JOHN 4: 39-45
THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD
[1 John 4:7-17]
The revival or great harvest among the Samaritans is noteworthy. It is evidence that because of the rejection by Israel (1:11) Jesus moves into a wider ministry. These few verses also indicate two necessary and interrelated bases for belief: First, the testimony of others and second, a personal connection with Jesus.
The Samaritan woman’s bold witness opened the way to Jesus for the villagers. They saw her vivid transformation. That stage of belief however is only introductory. The second stage was a personal encounter with Jesus. If they would allow Him to penetrate the shell of their materialism and present the message that had transform her, the Samaritans also would believe that He is the Messiah. The magnificent climax is that the Samaritans come to settled conviction and acclaim Jesus as the Savior of the World.
I. PERSONAL WITNESS, 39-41.
II. PERSONAL CONFESSION, 42.
III. WITHHELD HONOR, 43-45.
In verse 39 we again learn the power of a person’s testimony. From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all the things that I have done.”
The Samaritan woman shared her experience with others. This woman’s testifying was far from perfect but such as her confession was it was adequate for God to use. Despite her reputation, many took her invitation and came out to meet Jesus.
The living water which the woman received from Jesus had certainly become an overflowing fountain in her life, and others were coming to share the refreshment that she had begun to enjoy. The most unlikely soul may prove to be the most effective witness. Let us not grow weary in well-doing.
Perhaps there are sins in our past of which we’re ashamed. But Christ changes us. As people see these changes, they become curious. Use these opportunities to introduce them to Jesus, the Water of Life.
Note the intrigued community’s insistence in 40. So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they kept asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. (41) Many more believed because of His word;
The harvest was not limited to those who came out to see Him at the well. That Samaritans should invite a Jewish teacher to stay with them, shows how completely He had won their confidence. Jesus and His followers agree to remain two days, which confirms the Samaritans’ conviction that Jesus is indeed the long-awaited Messiah. During their brief sojourn there many others in the city come to faith in Him
The Samaritans’ faith (they “believed in Him”) is based on the woman’s testimony, which underscores the value of human witness to the work of God (17:20). Evangelism is a cooperative effort, in which the preparatory work of God joins with our witness to what He has done and is doing in the world. [It is likely this groundwork contributes to the later efforts of Philip in Acts 8 when he comes to Samaria following Stephen’s martyrdom. The Samaritans eagerly receive Philip, confess their faith, are baptized, and receive the Holy Spirit.]
Faith is absolutely vital and fundamental in salvation [and sanctification]. His word was the cause of their faith. Personal testimony plus the word of Jesus is still God’s means of salvation.
II. PERSONAL CONFESSION, 42.
This narrative’s final statement is an important summary of the fruit of the woman’s labor. The village addresses the woman in verse 42. and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the World.”
The second stage in their salvation process was hearing Jesus for themselves. The Samaritans evidence what every believer must have — a faith that is not hearsay or dependent on someone else. Rather, they have come and experienced Christ for themselves. "No longer" indicates their belief in Him, was not solely based on the woman’s testimony. They had progressed from a faith built on the witness of another to a faith built on their own experience.
[This personal experiential feature is a constant concern for John. Potential converts must not only have their beliefs in order, but they must also be able to testify to a personal experience.] Here we have an eternal principal: Personal contact with Christ that leads to a personal relationship with Christ is necessary for salvation.
This listening to Jesus brought them to the settled conviction expressed in "we know" and they acclaim Jesus the Savior of the World. [Two verbs may be translated "know": ginosko and oida. “The former usually implies knowledge by contact or experience; the second more generally denotes knowledge of facts or knowledge by intellectual process. The use of the latter seems to fit the distinction, because it states a knowledge of fact that results in a settled conviction. The Samaritans are expressing assurance of a truth, not merely a progressive acquaintance with a person or situation.” [Morris, John, 283 ]
Note as the story unfolds how there is a remarkable display of titles for Jesus (exactly as we saw in 1:35 – 51). The woman and the story mature in their perception of Jesus so that Jesus is regarded as a mere Jew, then as a prophet, next as Messiah and finally as the Savior of the World. [Jesus (4:6), Jew (9), Sir (Lord) (4:11, 15, 19), Prophet (4:19), Messiah (4:25), Christ (4:25, 29), I AM (4:26), Rabbi (4:31), Savior of the World (4:42). Such a list is not accidental. Do not overlook how titles of respect evolve into titles of belief. In other words, the story’s language models for us the demand for intelligent belief, for identifying Jesus properly and fully. ]
But for the woman’s witness, her fellow-townsfolk would never have come to know Jesus; but they could not rely on her witness alone: they must come to know Him themselves. Second-hand acquaintance with Christ or hearsay faith cannot be a substitute for personal knowledge and saving faith. Now they were able to prove for themselves that all she said about Him was true. He was not only the prophet like Moses, but also the Savior of the world. [Bruce, John, 116] John wants his readers to have a relationship with Jesus just as it happened for the woman.
A STORM AT SEA can be an unnerving experience, even on a luxury liner. On an eighteenth century sailing vessel, it was truly terrifying.
John Wesley found himself in such a storm while on a missionary voyage to America in 1735. The English passengers, including Wesley, began to panic. In the midst of the terror and confusion, however, a group of Moravian missionaries followed the example of Paul and Silas and calmly conducted a prayer and praise service.
