Knowing Jesus

After thirty-five years of being a child of God, I sometimes struggle with trying to remember what life was like before that. I want to understand the perspective of those who have no idea about Jesus or what He has done for them. For me, He is so familiar and entirely involved in everything I do that I can’t imagine how I thought or lived those thirty years prior to when I did not know Him.

When Jesus encountered a Samaritan woman at a well, He was tired and thirsty. She came to fetch water so He asked her for a drink. She was startled. Jewish men did not speak to women in public, never mind a Samaritan. Also, anyone viewed as a rabbi or religious leader would never speak with a woman who had a bad reputation, which she had.

Jesus paid no attention to these social norms and prejudices. He knew this woman had a spiritual need so He began a conversation. When she asked Him why He was talking to her because “Jews have no dealings with Samaritans,” He replied, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water” (John 4:10).

She didn’t know what He was talking about and she had no idea who He was. Even though news was rapidly spreading about this man, the Samaritans were out of the loop. No Jew would tell them, never mind her, about Jesus and His power to change lives.

This story intrigues me because of what Jesus did about her ignorance. He didn’t tell the disciples to witness to her, and He didn’t send a missionary to her town. Instead, He talked to her Himself and in that conversation revealed His identity to her. After He did that, she left her water pot and went into the city to share what she now knew.

I relate to this woman, not because I’d had six husbands like she did, but because Jesus revealed Himself to me too. Others had told me things about Christianity, maybe that I should attend church or do this or that, but I don’t recall anyone telling me that He is God in human flesh who came to earth to die for my sins. I guess if I heard it, it didn’t sink in.

When Jesus came into my life, He revealed Himself to me and I knew instantly who He is and what He had done. That revelation had such an impact on my life that I cannot go back and accurately remember not knowing.

Instead of trying to do that so I can better understand those who don’t know Jesus, I should concentrate more on what this woman did. She told her countrymen, “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” (Verse 29)

They came. They saw Him for themselves, and “many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified.” Others said, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.” (Verse 42)

Christ’s role is speaking to sinners and revealing His identity to them. My role is not so much to relate to anyone’s lack of understanding about Him as it is to simply point those who don’t know in His direction. He will do the rest.