was a way to avoid survival by prostitution. Divorce, barrenness, and widowhood brought shame. The woman had been left behind—shamed—five times. Even when women are victims, they may bear the blame for what has happened to them. Jesus named her shame, not her sin. (And we know from his encounter with the woman caught in adultery in John 8:1-11 that he didn’t hesitate to call out sin.) 

Recognizing Jesus as a prophet, the woman asked the burning theological question of her day about the proper place of worship. But Jesus deflected her question, telling her the issue wasn’t where but who and how. He offered her a new identity as one who worshiped “the Father in the Spirit and in truth” (4:23).

Then Jesus honored the Samaritan woman by revealing himself as the Messiah, the only time he did so before his trial. John included a surprising detail in the woman’s response:

Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?”

John 4:28-29

What does her water jar symbolize? Her past, her shame, her security, her burden? She left it all and became an evangelist to her neighbors, many of whom also became believers.

What about Us?

Following Jesus always involves leaving. The disciples left their nets, Matthew his tax collector’s booth, Zacchaeus his fortune. And the Samaritan woman left her water jar. What is God asking you to leave behind so you can embrace your new identity in Christ?