TESTIMONY

 

Write From My Heart

September 22, 2021

TESTIMONY statement made to establish a fact

John 4:1-26 (NIV)  This is the story of the Samaritan Woman, more commonly known as “The Woman at the Well.”

            Most of you are well acquainted with this familiar story of Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman and asking for a drink. She draws water for him—something deemed socially incorrect for a Gentile to be in direct contact with a Jew. If for any reason you are not familiar with the story or cannot remember it clearly, please, I urge you to take the time to read it before continuing.

            Additionally, most of us recall the part where Jesus asks her to go get her husband and she responds by telling him she has no husband. To which Jesus responds, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true,” (vs. 17). We generally conclude the story immediately after Jesus reveals himself to the Samaritan woman as the Messiah, the Christ (v. 26). But this is NOT where the story ends. Let’s finish it together:

John 4:28-30 (NIV) Then, leaving her water 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 toward him.

            I come from a generation which not only holds marriage to be sacred but typically frowns upon the idea of divorce. In fact sometimes we get so hung up on the divorce issue that we fail to recognize how often God uses the most unlikely people for his purposes. In this case, it was a woman with five failed marriages and currently living in an adulterous relationship who was used by Christ to witness to an entire town. That testimony, that statement of fact, was the catalyst for many to be saved! There is one additional tiny fact hidden in this story.

John 4:39-42 (NIV) 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.” [emphases noted above are mine]

            These verses indicate that the townsfolk originally believed solely because of the Samaritan woman’s testimony! Yes, indeed, later after speaking directly with Jesus for two days, they came to understand the truths for themselves but initially it was her words that led so many to the Savior.

            How is this relevant for us today? I can only tell you what it means for me. I can never again view another person’s secular relationships or their situation in critical judgement for I do not know how the Lord plans to use their testimony. God may be using them to lead an entire family, or even an entire town, to salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.