“The unintentional evangelist”

By Rev. Michael Stonhouse

Meditation – Saturday, January 20, 2024

John 4:27-42 (Forward, p. 83) CEV p. 1105

While many Bible critics and scholars might shy away from the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman, mainly because of the ‘problems’ it poses, I, for one, love it. Yes, there is the question of how to interpret the woman and her present ‘marital status’ and that question has sparked a myriad of interpretations. However, I don’t want to dwell on that just now.

And neither do I want to dwell on the wonderful evangelistic paradigm that Jesus illustrates in action. (Paul E. Little, in his wonderful little book, How to Give Away Your Faith, outlines this masterfully in his chapter, ‘How to witness’.)

No, what I want to focus on is the Samaritan woman after she has encountered Jesus. Often the person that we are least familiar with, and least likely to really come to know and deal with, is we ourselves. And so, we avoid, often at all costs, really knowing ourselves. But God, as Psalm 139 reminds us, knows us inside and out.

And, when God—or in this case, Jesus—reveals this to us, we have only two choices. On the one hand, we can run from it in denial, fear, loathing, and horror, and reject what we’ve discovered about ourselves. Or, on the other hand, we can dispense with any feelings of shame or remorse, and instead embrace it, deal with it, and move forward. And surely, our woman embraced it, for she told her fellow villagers, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done!” (verse 29a). No wonder she wondered whether He might indeed be the Messiah (verse 29b). And so, she proceeds to tell her story to her astonished neighbours, who, as it turns out, are wonderfully astonished and intrigued.

But here, then, comes an ‘unexpected’ wrinkle: Jesus, in chatting with His disciples, refers to these now receptive Samaritans as a ‘field ripe onto the harvest’, and tells them that someone else has already prepared the way for them, already ‘planted the seed’ as you will, for what will soon be a harvest of souls.

Now, to me, this poses two questions or issues. Firstly, most Jewish folks of Jesus’ day, the disciples included, would have seen the Samaritans as

being the very last of possible prospects for conversion! After all, the Samaritans were a despised and rejected people in Jewish eyes. And yet, sees them as a field ripe on to the harvest.

And then, He also tells the disciples that someone else has already been there among them, preparing the way for today’s mission. Was He merely referring to the woman herself, who had just returned to the village? Certainly, she must have played a big role, as a kind of unintentional evangelist. But then, would the community have turned on mass to Jesus after just one encounter? One has to wonder. So maybe there had been other previous individuals who also left their mark and prepared the way.

So then, I am left with two challenges. Firstly, who might our Samaritans be, those whom we consider to be absolutely the last people who’d want to hear the Gospel, much less respond to it? And, secondly, who is it that might pave the way? And, in this regard, don’t forget ourselves, for our words and actions, even if performed quite unknowingly, might have had an unknown, unseen impact. We, like the Samaritan woman, might be unintentional evangelists in our own stead.

Forward notes: “Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work” (verse 34).

“’What is my purpose?’ That is a question to which many of us seek the answer, and I have struggled with that question in my work, my career, and my role as a mother, wife, daughter, and sister. ‘What am I here for?’

“I yearn for the clarity with which Jesus professes his purpose! He knows without a doubt what feeds him and what nourishes his work and actions. It has taken a while, but I am clearer now than ever about my purpose. I am to be a vessel for God. God has woven into my DNA all that I need to carry out God’s dream for me. Every talent, passion, and skill I have is to do God’s will. When I face something new, I simply say, in all that I do, ‘Let it glorify you, Lord.’ The moment I let my doubts and fears dominate is the moment I frustrate God’s dream for me.

“I may not be able to describe it in its entirety, but I know this dream exists, and I have everything I need, everything God has placed inside me, to make it a reality.”

Moving Forward: “What is your purpose?”