The following question is based on some remarks in section I.2 of Deligne's book Equations Différentielles à Points Singuliers Réguliers.
Let $X$ be a smooth complex variety and $X_1$ the first infinitesimal neighborhood of the diagonal in $X \times X$, so there is a natural morphism $X \to X_1$. If we write $p_1,p_2 : X_1 \to X$ for the two projections, then the first-order jet bundle of a vector bundle $V$ on $X$ is defined to be $J^1(V) = p_{1*} p_2^*V$. Here "upper star" is used in the sense of $\mathcal{O}$-modules. This allows for a convenient way of expressing the notion of a connection: this is just an isomorphism $p_1^*V \to p_2^*V$ which restricts to the identity over $X$, which is the same as an $\mathcal{O}$-linear map $V \to J^1(V)$ such that the composition $V \to J^1(V) \to V$ is the identity.
Here Deligne says something I don't understand: he refers to a first-order differential operator $j^1 : V \to J^1(V)$ "which associates with any section a first-order jet" (I'm translating from the French). What is he talking about, and what makes the map he's talking about a differential operator? I don't have much intuition for jets, although I know they have something to do with taking Taylor expansions, so any general explanation of that would be greatly appreciated as well.