Daily Scripture:
John 4:31-42
John 4:31 Meanwhile, the talmidim were urging Yeshua, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32 But he answered, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about.” 33 At this, the talmidim asked one another, “Could someone have brought him food?” 34 Yeshua said to them, “My food is to do what the one who sent me wants and to bring his work to completion. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘Four more months and then the harvest’? Well, what I say to you is: open your eyes and look at the fields! They’re already ripe for harvest! 36 The one who reaps receives his wages and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that the reaper and the sower may be glad together — 37 for in this matter, the proverb, ‘One sows and another reaps,’ holds true. 38 I sent you to reap what you haven’t worked for. Others have done the hard labor, and you have benefited from their work.”
39 Many people from that town in Shomron put their trust in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all the things I did.” 40 So when these people from Shomron came to him, they asked him to stay with them. He stayed two days, 41 and many more came to trust because of what he said. 42 They said to the woman, “We no longer trust because of what you said, because we have heard for ourselves. We know indeed that this man really is the Savior of the world.” (Complete Jewish Bible).
Reflection Questions:
Jesus' disciples reentered the scene. No doubt still ill at ease with Samaritans, and “shocked” to find him talking with a Samaritan woman (verse 27), they urged Jesus to eat. He told them that doing God's will, reaping a harvest of willing followers, nourished him in a deeper way than any physical food could. At the Samaritans’ invitation, he stayed on in Sychar for two days.
- Scholar N. T. Wright asked, “When were you last so excited about something that you didn’t need to eat?” In an hour or less, the woman went from a social outcast trapped in a messed-up life to being “the first evangelist to the Samaritan people.” And Jesus had seen, firsthand, that “here, outside the boundaries of the chosen people, away from Jerusalem itself, there was a spiritual hunger which…was ready to hear what he had to say.”* What excites and “feeds” you most about the ways in which you currently serve God? What would you like to get involved in that might deepen that joy and excitement? How can you begin to plan to make that happen?
Family Activity: Jesus was an incredible encourager. He saw the best in everyone no matter what they had said or done. Read 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17(2 Thessalonians 2:16 And may our Lord Yeshua the Messiah himself and God our Father, who has loved us and by his grace given us eternal comfort and a good hope, 17 comfort your hearts and strengthen you in every good word and deed.(Complete Jewish Bible).). As a family, think of the people who see the highest potential in each of you. Talk about who cheers you on, builds you up and offers you hope. Create a list of those encouraging people in your lives. What characteristics do they have that identify them as encouragers? Find a way to thank those people for their encouragement. Ask how you can be more encouraging to others and live out this quality of Christ. Discuss how can you see the best in people. Pray together, thanking God for seeing the best in you and in everyone. Ask God to help you grow as an encouraging person.
* N. T. Wright, John for Everyone, Part 1: Chapters 1–10. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004, p. 50.
Shannon Greene is the Young Adults Program Director at Resurrection Leawood. She loves to read, drink coffee, write for her blog, and cheer on her favorite baseball team, the St. Louis Cardinals.
In the church I grew up in, during almost every Sunday night service we had “testimony time.” During this portion of the worship service, members of the congregation would stand up and tell stories of how God was moving in their lives. These testimonies were the stories of everyday miracles and the “God moments” when we found the Lord in unexpected places.
All these years later, I must confess that I don’t remember much of what my pastor preached on during those Sunday evening services. But I do remember those stories--those powerful testimonies about how God moved within normal people’s lives.
The Samaritan woman certainly encountered the Lord in an unexpected place and in a surprising way: at a deserted well in the middle of the day. Her own story of meeting Jesus ultimately changed the lives of her entire village: “Many Samaritans in that city believed in Jesus because of the woman’s word when she testified, ‘He told me everything I’ve ever done’” (verse 39). Because she was willing to share her own story, the lives of many others were transformed.
I believe that stories have the power to change the world. Stories are what soften people’s hearts and turn their minds toward Christ: not compelling arguments or eloquent debates; not mind-boggling statistics or well-researched facts; not even theological truths or principles. At the end of the day, people will remember your story. Your own story may even spark a harvest of eternal proportions.
You don’t have to go to seminary or be a pastor to share your story. Our stories do not have to be full of churchy language or doctrinal statements. Telling your story is simply sharing your truth about how you encountered God. Who do you need to share your story with today?
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You might also like:
- The first evangelists
- “The time… is here!”
- “Water that bubbles up into eternal life”
- Jesus offered living water
- “Jesus had to go through Samaria”
- Or download this week's printable GPS.
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Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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