John 4:28-32 - I have food that you know nothing of

4:28-30

The woman went back into town, leaving the water jar behind. She may have just left it out of haste, or she may have been intending to get it when she came back, or she may have left it for Jesus. One could say that she abandoned the natural water because she has now found the water of life, but that is being far too fanciful, reading too much into everything. The key thing is that she is eager to tell everyone in the town who she has found. Remember that prior to this she probably kept herself to herself, but the joy of salvation has overcome her inhibitions. She tells them that the man knew all about her, and asks “Could this be the Christ?”. The people were impressed or intrigued by her testimony, so they went out of the town to the well to see what she was on about.

4:31,32

The disciples, meanwhile, were concerned with more earthly matters and urged Jesus to eat. Jesus tells them that he has “food to eat that you do not know about”. The Samaritan woman started off by thinking only of natural water, and was then led on by Jesus to consider “water” of much greater worth. The disciples were no more wiser than the woman, they too needed to learn about something far more valuable. Natural things do matter, being concerned about natural things is not the problem, it is considering them to the exclusion of all else that is the problem.