Context No. 3128 of 4322 · John
Context · Reflection
John 4:25-30: in context
25The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming, he who is called Christ. When he has come, he will declare to us all things.” 26Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who speaks to you.” 27Just then, his disciples came. They marveled that he was speaking with a woman; yet no one said, “What are you looking for?” or, “Why do you speak with her?” 28So the woman left her water pot, went away into the city, and said to the people, 29“Come, see a man who told me everything that I have done. Can this be the Christ?” 30They went out of the city, and were coming to him.
The Samaritan woman says, I know that Messiah is coming; when he comes, he will tell us all things. And Jesus answers, I who speak to you am he. Just then the disciples return, surprised he is speaking with a woman. She leaves her water jar behind, hurries into the town, and tells the people, come, see a man who told me everything I ever did; can this be the Christ? And they come out toward him.
Two things stand out. To this Samaritan woman, of doubtful reputation, Jesus makes one of his plainest declarations, I am he, revealing himself as Messiah not to the important people in Jerusalem but to an outsider at a well. And her response is immediate: she leaves her water jar, the very thing she came for, and runs to tell her town. Her testimony is simple and honest, he told me all I ever did. She does not wait to become an expert; her encounter and her honesty are enough to bring a whole town toward Jesus. The transformed woman becomes the first witness to Samaria.
Has my encounter with Christ moved me to leave my "water jar" and simply tell others, honestly, what he has done for me?