David Bahn – Reflections

John 4:31-45

Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” ³² But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” ³³ So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?”³⁴ Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. ³⁵ Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. ³⁶ Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so thatsower and reaper may rejoice together. ³⁷ For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ ³⁸ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

³⁹ Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” ⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days.⁴¹ And many more believed because of his word. ⁴² They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”

⁴³ After the two days he departed for Galilee. ⁴⁴ (For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.) ⁴⁵ So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For they too had gone to the feast.

The disciples had their biases: Jesus needed to eat; he shouldn’t have gotten so sidetracked by this woman at the well. The Samaritans had their new-found belief system: because of what they had heard from Jesus, together with the testimony of the woman’s changed life and attitude, and her witness, they realized that Jesus was the Savior of the world. The people of Jesus’ home town had their belief system: a hometown boy can’t possibly be much.

But something had happened to this woman. She was obviously changed. The same one who had come to Jacob’s well at noon (presumably to avoid social interaction), was now shamelessly and enthusiastically talking about Jesus. She was so very obviously released from her past secrets and shame that she was bragging that Jesus had told her all about her past. The implication: the woman’s past did not dictate Jesus’ love and grace for her in the present. Thus a new belief system was formed in the heart of this woman.

The belief system of faith is a marvelous thing. Faith embraces the intimate and deep-reaching love of God for oneself. Faith sees the cosmic implications of Jesus’ identity as the Son of God: he is the Savior of the world. Faith embraces the reality of our brokenness, sin, shame, and corruption not as an excuse for failure (“that’s just the way I am.”) but as a call to humility.

I wonder what kinds of belief system realities get in the way of our faith. Do we believe that people cannot change? Do we believe there is no hope for us? Do we believe that God is aloof? Do we believe that we are in charge? God calls us beyond these belief systems to faith in Jesus, joy in his love, and hope in his redemptive work for us and all the people of the world.