Who are your townspeople?  John 4.1-42

We left her standing there, water jar still empty against one hip atop the stone well, fully aware that the One to whom she is speaking, knows all about her.  He knows she has had ‘five husbands, and the man she now has is not her husband’, and has not spurned her.  ‘If He knows this about me,’ she realizes in her head, ‘it is not just His words that are great . . . it is not just His manner that is arresting . . . it is not just His willingness to engage me, a reviled Samaritan woman, in conversation . . . no, his knowledge of me, and his offer of living water can mean only one thing--He is the One I have waited all of my life to see—this is my Messiah!’ 

“I am He,” Jesus told her, “the One speaking to you.”

She knows it is so, and as Jesus’ men approach, she turns to run back to her village, a place where she is an outcast no doubt, because of her lifestyle.  “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could this be the Messiah?”  They left the town and made their way to Him.  I can’t help but wonder--what was different about her, that they would drop what they were doing, and follow her?   This ‘loose’ woman, who even now was living with a man who was not her husband…what could she have said that would have made them stop what they were doing, and come and check out Jesus?  Yet, come they did, and they believed.  John wrote, “Now many Samaritans from that town believed in Him because of what the woman said when she testified, “He told me everything I ever did.” Therefore, when the Samaritans came to Him, they asked Him to stay with them, and He stayed there two days. Many more believed because of what He said. And they told the woman, “We no longer believe because of what you said, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this really is the Savior of the world.”

Again, I am absolutely spellbound by the love of our Heavenly Father!  We do well to bear in mind that Jesus said nothing . . . Jesus did nothing, but what he was bade by his loving Father.1,2   So when Jesus walked out of his way to go to the well in Samaria to meet this woman, and change her life forever—not just by setting her free from sin, and giving her new life, but by using her to invite the townspeople to meet Jesus—this was all designed by the heart of God.  Think of it, in one evening, her status with those who came to meet Jesus was changed forever; they would see the change in her, and love her because she introduced them to Jesus.  Ah . . . do you see it?  Do you see the heart of God?  He specializes in healing relationships and restoring broken lives; oh, he is good indeed!

So excited by her discovery at the well, the woman invites the people from town to come and meet Jesus . . . (one of the most effective means of evangelism to this day, friends—invite people to meet the God who has changed your life!) . . . and they do, come and believe.  Then they ask Jesus to stay with them, and he stayed two more days, talking with them, teaching them.  Did he do any miracles in those two days, to convince the townspeople that he was the Messiah?  Can’t say, but maybe.  John told us, “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book.” John 20.30   And “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.” John 21.25

This woman reminds me of so many middle-age people like me – yet they are looking for fulfillment somewhere, sometimes just about anywhere.  Thankfully, the solution is still the same.  His name is Jesus, and his well of living water has not run out.  And for you and me, we have townspeople who are waiting to be invited to the well to meet our Jesus.  We have to tell them how he has met us where we are, loved us, set us straight, and given us an endless bright future.  Just one question … who are your townspeople?

Christine