At first glance, it was not clear to me why the episode of Jesus and the Samaritan woman is included in the gospel. (John 4:1-42) Jesus was tired, hungry and thirsty from traveling. There are no miracles here. People gathered around him wherever he went. Nothing out of the ordinary, if you’re Jesus.
Then I looked at it from the standpoint of the gospel being for all people, in this case, Jew and Gentile. There is still more here than that, though. Looking still deeper, I see standalone instruction on how to bring someone to Christ. It is the ultimate demonstration that God is no respecter of persons.
Giacomo Franceschini – Gesù e la Samaritana al pozzo – 17th or 18th century
The Samaritan woman embodies everything that Christ is not:
- male vs. female
- God vs. man
- wisdom vs. ignorance
- pure vs. immoral
- Jew vs. Gentile
And yet … Jesus reveals to her who he is. Through his love and kindness he convinces her and those in her village that he is Christ. He didn’t even wait until an opportunity came to work it into the conversation. He just started teaching. We see her belief grow from his being a Jew that she is wary of, (John 4:9) to Sir, (John 4:11) to profit, (John 4:19) and finally the Christ. (John 4:29) This realization spread to the others and they desired him to stay with them. Jesus shows us how simple the gospel is. He shows us how so many already have a basic idea of who he is. We only need to lead them the rest of the way. When was the last time you mentioned Jesus in a conversation?
Daily Bible reading for November 8
Psalm 99 2 Kings 8 Zechariah 12-13 John 4:1-42
November 8, 2013
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