Wesley was astounded and discomfited by their example. They obviously had a relationship to the Lord he lacked. When a young Moravian pastor in America asked him, “Has Jesus Christ saved you?" Wesley replied hesitantly that he had-but recorded in his journal, "I fear that they were vain words.”
Three years later John Wesley had his own experience with God’s grace when he “felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation.” Not until then did he perceive that the Christ he had heard about, read about, and preached about, was his own Savior.
Pray that the reality of your own experience with Christ is personal and not secondhand so that it might sustain you when the storm of life hits.
Faith based simply on the testimony of another is not enough. True faith moves to its own experience and confrontation with Jesus. Sometimes people want to know all about salvation before they know the Savior. Some things we can know only by experience. Jesus Christ is one of them. We can know much about Jesus without knowing Him. Only when we have met Jesus in faith and commitment do we begin to know and understand something of His "unsearchable riches" (Eph. 3:8).
The “world” points to the far horizon of paganism and disbelief beyond Jewish and Samaritan cultural frontiers. God’s work in Christ is not limited to Israel (or Samaria). This is an early glimpse of the universal mission of Jesus, to reach those outside the boundaries of Judaism. [In a similar way Jesus remarks in 10:16 that He has “other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also.” His light shines for all (1:9). The light is not limited to the nation Israel, but is for “every nation, tribe, people, and language” (Rev. 7:9).] The harvest of Jesus is beyond what the disciples presently can imagine.
Someone has estimated that more than 1.4 billion on this plant have never heard the name of Jesus. In an attempt to get a handle on such a huge figure I calculated that if that vast multitude were to start marching past our church door, single-file, at 60 per minute we would not see the end of the line foe more than 40years. That figure of course assumes no one else is born during that 40 years between now and the year 2048.
Ironic, isn’t it? Jesus is the Savior of the world; but more that one-fifth have never been told. With more than 30 million Americans traveling to foreign countries every year, with fiber-optic technology, linking computer networks around the world, with myriad communication satellites circling the globe they still haven’t been told.
The anguished victims of war and famine. in Somalia, the jostling crowds in Hong Kong’s subways, the homeless people on the streets of New York and Knoxville, are all part of that world -His world. Pray for a heart large enough to embrace the world.
III. WITHHELD HONOR, 43-45.
The outcome of Jesus return to Cana is recorded verses 43-44. After the two days He went forth from there into Galilee. (44) For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.
The scene now shifts to Galilee and John inserts a comment to explain it. Jesus thus has completed the journey from Judea to Galilee which began in verse 3.
The proverbial saying that a prophet has no honor with those who know him well is mentioned frequently by Jesus (Mt. 13:57; Mark 6:4; Lk. 4:24). It is equivalent to our saying that familiarity breeds contempt. They had spent time with Him but He still was not really accepted ( John 2:24-25; 4:48). They experienced no true belief because they thought him too inferior and common.
[This comment includes the broader circle of Judaism. The religious people of His day did not understand Him; in fact, they readily misrepresent His aims (6:15), and some of His disciples even fall away (6:66). As a Jew, Jesus is commenting on His home culture, Judaism, which cannot provide one of its own prophets with honor.]
Jesus reaches Galilee in verse 45. So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things that He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they themselves also went to the feast.
The welcome of the Galileans was actually a rejection of Him and His mission, for they were interested only in His miracles, in what He could do for them. [We will look at this point more next week]. They were not welcoming a Messiah who could save them, but a miracle worker who could amaze them.
The Galileans had conversed about the signs (most of them went unrecorded) Jesus had performed in Jerusalem while many of them were attending the Passover Feast. They expected Jesus would display His power for them. They were disappointed to discover that Jesus would not exhibit His powers to satisfy their curiosity. [Tenney, Expositor’s Bible Commentary, 59]
CONCLUSION / RESPONSE
Knowing Christ makes a difference-in your lifestyle, in your peace of mind, in your
countenance, in your reputation, and in your witness. The Samaritan woman’s testimony about Jesus had made a difference to those in her town. Despite her reputation, many in that town had accepted her invitation to "come, see" (v. 29). Yet when they came, something even more important happened. They began to know Jesus for themselves. The woman’s testimony brought them to Christ, but in Jesus they found the eternal water of life. The woman’s testimony had introduced them to the only One who can provide eternal salvation.
A man named John Chapman carried on a project in the early 1800s that is still bearing fruit today. He appeared one April morning in Licking Spring, Ohio, staked out a clearing, took some seed out of a burlap bag that he always carried, and began to plant them. After building a fence around the plot, he departed as quietly as he had come. He then traveled through other towns in Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan, and followed the same procedure.
When Chapman lived in Massachusetts, he had heard that only a few fruit that only a few fruit trees existed in the Midwest so he set out to remedy the situation. Today this man is known by the name "Johnny Appleseed."
Reflecting on John Chapman’s mission, an unknown author has written, "What the world needs are Christians who will be spiritual Johnny Appleseeds, because men and women all around us are dying in sin. The Word of God is the seed that will give them life-food for their souls, gain for eternity, and beauty for ash.
As we sow the good seed of the eternal Word of God, lets be just as industrious as Johnny Appleseed. Perhaps we will not see the results, but some will reap the fruit of. our labors. -[H,G.B. Our Daily Bread]
Sowing in the morning, sowing seeds of kindness, Sowing in the noon tide and the dewy eve, Waiting for the harvest and the time of reaping, We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves. -Shaw
We plant the good seed; God gives the harvest. Father, may we never forget the satisfaction we receive in knowing You or our joyful responsibility to share the gospel with those who still need to know You.
