John 4:39-42
Many Samaritans Believe
39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers.
42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
Jesus was travelling through Samaria, and came upon a town named Sychar...In Sychar, there was a Samaritan woman, who Jesus stopped and talked to about giving Him a drink of water...The two also talked about Living Water, that once you drink this Living Water, you will no longer be thirsty...She quickly becomes a follower of His...Jesus' Twelve disciples, come and rejoin Him in Samaria...They want to know if He has eaten anything...It has been quite awhile since He has eaten...But Jesus has food that the disciples know nothing about...The food Jesus is talking about it to do the will of His Father...Jesus teaches the Twelve to sow the gospel...And even though many times when we talk to others about the gospel, we will know nothing about the final harvest of that gospel, we have spread...(The Twelve after His death would have to take this lesson and spread the Good News, and would not know how much of their good work would come about)...
The Samaritan woman, whom Jesus was talking to, was a surprise for the Twelve...Jewish religious leaders seldom talked to women in public...Rabbis taught that women could and should not learn the Law, and long conversations with women got and caught men off track and lead them astray...But Jesus did just the opposite...He had a long conversation with not only a woman, but a Samaritan woman...Long ago racial and religious prejudices had separated the Jews from the Samaritans...But Jesus is wiser than the past and current Rabbis, and is not prejudice...He knows everyone's thoughts, words, and actions...Jesus had sowed the gospel in the Samaritan woman...The harvest started quickly...She quickly went to others and told them about the Living Water, and how He knew her thoughts, words, and her actions...Those she talked to, wanted to know more...Those who learn something of God, want to more about Him, and we can never know everything about Him, because He is infinite, and we are finite...
The Samaritan woman brought others to Jesus...He corrected their learning and traditions of Scripture...He knows of these things...They had a spiritual encounter with the Messiah...They no longer believed in Him, just because of what the woman had said...They believed because He was Savior of this world...It is possible, that after Jesus' death and resurrection, that the first Samaritan Church was started by some Samaritans of this group, He had met and talked to personally (Acts 8:4-8)...This Samaritan group, could easily be convinced to start a church, after listening to Jesus, and then to St. Paul...If this is the case, what Jesus had sowed, Paul had reaped...This is the harvest for eternal life...