John 4 – The Listening Plan

Devotional

Jesus answered and said to her, “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

This is one of those tremendously important passages of Scripture that I’d like to spend days on, not a couple of paragraphs. Be that as it may, the above verse (10) is something of the hinge of the story (in my opinion). Of course Jesus, passing through Samaria while traveling from Jerusalem, Judea to Galilee, stops for a food run outside a Samaritan City called Sychar. As He waits outside the city for His disciples to return with Sychar’s equivalent of Chic-Fil-A, a Samaritan woman arrived to draw water at the well by which He waited. I’m convinced that she was the reason that “He needed to go through Samaria” (v. 4).

This exchange between Jesus and a women (cultural custom #1 broken) who was a Samaritan (cultural custom #2, broken) with not the best background (cultural custom #3, broken) is an important lesson in evangelism. Jesus’ evangelistic method centers around two things that this woman (who needed salvation) was ignorant of; (1) the gift of God and (2) who it was she was speaking to. Incidentally, the rest of the conversation with the Samaritan woman reveals how Jesus masterfully leads the woman to an understanding of (1) the gift of God (living water) and (2) who she was speaking to (the Messiah, who gives the gift of living water).

Ultimately the woman was led from ignorance to understanding, and as promised she received the greatest gift from the greatest gift giver ever.