New Thoughts (10/21/05-10/22/05)
Looking at this passage after having spent so much time with the previous narrative, I find myself more and more intrigued by John’s writing. With the story of that conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman, I wondered where John had heard the details of that conversation, for he was clearly not present to hear it himself. I conclude that he more than likely heard it from the woman herself. She who had gone straight up to the city and testified of what Jesus had said about her more than likely continued to talk of little else for the next few days. Indeed, she doubtless ran back over the details of that conversation in her own thoughts to make certain that she remembered her Messiah’s words in full. I’m sure she didn’t keep it to herself.
Now I find myself wondering at John’s use of this quote he borrows from Jesus. He tells us that Jesus, rather than heading back to Judea, went on into Galilee. Well, that’s hardly a surprise. It was, after all, His home turf, and had He not been heading there, why else this trip through Samaria. What comes as a surprise is that John gives us a reason for this decision. Jesus, he says, went to Galilee because He was well aware that a prophet will have no honor in his own country.
John doesn’t claim that this was the occasion that Jesus spoke these words, only that it applied as the reason for this course of action. It is, in fact, clear from the testimony of the Synoptic gospels that when Jesus spoke thus, He was speaking about the people of Nazareth of Galilee, the very region we find Him heading towards now. How is it, then, that John applies it to this journey into that land? Is Jesus simply being confrontational? Is He deliberately going on to the very place where He will be least welcome? Clearly not, for John informs us that He was warmly received, honored if you will, by the Galileans. They had, after all, seen His doings in Jerusalem and could not deny that He was a man of God.
Rather, I think we see evidence of John’s chosen role in writing this Gospel. He is, we have said, trying to explain the meaning of the Man, rather than simply relate His story. He is filling in the voids in the story that others, others he knew and loved, had already laid out. With that, he takes these words that Jesus had spoken in His hometown of Nazareth on more than one occasion and applies them in a new way to what was going on in the ministry of Jesus. For, although He was raised in Nazareth, He truly was born in Judea, not all that far from Jerusalem itself. He was a Jew first and foremost, and the people of Judea were, so far as they were concerned, the Jew’s Jews. As John looks back over those three years of ministry, even here near the beginning, it was clear that Jerusalem and the proud Jews of Jerusalem were rejecting their King.
Of course, like us, John has the benefit of hindsight with which to view these events. He has had long years of reflection on the matter to shape his thoughts. He has served for years as the pillar of the Church in Jerusalem itself, has felt the rejection and the wrath of the more official religion in the Temple. He has experienced the rejection of Messiah by His own. Even His death had not sufficed to satisfy their need to revile Him. He had also spent years in service to the Church in more far flung regions. It was on these farther shores that he dwelt as he composed this gospel account. The love he had for Jesus had long since come to overflow towards the Gentiles that Jesus Himself had not rejected. Besides, he was from Galilee, too. He had known many a Gentile in his early years, however well connected his family may have been around Jerusalem. Since he is writing primarily for these Gentiles that he ministered to in later life, it is not surprising to find him emphasizing all the signs that Jerusalem and Jesus were parting ways. John is simply able to appreciate more fully what Jesus meant as being His own country because he has watched more of history pass by.
I know I considered this saying about the prophet’s honor in the last study, but it bears consideration once again. In the course of events in that brief Samarian mission, we saw how the witness of a local person can have a great impact. Here, we have the words of Jesus telling us that the prophet does not generally enjoy this same power locally. There are two things I want to take away from this contrast. The first is a cautionary. We live in an age wherein any number of folks are anxious to let us know how they move in the prophetic. Everybody, it seems, has become a prophet. Now, I know this is not true in all the sundry denominations of the Church, but it certainly appears in the charismatic part.
Let me say right away that I do not find cause to reject the prophetic office in our day, although I may reject any number of claimants to that office. What strikes me, though, is that those who seek the title, or the reputation of wielding that gift are open prey for the distracting sins of pride and the will to power. They too often seek nothing more than that reputation, than the awed response of their listeners. Listen to what Jesus is saying here, and understand just why the story of the Samaritan woman brought that message to mind!
Jesus, when He made that statement, was indeed at home in Nazareth, where He found that people were too distracted by knowing who he was (as they saw it) and all those stories about his birth. This was Joseph’s ‘son,’ after all. How could one of such questionable parentage be speaking for God? Now, notice again that John has placed these words in a completely different light by mentioning them here. This is particularly noteworthy because he takes those words as the very explanation for why Jesus was heading homeward. Again, Jesus was not simply out to really annoy those who didn’t like Him! In reality, as I have already said, John was thinking more of the Jerusalem contingent in mentioning this here. But, what brought it to mind? What made the connection?
