"the Rest Of The Story" Series

“The Rest of the Story”

John 4:27-42

The great radio broadcaster, Paul Harvey died in 2009…. He was known for his writings and radio broadcasts that reached up to 24 million people a week. Such a dynamic voice -– and one of the things that made him so popular was the way he could craft story to make it so interesting and then he would always add some things you had never heard and then close by saying and that’s the rest of the story. Several weeks ago we looked at the gospel of John, chapter 4 and we discussed all of the barriers that Jesus broke down to reach the woman at the well. The woman was puzzled; she was amazed---surprised that a man she had never met could know so much about her. And so her story now becomes the rest of the story and all over the village of Samaria people believed because of her testimony---because she took her story public. Testimony is the key word. She testified. And because she testified we have a “rest of the story.” Now this is the rest of the story in John 4. We started there several weeks ago and in case you were not here I need to recap the first part of the story so that we are on the same page today. So let’s do that.

In the first part of this chapter Jesus meets a woman, in Samaria at the well at noon; she was coming to draw water and they have a conversation and in that conversation He reveals Himself to be the Messiah. This changes her and in the 2nd part which I read earlier she responds and it can all be summed up really in one word…testimony. (v. 39). So, once, she is changed, she goes public and shares her testimony. So let’s break this down into 3 parts (1) What she testified to. (2) How she testified. And (3) Why she was able to testify the way she did.

Now here is what she testified to. So what does this word testimony mean? It’s an English word of course taken from the Greek and it means to give first hand authentication to an important fact. You hear testimony, for instance, in a court room in hopes that person will give you first hand authentication of what has happened to help you establish the facts. So what is she giving testimony to? She is giving testimony to something that has happened to her but is something that applies to all of us.

So her testimony first was this…. Come, see a man who told me everything (v.29) I ever did. This is so important that it is repeated in v. 39. He told me everything I ever did. Now why does this matter? Notice in verse 27 the disciples had gone into town and when they returned they were surprised to find Him talking to a woman. She was shocked. She’s like… you talking to me? Because there was a racial barrier between Jews and Samaritans; the hated each other; men and women did not speak in public and in Samaria she was likely at the bottom of the social ladder. So Jesus was way ahead of her… a Jew, not a Samaritan, a man not a woman, a Rabbi and she is at the bottom. Yet Jesus reaches through all of these barriers and speaks to her on a very personal level…about her whole life. She says come see this man who knows everything about me. It seems obvious she doesn’t know every much about Him yet. But she does understand this … a man, a Jewish man, a teacher spoke to me and He knew everything about me. Now, what has happened here is that she has had an experience of grace. And certainly she had never seen this before. So she gives testimony to that but she is also giving testimony that is not just for her. It’s true for everyone. Look at verse 42. This is important. It really matters because she didn’t come forward and say this is true for me, but it might not be true for you; you know I can really say. No, she is convinced it is true for them as well and as a result of her testimony they say, hmmm, now we know this man really is the Savior of the world. So if you’re an attorney and you bring someone in to share a testimony you don’t bring them in to say; well this is true but it’s just true for me…you want them to explain this is true for everyone. This is not only life changing for me but it’s also life changing for you as well.

Historians tell us that the Samaritans did not believe in a Savior. They believed in a teacher; not a Savior for the world but rather a teacher for the Samaritans. So what Jesus was saying was this --- I’m the one you’re looking for; yet I’m different than the one you’re looking for. He built on her beliefs but He also expanded on what she believed. Now this smatters because this is always the case. When Jesus comes into the life of any individual---to any culture he will fulfill your deepest needs, and desires but at the same time He will challenge you. He says I can give you exactly what you’re looking for but only if you change your beliefs about this and this and this. I’m going to give you everything you ever desires but I’m also going to ask you to change many of the beliefs that you have built your life on. This is what she is doing which is amazing because she knows so little about Christianity yet she gets it so right.