Daily Devotion — John 4:39–42 — He Came for All

Remembering Who Jesus is as the Savior of the World

Now many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of what the woman said when she testified, “He told me everything I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. Many more believed because of what he said. And they told the woman, “We no longer believe because of what you said, since we have heard for ourselves and know that this really is the Savior of the world.” (John 4:39–42 ESV)

Any time Jesus interacts with a woman, I tend to perk up and pay attention. He’s always so gentle and kind. This was unusual in the Jewish world. While Jewish women were generally treated better than women in other cultures, there was still an expectation that women did not matter as much as men. Foreign women had even less value, so the fact that Jesus takes the time to talk with a Samaritan woman is pretty counter-cultural. And if her heritage and gender aren’t bad enough, John reveals earlier in this chapter that this woman Jesus strikes up a conversation with also has a reputation. She’s had five husbands and currently lives with a man she is not married to. That’s why she is fetching water from the well during the hottest part of the day, so she can avoid the other women. This woman is an…