John 4:27-38
27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”
28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”
32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”
34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.” [1]
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This passage is all about witnessing. Well, at least this morning, that’s what it’s all about in my ears.
The woman whom Jesus met at the well begins to tell others about Jesus. Notice that she didn’t need to go to a class, read a book, watch a video, or be trained in any way. What did she do? She just talked about her experience with Jesus. Yes, her statement on the surface might seem exaggerated (“a man who told me everything I ever did”) but that was the way they spoke. The point is that the initial content of her witness is about how she was blessed by her encounter with Jesus. And then she asks a question: Could this be what we’re looking for? She’s not preaching at them or pressuring them. She’s merely laying before them the difference Jesus has made for her.
This is such a good picture of where witness begins. What difference has Jesus made in my life? How is my life blessed because He is part of it? Do you know your “elevator talk” answer to that question (1 minute.)
And the other point about witnessing in this passage is in the picture that Jesus paints of the harvest. “One sows and another reaps.” I find it encouraging to keep in mind in witnessing that most likely I’m not the only person who has shared Christ with this person and I no doubt will not be the last. Although I have a role to play, success or failure isn’t measured by whether the person falls on their knees confesses Christ at that moment.
So this passage brought to my mind today these two really key points about witnessing
- Start with my experience
- Keep in mind that I’m not the only witness
And so my prayer is for faithfulness and effectiveness in witness, that I might see the opportunities and be led by the Lord to take those chances to witness to him. And I pray for those that I might have the chance to bear witness to today.
[1] The New International Version. 2011 (Jn 4:27–38). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
