Image from www.bibleplaces.com.This weekend I was going through notes in my Bible, looking for inspiration for whatever it is that I want to study next. I ran across my notes from John, that I have never posted here. I do that. I get these great ideas and then...they just slip away. So, I'm going back to those notes while I search around for something new.
Click here to read John 4.
This is the chapter where we meet the Samaritan woman at the well. And if I had posted this in a timely fashion, we would have been able to contrast her with Nicodemus. I didn't, so in a nutshell...Nicodemus was a religious man, well-educated. He wanted to do the right thing, and he knew that he was missing something so he sought Jesus and they had the "born again" conversation and Nicodemus struggled with the concept. In this chapter, Jesus travels through Samaria and stops to rest. The Samaritan woman, nameless in all this, meets him at the well.
And in this meeting, Jesus shows us all how to speak to people. He ignored the "rules" like Jews don't speak to Samaritans, a man like Jesus would never speak to a Samaritan woman, and this particular woman...there were a lot of people who wouldn't speak to her or want to spend any time near her at the well. Jesus talked to her, forced her to look at her own life, and then told her that the coming Messiah that they were all looking for...He had arrived. And this woman clearly wanted more.
From the Message translation:
28-30The woman took the hint and left. In her confusion she left her water pot. Back in the village she told the people, "Come see a man who knew all about the things I did, who knows me inside and out. Do you think this could be the Messiah?" And they went out to see for themselves.
39-42Many of the Samaritans from that village committed themselves to him because of the woman's witness: "He knew all about the things I did. He knows me inside and out!" They asked him to stay on, so Jesus stayed two days. A lot more people entrusted their lives to him when they heard what he had to say. They said to the woman, "We're no longer taking this on your say-so. We've heard it for ourselves and know it for sure. He's the Savior of the world!"
She spread the word and because of this, the town believed. One unlikely woman to make an impact. Maybe she was the thirstiest, the one who needed the Messiah the most desperately. Maybe her history made her seek the Messiah. I think it's interesting that Jesus didn't have to work very hard here. Even in his fatigue, he was ready to do the Father's will, to speak to the one who need Him.
To me, witnessing is daunting. Of course you have to say the right words to the right people at the right time. And Jesus did that, but it was so simple. He didn't perform any mighty dazzling acts, but spoke the truth that the followers of Christ cling to, the hope of an abundant life, even in the face of serious failure here. Only God can work the conversion. And this is true in our own witness. We say what we can and God does the rest.
And at the end of this story is one of the "signs" John includes to illustrate who Jesus is and His power.
46-48Now he was back in Cana of Galilee, the place where he made the water into wine. Meanwhile in Capernaum, there was a certain official from the king's court whose son was sick. When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and asked that he come down and heal his son, who was on the brink of death. Jesus put him off: "Unless you people are dazzled by a miracle, you refuse to believe."
49But the court official wouldn't be put off. "Come down! It's life or death for my son."
50-51Jesus simply replied, "Go home. Your son lives." The man believed the bare word Jesus spoke and headed home. On his way back, his servants intercepted him and announced, "Your son lives!"
This man had another kind of desperate faith. He'd reached the end of his rope and feared that his son would die. He believed enough to travel to find Jesus to ask him for help. Jesus knew that faith couldn't rely on signs and wonders and said so to the people watching him, and the man refused to give up. In the Message, Jesus has five words: Go home. Your son lives.
I'm not sure what I would have done in this man's place. He believed. He trusted Jesus and he knew his son would heal. I'm not sure I'm there yet. I'd sometimes still like to have the signs and wonders, you know? But that's not what this is all about. Remember the theme of this book? Believing is seeing. To move from desperate faith to deliberate faith, I have to know who Jesus is. This man believed Jesus was who he said he was and that he would do what he said he would do. And so did the woman at the well. They led households and villages to believe and we don't know their names. Someday we will.
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