January 30, 2023 – Monday
John 4:39 NIV
39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.”
Comments
To really grasp the importance of this verse you have to understand that Jews generally hated or considered as unclean both Samaritans and Gentiles. Yet, here was Jesus in Samaria with His disciples and He had been talking with a Samaritan woman, but before we go back there, I want you to recall from Matthew chapter ten verses five and six when He sent out His disciples, 5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. 6 Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel.
But here in the book of John in chapter four we read that to avoid the Pharisees, 4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. 7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) He was not just a Jew asking a Samaritan for a drink, but He was a Jewish Rabbi asking a Samaritan woman for a drink. We should know., if a Jew was not to associate with a Samaritan, that it was even worse for a Jewish Rabbi to associate with a Samaritan woman. Yet Jesus was not one for social taboos. He once told Pharisees who were asking why he ate with sinners and tax collectors in Mark 2:17, It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.
In Jesus’ continued conversation with the Samaritan woman, He told her of her past and of her current status (unmarried, yet living with a man). Then He identified Himself as the Messiah in verse 26 declaring, I, the one speaking to you—I am he. The disciples returned and the woman went back to her town telling about Jesus and all He had told her. After a conversation with His disciples we come to our Verse for the Day, 39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.”
Jesus was avoiding the Pharisees who were rejecting the message He was bringing to the world, Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near(Matthew 4:17), the same message John the Baptist had proclaimed in Matthew 3.2. Compare that rejection with the willingness to receive the truth from a Samaritan woman. She and the other Samaritans were ready to receive the Good News from Jesus and the only sign they had was her word Jesus knew her past! The Pharisees had either seen or heard of much more.
At their request Jesus stayed another two days and verse 41, 41 And because of his words many more became believers. And what believers as they told the woman in verse 42, 42 We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world. This is not unlike what Paul told us in Romans 10:17, 17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. However, they heard the message about Christ from Christ!
Bottom Line: Your testimony matters whether you know it or not. The testimony of a fallen woman resulted in revival in a town in Samaria that Jesus was not supposed to be in, but there He was, and her testimony mattered.
Prayer: Almighty God, Help us to share our testimonies with others so they to might find out what it means to believe. – In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
RileyD, nwJ
Riley D. Driver – Pastor
Calvary Chapel of Dayton
in Beavercreek