John 4:27-30
The woman was on her way back to the village without her water pot. The fact that she left her water pot showed two things. It showed that she was in a hurry to share this extraordinary experience, and it showed that she never dreamed of doing anything else but come back. Her whole action has much to tell us of real Christian experience.
Her experience began with being compelled to face herself and to see herself as she was. Our Christian experience will often begin with a humiliating wave of self-disgust. It usually happens that the last thing people see is themselves. And it often happens that the first thing Christ does for people is to compel them to do what they have spent their lives refusing to do - look at themselves.
The Samaritan woman was staggered by Christ's ability to see into her inmost being. She was amazed at his intimate knowledge of the human heart, and of her heart in particular. The psalmist was awed by that same thought, "You discern my thoughts from far away ... Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely" (Psalm 139:1-4). It is told that once a small girl heard a sermon by C. H. Spurgeon, and whispered to her mother at the end of it: "Mother, how does he know what goes on in our house?" There are no wrappings and disguises which are protection against the gaze of Christ. It is His power to see into the depths of the human heart. It is not that He sees only the evil there; He sees also the potential for great things in the soul of every one of us. He is like the surgeon who sees the diseased part, but who also sees the health which will follow when that part is taken away.
The first instinct of the Samaritan woman was to share her discovery. Having found this amazing person, she was compelled to share her find with others. The Christian life is based on the twin pillars of discovery and communication. No discovery is complete until the desire to share it fills our hearts; and we cannot communicate Christ to others until we have discovered Him for ourselves.
~William Barclay~
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