He's Got a Bucket

I once lived in a much more rural area. The farms that surrounded the property leached nitrogen into our local water supply. Neighbors recommended we use bottled water or water from a nearby spring for cooking and drinking. We diligently saved gallon milk jugs to collect the fresh water. At the spring, there were new jugs available for purchase, and fresh water was dispensed from the spring through several spouts. A trough collected and recycled any overflow, and there was the occasional splash or splatter just over the edge. Dented and misshapen jugs littered the nearby ground, extras left for anyone to use. The benefit of clean, fresh water from a mountain spring is something I fondly recall about those days, but the importance of having a vessel in which to put it is a lesson as old as the Bible.

In John 4, Jesus encounters a Samaritan woman. Now, I wasn't quite sure whether the Samaritans were looking forward to the coming Messiah in the same way the Jews were, so I checked a few commentaries. It seems they were (and those who remain today, still are) looking for a Prophet Messiah, one with divine wisdom, more than a Messiah King. Not to jump too far ahead, but if you've ever read the account, you know Jesus revealed to this woman lots of things about her life that, unless He was divine, He would not have known. She responded by acknowledging He was a prophet. It's in those moments before all of that, though, they had a discussion about water. As she stood by the well, Jesus asked her for a drink. Now, what would you think? Here's a thirsty guy, right? Her mind went right to the water in the well. Cool, wet, clear. But she was also focused on the physical differences between this man standing before her and herself: she was a Samaritan woman, He a Jewish man. The two just didn't exchange pleasantries or anything else in their cultures, and she pointed out to Jesus the obvious contrasts. Jesus' response was to explain to her, their encounter (and, if I might add, every encounter ever had with the Son of God) was about so much more than water or physical attributes. If you knew God’s gift, that is, who it is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink of water,’ then you would have asked Him; and He would have given you living water, Jesus said to her. Her understanding of His request was terrestrial, earthly, and as a result, she judged the propriety or impropriety of His request by what --or who --she thought she saw before her. As a result, she responded by telling Him, Sir, you don't even have a bucket.

I thought back to those days at the spring. Had someone approached me and asked me for water, I would have looked at him incredulously. Had he offered me water after making such a request, I would have given him the same response as this Samaritan woman: Didn't you just ask me to draw water for you? Water is flowing from this spring, available to any who wish to draw from it, and you --with no bottle, no bucket --are telling me I should be asking you for a drink? Am I missing something?

In the chapter just before John records this encounter, he documents Jesus' meeting with Nicodemus, a Pharisee. Jesus tells Nicodemus, Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God, and explains being born again means repenting of our sins and following in faith the Holy Spirit's call. Faith is the first step to better eyesight. Unless we have faith in Jesus, we can't see what He is doing; we are blind to what He is able to do. Like the woman at the well, we can only see things as they exist in the physical world: we see cultural differences, or dried up riverbeds, or empty bank accounts, or a vacant seat at the table, or a shelf full of medications, or the absence of a bucket. Rest assured, Jesus has a bucket! There is no situation that escapes His notice; there is no tribulation He has not overcome. But we are unable to see the fruits of His work without the discipline of faith. When we see things through our faith in Him and who He is, we discover those "terrible things" that happened might have been vessels necessary to teach us a valuable lesson, or the cashier who caused our delay may very well have been the vessel Jesus used to keep us from being part of the accident that occurred seconds before we left the parking lot, or the employer who unjustly fired us was the vessel used to lead us to a better job. But we must have faith first. Faith in Jesus; faith in His character; faith in His words to us. It is faith that enables us to see the bucket.