Now We Have Heard for Ourselves

Read‍

John 4:39-42 "Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, 'He told me everything I ever did.' So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers. They said to the woman, 'We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves and we know that this man really is the Messiah.'"

Think

John does not tell us her name.

He tells you about a whole town believing, about Jesus staying two extra days, about people saying out loud that they know who he is. And the person at the center of it is described throughout the chapter as the Samaritan woman, and that is all we ever get.

What we do get is verse 39. "Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony."

Because of her testimony. Not because of her knowledge, her training, or her ability to handle objections. Because she told people what happened to her.

And John repeats the exact sentence she used, as if to make sure nobody misses how simple it was. "He told me everything I ever did."

That was her whole argument. It was enough to move a town.

Then look at what happens next, because it takes an enormous amount of pressure off you.

They come out to meet Jesus and they ask him to stay, and he stays two days. And verse 41 says, "because of his words many more became believers."

His words. Not hers anymore.

Then they say something to her in verse 42 that could sound almost rude if you read it fast. "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves and we know that this man really is the Messiah."

That is not an insult. That is the goal.

Her job was never to be the reason they believed. Her job was to get them close enough that Jesus could speak for himself, and then to step out of the middle.

This is the thing to hold onto if you have been carrying somebody around in your prayers for months, wondering whether you have said enough or said it right.

You are not the destination. You are the introduction.

And introductions are allowed to be clumsy. Hers was a run-on sentence that ended in a question mark, delivered by somebody with no credentials to people who already had opinions about her. It worked because Jesus was at the other end of it.

Notice one more thing. They urged him to stay. He was invited into a town that Jewish travelers normally went around, by people nobody expected to want him, and he stayed two days.

He is not reluctant. He has never once been dragged toward somebody he did not already want.

So here is where a whole run of weeks lands.

You do not have to feel ready. You do not have to have much. You do not have to have answers. You bring what you have, you point at what he has done in your life, and then you get out of the way and let people hear him for themselves.

A town believed because a woman who had been hiding from that same town walked back into it and said come and see.

So who is walking toward Jesus because of something you said, and who is still waiting on you to say it?

Apply

Make the introduction – Take the two-sentence version of your story and actually tell one person this week. Then invite them to come with you to church. Say what you have seen and let them meet him for themselves.

Pray

God, thank you that I was never supposed to be the reason anybody believes. Take the pressure off me and help me just make the introduction. Use what you have done in my life to get somebody close enough to hear you for themselves. In Jesus' name. Amen.