Evangelism at the Well

John 4:1-45

Many have felt that the woman's proclamation of Jesus as the Messiah was not so much prompted by the uncovering of her lifestyle but because of transformed thinking of who the Messiah was. It is a common, but misplaced emphasis because when Jesus confronts her about it, she immediately begins to address the differences between Jews and Samaritans.   Her statement of him being a prophet was born out of how the Samaritans viewed OT prophecy. For her, Jesus was pulling out the Jewish card and she immediately resorts to defending herself and her situation.  The Samaritans believed the Messiah would be a teacher, yet she recognized the truth of who he was because of the prophetic function, which the Samaritans had rejected.

Yet, it is interesting that Jesus did not tell her to go tell the town’s people. She learns the truth and she is motivated to make the proclamation herself. It was this planted seed that lead the Samaritans to seek and find Jesus, which turned into their belief. 

Sometimes we can put too much pressure on people to share their faith without the necessary transformation that motivates them to do so.  The urgency of the great commission should not  be reduced to the proclamation of a message apart from the concern of the individual.  We can dehumanize the gospel by making it strictly about the message.  This is especially true when Christians are responding to the call to act without the internal encouragement of their own heart's renewal. Conversion is not based upon us as a salesman trying to "close the deal." A person responds to the gospel message because God has opened their eyes and hearts to do so.  

People come with bodies, hurts, experiences and needs. Jesus reveals God to us (Heb.1:1-3). In His actions towards people, he taught us that we should engage the whole person.  God cares for the whole person and not merely that a message has been accepted.  Sharing faith should involve sharing life.  This is what Christ modeled for us. 

In many ways,  the gospel message is reduced to a dehumanized sound byte is because we’ve viewed in terms of heaven and hell - not something that is based on God’s redemptive heart for His creation.  We are never told to convert people but to make disciples (Mt.28:18-20).  This  means getting involved with people and not just seeing them as converts.

Evangelism is about making Jesus known. Yet, we can only make him known to the extent that we have embraced Him for ourselves.  When that happens, there should be little need to have to "prod" people to share the gospel. They should want to make Jesus known - because it is HE who has changed them.

Jim