Having been put in mind of that very same quote in considering the Samaritan woman, I think I can at least offer a suggestion as to the reason. See, this woman was so incredibly effective in gaining the attention of her fellow townspeople for all the reasons that a prophet would have been thoroughly ineffective. Indeed, if she had gone into town prophesying, nothing would have come of it other than derision! A woman such as this, and God was likely to speak through her? It was unconscionable! But, she hadn’t come speaking for God, declaring His thoughts. She had come as a witness. The very fact that they knew her so well made the testimony of the obvious change in her all the more powerful. The witness of a changed life cannot be denied by those who know the testifier best! The past history of that person may be ever so disreputable, ever so sinful, but that will only serve to increase the contrast with what they have become. See, there can be no pride in testifying to what Another has done. There can be no pride in admitting to all that we used to be, and to the fact that this Other One has loved us in spite of it all, and has clearly modified our behaviors!
So, lesson number one: If there is a choice to be made between honest testimony and prophetic display, go with the testimony! Everybody knows that there will be more than enough false prophets about, and most people would reject the idea that there are any true ones. But, nobody can reject the clearly evident facts of your life – especially those who know you best! I would say only this: don’t embellish it, and don’t hold back. Don’t claim a greater change than has really transpired, because the evidence of your life will erase the power of your testimony should you do so. Don’t claim, for instance, healings that have not really occurred. If all that you have at present is a remission of symptoms, let your story be content with that. The same goes for the more important changes in character, morals, and habit. Don’t claim a perfection you know full well you don’t have in your possession. Don’t claim that He has caused you to stop swearing if in reality you have only managed a reduction in frequency! It is only an honest and accurate testimony that will have such great impact, because only an honest and accurate testimony will survive the inquiries of the skeptical.
Let me turn to a second lesson, one perhaps more personally applicable. See, I am fully susceptible to that attitude that will reject the prophet out of hand, and likely for less reason than knowing too much about the speaker. While I would maintain that caution in accepting every claimant to prophetic activity is a Biblical mandate, outright skepticism is not! This is where the line is to be drawn. I cannot simply reject those I know personally as candidates for the prophetic. After all, I could lay claim to such activity myself, and there I am most surely familiar with the prophet! But, I know the truth of the adage that familiarity breeds contempt. That is not a healthy discernment any longer, it is an automatic rejection of the possibility of Truth. While I must be ever vigilant to reject all attempts to bring in a lie and call it the truth, I must be equally careful that I not reject the Truth when it is spoken because I deem it a lie!
I must indeed take care how I would judge those I know best. How easy it is, for instance, to reject the words God chooses to speak through my wife or my daughter. Why, He should be speaking to me directly, if He really wants to get a message across! It is to my shame that I know the truth of this, for it is only because I know I have thought those very thoughts. It is not wife or daughter that is being rejected when I will not hear from them, it is God. It is the Jesus who loves me so that He will do whatever it takes to warn me of my errors, but I will not hear Him because I don’t like His choice of messengers.
Haven’t I sensed that same reaction at times in the church itself? Oh, it’s that one again. Here goes. Every week, it seems, it’s the same one standing, the same one speaking, the same one with tears and trembling because of overwhelmed emotions. It all seems a show. And then comes the day that their words are words you have already heard, but not from any mouth. Suddenly, this one whose prophetic voice you’ve been so skeptical of is confirming the words you yourself had been hearing from God. Well! One must adjust their assessments, no? It is a sure sign that you have fallen prey to that problem Jesus put so eloquently! You dishonor the prophet for no greater reason than that you are too familiar with him.
Lord, I know I have fallen into this error too many times. Forgive me for refusing to hear Your voice simply because I didn’t wish to accept Your spokesman as genuine. Forgive me for that skepticism, Lord, and work with me that by Your power I might bring that fleshly skepticism into a proper balance. God, I don’t want to miss what You are speaking because of my foolishness. Neither do I wish to accept the foolishness of others because I am so anxious to hear You. It is Your promise, my King, that as Your sheep, I will hear only Your voice, and not listen to any other. As it is Your promise to me, I know I can stand on it. Yet, I know, also, that I cannot simply stand on it and drop my guard. I trust in You, my Lord, to keep my ears tuned in to Your words and Your words alone. I trust in You, Lord, to adjust those filters in me such that I will not reject anything that is of Your Truth, whatever the source. Thank You again for Your faithfulness, my God! Where would I be without You!
Now, I also see an interesting clarification of faith in this brief passage. Faith comes by hearing, as Paul tells us (Ro 10:17), and that hearing is the hearing of the Word of Christ. But, I can’t help noticing that those John tells us about here found belief in seeing. They had seen what Jesus did. The same was true of those that the Samaritan woman talked to. They saw the change in her. It was what they saw about this Jesus that drew them to Him to hear His words! What are we to say to this connection? At a minimum, I would say it shows that saving faith is never blind faith. I would also say that there is faith, there is believing, and then there is faith believing, though not necessarily in that order.
