Weekend Thoughts: Lessons from the Samaritan Woman

This year in my Bible Study we are studying the book of John.  Last week we read in John 4 about the Samaritan woman at the well.  It’s funny to me  how I can read a passage I’ve heard many times before and this time see it in a new light with fresh application.  I love how living and breathing the Word of God is. 

Many things challenged me about this passage.  The Samaritan woman was looked down upon by Jews because she was Samaritan.  She was also looked down upon by her fellow Samaritans because of her adulterous lifestyle.  These two facts made it all the more startling that Jesus, a Jew approached her at the well.  But, he not only approached her, he changed her life.  She left their conversation with the understanding that Jesus was the Messiah.  And then she went and told the people of her village about the Messiah.  But, she actually took it a step farther and brought them back with her to meet the Messiah themselves. 

After studying this passage, I was challenged by two main points. 

Jesus told his disciples that the Samaritans were ripe for the harvest.  Who are the people in my life that are ripe for the harvest that I perhaps haven’t been looking at with Jesus' eyes?  Who have I judged or shut out and not approached that is ready to hear about God’s love? 

The second thing that challenged me is the Samaritan’s response to Jesus.  She left their exchange and ran to tell her neighbors and bring them back to meet Jesus. 

Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did." ⁴⁰So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. ⁴¹And because of his words many more became believers.

⁴²They 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."

I was definitely convicted by this passage as I am not running to tell my neighbors, or anyone really, about the Messiah.  This got me thinking about my neighbor.  Over the past few years we’ve developed an amicable relationship.  Our kids enjoy playing with their son.  We talk easily over the fence from time to time while the kids play.  They know we go to church on Sunday morning.   I then got to thinking, what am I doing to share God’s love with them?  Other than the fact that we leave the house early Sun morning and return mid day, how does that fact that we call ourselves Christians make us different from the world?   Do they see us loving our neighbors?  What am I doing to share God’s love and grace with them? 

I don’t have answers to all the questions I am pondering.  But I can tell you that this is what I am thinking about.  I want to serve God where I am in the most effective way I can.  I want Christ’s love to shine brightly through our family. 

What are you thinking about this week? Why not use your last post of the week to highlight something a bit "deeper" then the average “Momblog” fair?  I’d love to read your thoughts.  Please feel free to write and link up a  “thoughtful” post below.  You can write a new post or link up one you wrote earlier in the week.  Please include a link back to here in your post.