Many Samaritans Believe
MANY SAMARITANS BELIEVE
JOHN 4:39-45
Can we echo the words of the Samaritans?
There is no stopping the testimony to Christ. Despite the unbelief of the Jews (John 1:11), knowing all that they did of God (4:22), we see the Samaritans believing in Jesus. This was not yet a full Christian faith. In the first instance it was based upon what the woman had said about a man who had some sort of supernatural knowledge of her life. Nevertheless this was testimony—part of the unfolding of the whole testimony to Christ in the gospel. The testimony of God (John 5:37), or of Christ himself (John 3:32), or of his deeds (John 5:36), or of some other person (John 1:7) is one of the bases of faith in the gospel.
The Samaritans gave Jesus an invitation to stay with them. There is no hint that a stay in Samaria was in Christ’s original plan, but he was sufficiently flexible to meet an obvious need (4:40). Are we adaptable enough to make the most of our time and opportunities (Colossians 4:5)? So the Samaritans moved on from acceptance of testimony at second-hand to experience of Jesus at first-hand. It was the word of Jesus which they heard for themselves which brought life (cf. 4:53; 5:24). The Jews, from whom was salvation (4:22), were preceded by the Samaritans in the confession of the Messiah as Savior of the world. There is no order of ecclesiastical precedence in spiritual enlightenment. Prejudice could have viewed Jesus as a Jewish, nationalistic prophet—personal experience proved that he was the Christ.
Samaria is a stop on the road to Galilee (4:3) and Jesus continues his journey. Here too he will have more honor than in Jerusalem. In fact, the Galileans welcomed him because they had seen for themselves at first-hand his signs in Jerusalem (2:23). Here is the irony of faith and unbelief—the Samaritans believed without a sign, the Galileans with a sign, and the Judeans (his own people) not at all despite a sign.
Notes “Because of the woman’s testimony” (4:39); “because of his word” (4:41); “because of your words” (4:42). The same Greek preposition is used to denote the means through which faith comes (cf. 1:7; 17:20). It should be our privilege today to be those “because of” whom others believe, even if we do not always know it. 4:44: in John, if Galilee is where Jesus lives, Judea is theologically his own country (cf. Mark 6:4). It is to Jerusalem that the challenge is repeatedly made and it is the Jews (seen usually as the Judeans) who as a whole do not believe.