The power of our witness lies in what can be seen in us. We tend to think it is in the words, but those words are powerless unless what is seen and known about us confirms what our words say. Look, we live in a very skeptical age. People have heard to many lies from reliable sources to accept anybody’s word at face value any more. We have been lied to by politicians, and by the newscasters who purport to protect us from the politicians’ lies. We have been lied to by scientists who claim knowledge when all they have is theory. We have been lied to from the pulpit by men who claim to be of God, but are found by their actions to have been of the devil. When lies are so prevalent in every place of power, people are not going to be inclined to expect anything better from strangers. This is what makes it so imperative in our day and age that we claim nothing above and beyond the Truth in our testimony. If we are going to say, ‘look what God has done,’ we had better be darn certain that He has really and truly done it! This is not the place to display your faith in what is yet to be revealed in you. Yes, you need to have that faith in His promises, but that faith in things not seen cannot serve as a testimony to Him, only to your faith.
Until these people see a sign, they will not believe. So Jesus would be saying shortly (Jn 4:48). Well, He said it because it is quite true. In the end, we’re all from Missouri. We’ve all settled in to saying, “show me!” There’s really nothing wrong with that. In fact, as much as I’ve always heard a bit of frustration in Jesus’ voice when I read that statement, I wonder if He wasn’t merely observing the truth about human nature. We all know that need to see it if we’re going to believe it, and I’m not convinced there is anything truly wrong with that.
Even when that time came when God determined to make Himself known to me in undeniable fashion, the path He chose was to show me. You know, to this day I cannot fully explain why I would have chosen to hear and accept those words He spoke to me before I believed. It was no more than a proposition and an invitation to observe. Accept two points, and then let Me build My case. Number one: Accept that I AM. Number two: Accept that coincidence isn’t. With those two premises, watch and consider your experience over the next few days. I watched. I saw so many ‘coincidences’ that it became rather impossible to view them as coincidence any longer. Premise number two: point made! Before long, He had convinced me of point one, as well. After all, it wasn’t my idea, certainly, to prove Him real. I was perfectly satisfied that He wasn’t. Who, then, had put this proposition to me? If it wasn’t me, and there was nobody else speaking, well, then, what conclusion remained? The Voice of the prophet had spoken rather directly, it seems, and because of what I had seen for myself, I was prepared to hear Him for real, to begin to understand His Word, and to accept what I was hearing.
Until there was something for my rational soul to hold onto, there was nothing for faith to be built upon. Yet, to be very clear, that faith did not come from what my rational soul had been witness to. No, I believed the testimony which, after all, came from my own senses, but this alone was not going to save me. Belief comes by seeing, but faith continues to come by hearing the Word!
Look at the two examples we have here. The people of Sychar believed because they saw the change in this woman. That was sufficient to gain Jesus a hearing, and only when they heard Jesus could they say the really believed. “It’s not just your testimony we believe now. We don’t simply believe you, we know Him, and He is Messiah” (Jn 4:42)! The same holds true of these Galileans who had actually witnessed what Jesus Himself had been doing. They had seen what He did in Jerusalem. That brought belief. They believed what they saw, but it had not brought about saving faith in them, only brought about a willingness to hear this One they had seen. Faith came by hearing. Faith came by hearing with the Spirit empowering understanding. For, that faith which saves is by grace alone, that no man may boast.
We cannot boast of the fact that we believe Him to be Messiah, for it is no power of our own intellect that has revealed this to us, but Him! We cannot boast, either, of those who have believed because of our testimony, for that belief we have engendered in them has not saved a one of them. That faith must come by the grace of God, who alone can cause them to hear Jesus with understanding and acceptance. We may well rejoice that we are saved, and that He has made of us useful servants in His harvest. Indeed, I don’t see how we could fail to rejoice in these things! Yet, there is no place for boasting.
Jesus, thank You. Thank You that You chose to awaken me to Yourself. Thank You that You chose to be made known to me in spite of my lack of respect for You. I had no place for You and yet You came. You came and made room for Yourself in my heart. What a difference that has made! What would my life have been, Lord, if You had chosen otherwise? I can only imagine, and what I can imagine is nothing to regret having missed. God, You are too wonderful for words to describe. The ways You used to bring me out of that downward spiral I had put myself in: who could have predicted it? Who could believe it even now? Who else could begin to lift me out by the words of an apostate and agnostic Jewess? Who else could have coughed a ‘yes’ out of my mouth before my mind had found time to think about the question? Who else could have introduced two such disparate people as me and the wife You had for me across so many miles and by such ‘ungodly’ coworkers? Oh, I must thank You for every step along this road, for by those steps You have guarded me against so many misconceptions. How shall I put You in a box when everything You did to draw me to Yourself was outside every box around! All praise to You, Lord! All honor to You! Let Your Name be glorified in all the earth, and particularly in my words and deeds.
