“Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done. He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” (John 4:29)
The story of Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well is one of my favorite stories in all of scripture. It crosses so many boundaries in so many ways – ethnic, religious, gender, social status and other factors are all woven in. Jesus, a Jewish rabbi, has chosen to travel through Samaria (an unusual choice for a Jew to make) and stopped at a well for a drink of water – which he requests from a Samaritan woman (another unusual choice for a Jew to make!).
The ensuing conversation raises lots of questions in this woman’s mind and the resulting dialog covers religion, culture and eventually even this woman’s personal story (which is filled with five previous marriages and sounds like a modern soap opera). Jesus walks her through the discussion in a way that amazes her. Even her most embarrassing details don’t seem to bring judgment from him. While she experiences shame when her story is revealed to many other people, for some reason, Jesus seems to genuinely see her and care about her.
In her amazement, she can’t contain herself. She runs into town to tell everyone what she has experienced. “Come and see…,” she says. And her enthusiasm is contagious – the people come.
There are two lessons I’d like to have us thinking about as we ponder this:
First, the God we meet in Jesus is with us in all things. God already knows our story. There is nothing we need to try to hide or be ashamed of. God is still with us and hasn’t given up on us, in spite of the things we wish weren’t true about us.
Second, once we recognize that we are known fully and loved completely in Christ, nothing helps others to see the Jesus we know than to enthusiastically tell our story and invite people to “come and see.” All of us who know the love of Christ have a story to tell and an invitation to share.
