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Join Us This
Sunday – 10:15 am Children Are
Welcome to Learn About God – 10:00 am |
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A Recent Message From Pastor Jira Albers A Reflection on Clay Jars Clay jars were a common sight
in the ancient world. In a way, they
were one of the most important items in the house because they were not only
big enough to carry the water for the day, but also store it. Everyday someone (often a wife or a
daughter) would go to the well and fill the clay jar for the rest of the
family. The clay jar was an essential
item. “Well,
duh, Pastor Jira. I'm glad I’m taking
the time to read this just to learn that.
That's what I needed for the week you know, a blatantly obvious and
completely irrelevant piece of information.
Thanks, that was just amazing.” Now, wait a second or two before
you take off and leave me to speak to no one in cyber-space. The reason I gave you this blatantly
obvious and rather mundane information about clay water jars is because the
Samaritan woman in this story from John runs off and leaves this essential
household item. Why would you do
that? You need water to survive. And these large jars, which everybody had
to have, were not the cheapest item either.
Clay pot makers must have had it made.
But, the Samaritan woman runs off and leaves this essential item of
daily living behind. Something dramatic
must have happened during her encounter with Jesus to cause such a
reaction. I only mention this because the
woman has obviously found something truly wonderful and freeing when she
encounters Jesus and this creates a desire in the soul to find the same
spiritual spring of water. Tell me,
what might God do for you that would cause you to leave your car sitting in a
parking lot? Now, I'm assuming here
that you have a car worth something.
(My family had many cars that no one would
even think of
stealing. In fact people would probably
take out their checkbooks to pay to have it moved from their sight.) So, assuming you have a nice car, what
might God do for you that would cause you to leave behind your car while you
run and tell your neighbors what God has done? What have you been lugging around in your
clay jar that needs to be lifted from your life?
The Samaritan woman had a few
things in her jar bogging her down as she walked through life. The first was her own self-perception…her
own concept of who she was. It wasn't
very good. How do I know? For starts, the woman was at a well with a
handsome young man. In the ancient
world, “young woman” plus “well” plus “young man” equals
“romance.” Jesus appears to
start off the scene correctly, "Give me a drink." Just for your information, that line in the
ancient world was often the equivalent of; "Do you come here
often?" And she opens this
romantic scene with the a stellar thought that effectively says, "You
want me to give you water, Jewish man? Are you blind? Can't you see I’m only a
Samaritan?" We see that her
self-identity as only a Samaritan is weighing her down. Have the words, "I'm only…" ever
come out of your mouth? Did you know
of anyone who stared at the dance floor hoping that someone would come over,
but somehow knew it would never happen?
Feeling worthless makes the jar heavy.
Being alone in the world is hard work. “I'll give you better water than
that,” Jesus promises in essence.
“Worthlessness is an unhealthy drink.
I'll give you better water.” Jesus then said to her, "Go,
call your husband, and come back."
Looking down into her jar she saw swirling there her uncertain and
chaotic life. Widowed, she has been
bounced around to live with many men, many husbands, none of which has kept
her around. "I'll have another
good squirt of worthlessness and could you mix in a little chaos too,
thanks!" "I have no husband," she
says. Jesus said to her, "You
are right in saying, 'I have no husband'; for you have had five husbands, and
the one you have now is not your husband.
What you have said is true?"
Do you know who a prophet
is? A prophet is not a fortuneteller
who can see events of the distant future.
A prophet is someone who is somehow able to look into your closely
held jar and describe the murky water inside.
That is who a prophet is.
Because he can see her life so clearly, the woman sees that Jesus is a
prophet. We need prophets. You can't fill your jar with clean water
until you can tell that you have murky water in there. It's amazing how people will put up with
bad water for years and think that it is normal. It's amazing how little we can see of ourselves. In a world where we say, "Leave me
alone, it's
none of your
business!" we need prophets more than ever. Jesus is there (through other believers
around us) to point to the obvious discoloration floating in our jars that we
fail to see. Are we willing to let
others look? Are we willing to look
ourselves? Or, is stagnant, murky
water good enough? Naming the murkiness in the water
is powerful stuff. It's hard
stuff. It's hard to admit that we've
been lugging it around all this time. But, you can't throw out the bad water until
you can see that it is bad water. What
will take its place once I throw it out?
Will my jar just be empty then?
Nothing is worse than emptiness.
That's why it is hard to keep people with mental illnesses on their
medications, because strange and horrible feelings are preferable to no
feelings at all (the effect of some medications). Those of us without mental illnesses aren't
any different. Anything is better than
emptiness. And, emptiness is a real
fear. But, the woman was willing to take
the chance. She wasn't alone
after-all, Jesus was right there as she took this chance. None of us should be alone. Christ is right here, in the presence of
fellow believers Christ is here. We
can take the chance and throw out the bad water of our lives. And whenever we do it, we are filled with
fresh, living water. Water that
refreshes us in a way that allows us to leave our heavy jars behind. Jars are a trap. You can stare into jars for too long and
never realize that there is a world out there. But, once you are helped to look up from
your jar you see a wonderful new world of opportunity and love and
happiness. You see that other people are
walking around, carrying heavy jars, staring into their jars, and you just
want to go and tell them, “Look up!
Don't you see that your staring down at your own feeling of
worthlessness, or at the chaos of their life, or at some doctrine that's
unimportant to real life, or at the destructive desire for success?” “Look up,” you say. “Look up and experience the gift of freedom
that Christ has given to me. It's
good, it's refreshing. Look up!” And they do, and one by one people
are freed from their heavy jars as Christ motivates more people to be
prophets to each other. And, it is a
beautiful sight when you look in front of you and see a huge pile of jars
that have been left behind. They
weren't that important after-all. |
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- What Should I Expect When I Visit? - What Does Trinity Have For My Family? - Trinity Cares: How Can We Help You? |
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