Testimony services. I grew up on those. Every Sunday night’s service had a time for individuals to testify about their experiences of God’s goodness and faithfulness and to encourage others who needed to be reminded. The biblical narrative of Jesus’ meeting with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well (John 4:3–43) is one with which some of us are familiar, and it resonates with me. For some, the event culminated with the woman leaving her waterpot and going “into the city, and saith to the men, ‘Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?’” (vv. 28, 29, KJV). However, the story does not end there. Following nine verses of discourse between Jesus and the disciples, John continues, “And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on Him for the saying of the woman, which testified, ‘He told me all that ever I did’” (v.39, italics added).
Let us not forget that the people in the town of Sychar knew this woman; she was lewd and infamous. According to Jewish tradition, those who wished to get wives went to the wells where young women were accustomed to come and draw water, and it is supposed that women of ill fame frequented such places also (Albert Clarke). She was the one who had five husbands and was with a man who was not her husband. She did not tell Jesus her story; He told her story to her. It was no wonder she perceived Him to be a prophet. However, after He made it known to her that He was not just a prophet but the Messiah, she immediately went into the city and testified of Him who had told her all she had done. The transformation must have been instantaneous because she, whose reputation was previously questionable, was now deemed credible. So much so that many Samaritans believed in Him because of her testimony.
However, the best was yet to come. According to John, “So when the Samaritans came to Him, they asked Him to stay with them, and He stayed there two days. And many more believed because of His word. They said to the woman, ‘It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world’” (vv. 40-42, ESV). I believe this latter group were the skeptics—those who came initially not because they believed but to see if what the woman said was true. After two days of listening to Jesus, after drinking the “living water” that was in them, “a well of water springing up into everlasting life,” they confessed to believing not because of what the woman said, though that was what had brought them there, but because they had heard, and I would add, tasted of Him for themselves.
This came about all because of the power of one woman’s testimony. They heard, they came, they experienced for themselves, they believed, and they left knowing for sure that Jesus was the Christ. Len Jones was right when he said, “The Christian’s task is to make the Lord Jesus visible, intelligible, and desirable.” Has God done something truly amazing in your life? Have you thought about sharing your testimony? You just never know if someone hearing it might be encouraged to come, see, hear, experience, and come to know God for themselves. Others need to hear your testimony, and you don’t have to be in church to do it. The Samaritan woman is one of our examples.
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