WEEKLY DEVOTIONAL – “Come, see a man”
The narrative of Jesus’ meeting with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well (John 4:5-43) is one with which some of us are familiar. For some, the event culminated with the woman leaving her waterpot “and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, ‘Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?’” (vv. 28-29, KJV). However, the story does not end there. Following nine verses of discourse between Jesus and the disciples, John continues, “And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on Him for the saying of the woman, which testified, ‘He told me all that ever I did’” (v. 39).
Let us not forget that the people in the town of Sychar knew this woman. According to Jewish tradition, those who wished to get wives went to the wells where young women were accustomed to coming and drawing water; and it is supposed that women of ill fame frequented such places also (Albert Clarke). She was the one who had five husbands and was with a man who was not her husband. She did not tell Jesus her story; He told it to her (vv. 16-18). It is no wonder she perceived Him to be a prophet (v. 19). After He made it known to her that He was not just a prophet but the Messiah (vv. 25-26), she immediately went into the city and testified of Him who had told her all she had done. “Come, see a man” were among the first words she uttered. The transformation must have been instantaneous because she, whose reputation was previously questionable, was now deemed credible. So much so that many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of her testimony (v. 39).
However, the best was yet to come for according to John, “So when the Samaritans were come unto Him, they besought Him that He would tarry with them: and He abode there two days. And many more believed because of His own word; and said unto the woman, ‘Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard Him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world’” (vv. 40-42). I believe this latter group was the skeptics, those who came initially not because they believed but to see if what the woman said was true. After two days of listening to Jesus, after drinking the “living water” that was in them “a well of water springing up into everlasting life,” they confessed to believing not because of what the woman said, though that was what had brought them there, but because they had heard, and I would add, “tasted” of Him for themselves.
This came about all because of the power of one woman’s testimony: “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” They heard, they came, they experienced for themselves, they believed, and they left knowing for sure that Jesus was the Christ. Len Jones was right when he said, “The Christian’s task is to make the Lord Jesus visible, intelligible, and desirable.” Has God done something truly amazing in your life? Have you thought about sharing your testimony? You just never know if someone hearing it might be encouraged to come, see, hear, experience, and come to know God for themselves.
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