Come See A Man

John 4

This is the first Sunday of the New Year, and we’re given an invitation.  It was acknowledged and given by an unlikely woman.

We’re quite willing to say “Jesus, save me,” but many of us don’t see ourselves as we are.  We’re quick to look at others and size them up, yet we’re able to justify ourselves.  We have too high a regard for ourselves.  John 4 shows us a woman who tried to out maneuver Jesus. She tried to out talk and out think him.  She finally came to a conclusion; it’s one we must come to.  There is a person who knows who you are. He knows who I am.  He knows what we have been.  Come, see a man.  Whatsoever state you are in: lost, backslidden or indifferent; come see this man.

What a strange way Jesus used to convince this woman that he was the Christ.  He showed her all she had ever done.  She ran off to the men of the city and said “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” (v 29)

Jesus touched many lives; regardless of the need, he took care of it.  He took this woman to the point of confession. Time after time we see this in the Bible.  The blind were made to see. They said Jesus healed them.  The dumb spoke and they said Jesus healed them.  They had a dinner for Lazarus. He was witness of what Jesus did. On Easter morning the women couldn’t hold back what they had seen.  The centurion gave his testimony when he said “truly this was the son of God.”  Peter said “thou art the Christ.”

In order to actually trust Jesus, we must come to grips with ourselves.  Face the facts—who we are—what we’ve done.  Everyone must see the need and realize that someone can do something about it.  Come, see a man.

This woman lived an immoral life. She had been married five times and was living with a man. That’s still a sin.  The woman’s problem was her unwillingness to face what she was doing.  She blamed her sin on this, that, and the other, just as some of us have done.  The bottom line is that it was her fault. It’s our fault.  Our lives are our own responsibility, and we have to take responsibility for them.  This woman backed herself into a corner, and Jesus pushed her on into it, for once there, she would be able to see a real way out.

When Jesus asked her for a drink, she sailed into him. He got into her heart. She tried to sidetrack him. “How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.” (v 9) He began to show her what her need was.  Jesus then said “Go, call thy husband, and come hither.”  She responded by saying “I have no husband.” She had told him the truth, and Jesus let her know it. “For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband.” Jesus talked back and forth with her. She had her flaws. She led a wicked life. Who wants to admit that?  Our pride and arrogance get in the way sometimes.  “I’m as good as….but I’m a church person.”  We piously pray but talk on the phone longer than we pray.  No sooner than we pray we’re gossiping.  Do we in effect tell him to stay out of our life?  “I don’t need a drink of your water.”  He wants to help us. We have to get honest.  This woman didn’t want to face who she was. We do the same.  When we look in the mirror we look at how good we are. Is that how God sees us?

When Jesus told her all about herself, she had to face it. Let’s face ourselves.  Drop hypocrisy. Drop churchy-ness. Come honest before the Lord. He has to get us to see ourselves for what we really are so we can see how far away we are.  The woman knew the Jews and Samaritans didn’t have dealings with each other, but after a talk with Jesus she knew she needed changing.  It’s not about Jews, Samaritans, it about the individual soul.  Simply by believing him she was changed.  Your life can be turned around.  Allow him to tell you all you ever did. No one else knows it all, but Jesus does.  You’ll see yourself like never before.

Knowing she was talking to someone like she’d never talked to before, the woman said “I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said “I that speak unto thee am he.” (v 25-26)

The disciples returned from the city and walked right upon this scene.  They saw her. The Bible says they marveled because Jesus was talking to such a woman.  They could see the scars of sin upon her. They could tell what kind of woman she was, but none of them said a thing or asked what was going on. They saw a woman in the hands of the Master.  What Jesus told her was enough.  While they saw the marks of sin, they also saw she was free.  They witnessed her trust in the Lord.

Verses 28 and 29 say “The woman then left her water pot, and went her way 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?” That ever I DID!  She put it in the past. The past she couldn’t escape was history.  All washed away. Gone. She invited them to “come, see a man.”

Are you willing to stop running from the Lord? Are you willing to stop being  so skeptical? Will you quit defending yourself and all you are?  Do you recognize your need?  Come face to face with Jesus.  He’ll tell you all you ever need to know. Perhaps it’s not as much us confessing  to Him what we did that’s as important as our willingness to stop and let Him tell us all that we ever did.

Come, see a man.