Then, leaving her jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” They came out of the town and made their way to him.
(v. 39) 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 Savior of the World.”
My father did not grow up in a Christian home. But when he was about 16 years old a couple of things happened that changed the trajectory of his life. The first event happened on a date with a young lady that he had his eye on for some time. I won’t go into details – but just when he was about to make his “move” this young woman said, “You ought to know that I got saved last week – and there are some things that I don’t do anymore.” He remembers being somewhat disappointed – but also impressed with the change in this young woman’s life. A short time after that, a couple of his football teammates invited him to attend a Methodist revival meeting – and there my father gave his heart to Jesus and within two years was preaching in churches.
The story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman is similar in a way. The Samaritan woman, to this point in her life, is a spiritual failure. She has a string of failed relationships, and as a result, is likely ostracized from her own community. Yet, after meeting Jesus, she becomes the one who leads a whole town to the Savior! Read again the astonishing conclusion to the story:
“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.”
This is the power of the gospel – the grace of God through Jesus Christ - a spiritual failure becomes a powerful spiritual influence! We see this story happen over and over again. This weekend (last weekend by the time you read this) we will baptize almost 20 people at our annual FBCG picnic. Each person will share a portion of their “faith story” – and each story will be a little like the story we read in John 4. Each story will include spiritual failure to one degree or another; each will include an encounter with Jesus; and as the story is shared it will have influence on those who hear.
When was the last time you shared the story of when and how you met Jesus? You may feel like your story is nothing special; or you may feel like you aren’t very good at sharing your story – but remember the story of the Samaritan woman! She was lonely, stuck in a string of bad relationships, cut off from her family and friends, a spiritual failure in every way – yet God used her to reach a whole town with the good news of Jesus.
God is in the business of turning spiritual failures into spiritual influencers – how can he use you?
Pastor Brian Coffey
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