Devotional 3-27-11

WITNESS

John 4: 5 - 42

We are all familiar with this passage wherein Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well and explains to her the difference between the water of this world, which quenches physical thirst but has to be replenished, and water for the soul which leads to eternal life. You will recall that this woman was at the well in the middle of the day when no one else was around. While Jesus is talking to her, it becomes apparent why she is there all alone. Jesus tells her he knows about her five husbands and that she is currently living with a man who is not her husband. Sermons I have heard about this passage indicate that the woman would have been an outcast in her society because of her past and that she would have timed activities such as going to the well to avoid the other women who perhaps gossiped about her or just generally looked down upon her. Needless to say, she would not have been considered the most credible person to witness to such an extraordinary encounter as that she experienced this day at the well.

While conversing further, Jesus reveals to her that he is the Messiah. The scripture indicates that the disciples, who had gone into the city to buy food, returned right after this revelation, and the woman then departed to go back to the city. She left her water jar behind, however. Was she flustered, ashamed or intimidated by the arrival of the disciples who she felt might judge her, or was she in a hurry because she was overjoyed and anxious to tell others about her conversation? The description of what happens next reveals that, while it may have been both, it was probably more the latter.

Despite the shame and rejection she has historically felt from her fellow citizens, which likely has made her timid, the scripture implies that this woman, not unlike the shepherds at Bethlehem, boldly tells everyone she sees what she just experienced. She even goes so far as to suggest that this man she met at the well might actually be the Messiah. As shocking as her seemingly unabashed witness is the reaction of those she meets. Instead of disregarding her remarks because of their source, their content or both, the fellow Samaritans are moved to leave the city to seek Jesus and at least find out what in the world this woman had seen. John 4:39-42 relates that "many" Samaritans came to believe in Jesus because of the disgraced woman's witness, and the Samaritans actually requested that Jesus stay with them. During the two days he remained, "many more" came to independently believe because of what Jesus told them. One woman's brave testimony opened the door for the conversion of many. This is just another example of God using an unlikely source to spread his word.

Witnessing is a crucial task for us Christians and one that the Bible is clear we are all called to perform. Many of us find it difficult for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is discomfort speaking about our faith, particularly outside the church setting. The lesson I take from this passage, however, is that if the Samaritan woman can do it, then so can I. She was open to God's leading, and she didn't let herself be held back by obsessing over whether she would be believed, how her testimony would make her look to the other townspeople, or whether she was overreacting to what she had just heard. She put her personal obstacles aside and simply acted, and God did the rest. I think that is what He wants from all of us. During Lent, let us resolve to speak and act for God, trusting that he will equip us and will be standing by to take up where we leave off.

Prayer: Dear God, in light of the innumerable blessings you have bestowed upon us and the wondrous ways you have worked in our lives, your request that we tell others about you with our voices and our actions, seems like such a small thing to ask. Please help us to be open to your leading and to trust that you will be there to support us in every way. Amen.

Mary Taylor