AN EMPTY AND BROKEN JAR part 3

It was early evening.

The sky was dark as though sadness hovered in the air. 

The women were gathering around the well.

As they took their turn filling their jars, they heard a commotion in the streets. 

As the commotion grew louder, the women left their jars to investigate.

Sarah was now grown. She too gathered at the well that evening but gathering at the well was unpleasant for her. She knew the other women noticed her broken jar. She could feel their whispers.

From the moment this jar broke, her life was never the same. Her father worked meticulously to mend the jar, but it still carried the cracks and the brokenness that she felt inside.  Soon after her father mended her jar, he died leaving her mother to raise the children and run the inn. The rooms in the inn never filled again making food for the table difficult to provide.  Sarah rarely played in the streets as she worked hard to help her mother. In attempts to provide, Sarah married at a young age to a man much older than she.  She was barren and broken. Her husband was unfaithful and cruel.

Holding tightly to her jar, Sarah followed the other women. As they approached Pilates courtyard, they heard the chant, “crucify Him, crucify Him.”  Stepping into the crowd she became confused by their shouts. She began to ask what was happening and soon learned that the one the people were shouting to be crucified was a man who claimed to be the Son of God.  His name was Jesus which was a common name in those days.  As she began to ask more questions, she learned that this man claimed to be the Messiah, the Son of God.  Throughout her life, she had heard rumors of this man. She had learned that he was born in the town of Bethlehem which was her own birthplace. As the rumors unfolded, Sarah had realized that the baby she grew to love in the stable was this man. The baby she longed to bring the gift of water was the man who claimed to be the “living water”.

Still holding her jar, Sarah pushed her way to the front of the crowd. As she stood in front, she was able to get a glimpse of this man.

Was it true?

Was he the Messiah…the Son of God?

Was this him…was this truly him?

When she had seen him as a baby, had she seen the Son of God?

As she stood in disbelief, she noticed the crowd began to shift as they followed the soldiers. The whispers in the crowd said they were taking this man away to kill him.  

Why would they take a man who was innocent to their accusations and kill him?

After struggling to release herself from the crowd, Sarah was able to push away returning to the well. Leaning against the well, she held her jar close.

The noise from the crowd grew louder as they continued to chant “crucify him.” Sarah stood on her toes to get a glimpse of Jesus.  As he was brought close to where she stood, she saw his flesh torn body.  They had placed a robe around him and crown of thorns on his head mocking him saying he was King of the Jews. Turning her face away, she remembered him as a baby laying in the feeding trough. Now his body was broken and stained with his blood.

Running her hand over the cracks in the jar, she realized in that moment that it was the brokenness of her life that demanded the sacrifice of his broken body. It was in the breaking of the jar and spilling of the water that brought her to the breaking of his body and the spilling of his blood.

“For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He have given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” I Corinthians 11:23,24 NKJV

 In the breaking…wholeness was found…this WAS  the perfect gift!

As the crowd got closer, she chose to follow them to a place called Golgotha outside the city of Jerusalem. Today she would witness history as she watched the Son of God crucified.

But through his death she would experience life.

As Jesus hung on the cross, He breathe his last breath. Once he was dead, the crowd walked away. But Sarah lingered hoping to approach the cross in solitude. As she knelt, the ground was wet with his blood.  Taking the jar, she held it to her lips tasting the water she had longed to bring to Jesus in the stable that day. She then placed the jar at the feet of Jesus and began to weep.

Speaking through her tears, she said,

“Jesus, you don’t know me, but I saw you as an infant.  I watched you lay in the stable and wanted to bring you a gift.  After searching my heart to bring you an offering for your birth, I filled a jar with water hoping to place it at the stable door.  But as I was entering the stable, I tripped breaking this jar and spilling the water onto the ground. I left the stable that day with my empty and broken jar.

But as I kneel here underneath your broken body, I see that you have brought the greatest of gifts to me…your broken body and spilled blood for the salvation of my soul.

Thank you, Jesus…thank you.

From the stable to the cross, you have taken my broken gift and given me the gift of life…living water.

As Sarah stepped away from the cross, she realized more than ever that her empty and broken jar WAS the perfect gift!

What are you bringing to Jesus?

Is it a broken life?

Is it an empty life poured out from giving to others?

Do you come offering nothing because what you had to offer is now empty and broken?

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.

I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.” John 10:10

This Christmas let Jesus mend and fill your jar with the life that only He can offer!