John 4 v 42

“They said to the woman: “it is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world.”

Jesus had been speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well, something which broke many cultural and religious rules, and during that conversation, Jesus speaks words about and to this woman that change her destiny. As she encounters the Saviour of the World face to face, this Samaritan woman becomes the first evangelist. I love that Jesus chose a woman from the wrong part of town, with the wrong kind of lifestyle to be the first person to share the Good News! And she can’t help but tell others! She runs off to her town telling others that she has met the Messiah.

John 4 v 39 tells us that many Samaritans believed because of the woman’s testimony, but now, verse 42, they saw and heard Jesus for themselves.

They came to see Jesus because of the testimony, but the personal encounter sealed the deal for them.

Our role is not to convert people to Christianity. Our role is to speak of how God’s story has impacted our story. How the person of Jesus has changed everything for us, causing us to live life differently and as such, to speak differently. Our role is to speak of God’s story, and simply invite others to come to see and hear Jesus for themselves. Our call and our lives, signs and wonders, words and actions should lead people to want to know more about Jesus, but it’s through the encounter with Christ Himself, through the Holy Spirit, that people come to know Jesus.

I find this whole chapter fascinating. In Jesus’ culture, He was mixing with all the kinds of people the religious rules said He shouldn’t.  A woman, a Samaritan, and then going into a Samaritan town and staying there.  The whole of this account shows God’s heart; a woman who would usually have been cast aside, no voice, no hope, no future; unmarried, divorced, adulterer.  A people from the wrong part of town, considered not good enough, second rate, unclean. In verse 40, when invited, Jesus went and stayed two days, where He no doubt ate, drank and shared more of God’s heart.

Who are those in our society today who we consider not the ‘right kind of people’ or not from ‘the right kind of places’? God’s heart is still the same; He cares for those from the wrong lifestyle, the wrong background, the wrong places by human standards, and who knows, by spending time speaking (over the phone in this season!) with just one ‘outcast’, the whole community they’re part of may be transformed.