The story of the Samaritan woman in John 4 is one that requires our special attention. In fact, it is not even the main story that I want to focus on, but the ending. What appears as a random footnote is actually a beautiful summary of the whole story and each believer should take the lesson to heart.
The story begins with Jesus resting near a well by Samaria while His disciples are off to find something to eat. A random Samaritan woman comes down to draw water, attempting to avoid the judgmental glances and comments that would occur if she came to draw water with all the other women of the city. Her life is one of sin and she has responded by avoiding mingling when at all possible. The gossip and snickers of other women is too much to bear.
Jesus sees her coming and grasps upon an opportunity to minister. He asks for a drink of water which initiates a conversation in which He shares with her the deepest secrets of her life. While He is sharing the truths about the Kingdom of God, she perceives that Jesus is the longed for Messiah. Jesus replies in the affirmative and in her excitement, she races off to town to tell everyone what she has found! What if we were as excited about Jesus as she was? What would that mean to the world around us? As Christians, we need to rediscover our deep abiding love of Jesus to the point that we actively seek opportunities to share Him with the world.
An even more important lesson awaits however. As we continue on with the story, John 4:39 explains that many people of Samaria believed because of the woman's testimony. In our lives, we have numerous opportunities to recognize God working around us. Even nature is telling us about God and His love for us. Do we stop to listen when God tries to use people around us to share about His goodness and grace? Do we stop to be still and listen to Him speak to us through nature? How about church? Do we go because it is "what good Christians do" or do we go with a deep earnestness to learn about the Kingdom of God?
While all of these things are definitely well and good, we should not just rely on friends to tell us about God. We should not just rely on the minister. We should not only watch for God's revelation in nature. No, we MUST experience Him for ourselves as the most important part of our life. The people of Samaria followed up this whole episode by saying to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world" (John 4:42).
This is the most important part of our walk. The Samaritan woman did not share Christ with others until she had experienced Christ in her own life. She knew the prophecies as demonstrated in her interaction with Jesus. However, just like so many of us today, she was still going about the mundane details of her life without bothering to tell others of the truth she had been taught.
We can go to church, and learn a lot about God. We can have others tell us their own personal testimony and be encouraged in our walk with God, but we cannot substitute the experience of others in place of our own walk. We must meet Jesus face to face for ourselves. Through the pages of scripture and through time in prayer, we must prepare ourselves to share Jesus with the World. We should all be able to say, with the people of Samaria, "Now we believe...for we ourselves have heard Him, and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world!" Then we need to go out and spread the Good News to the whole world!!! If we truly know that Jesus is the Savior of the world, then we need to live our lives in such a way as to reflect that faith.
