John 4:27-30

SPONTANEOUS EVANGELISM

Text 4:27-30

27

And upon this came his disciples; and they marveled that he was speaking with a woman; yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why speakest thou with her?

28

So the woman left her waterpot, and went away into the city, and saith to the people,

29

Come, see a man, who told me all things that ever I did: can this be the Christ?

30

They went out of the city, and were coming to him.

Queries

a.

Why were the returning disciples reticent?

b.

What was the significance of the forgotten waterpot?

Paraphrase

At this junction His disciples returned from the market, and they were astonished to find Him talking to a woman, However, none of them asked Him, What do you want? or, Why are you talking with her? The woman, forgetting her waterjar, hurried off unto the city and began telling the people, Come, see a Man Who has told me everything that I ever did. You don-'t think this Man could be the Christ, do you? So the people came out from the city and were coming toward Him in a continual procession.

Summary

The Woman hurries excitedly into the city telling her discovery. The townspeople come immediately in search of a man who may be the Messiah.

Comment

This is one of the first examples of spontaneous evangelism. Perhaps a better title would be Evangelism by Compulsion. Certainly, as will be discussed later, this woman was constrained to tell of the One she had met at the well.

When the disciples returned from market they were taken aback to find Him freely conversing with a woman. The restrictive barriers between men and women were discussed in our comments on John 4:9.

One noteworthy statement of the gospel writer in John 4:27 is the reticence of the disciples to question openly the Master's actions. Either their respect for His wisdom would not allow them to brazenly question Him, or they feared He might upbraid them. The disciples were momentarily interested in eating (John 4:31) and not in a long discourse on the emancipation of women. Perhaps this accounts for their silence.

Their conversation having been interrupted by the returning disciples, the woman hastens off to tell the townspeople of her experience (John 4:28). In her excitement and soul-gripping conviction she forgets the waterjar sitting on the well-curb, and rushes off down the road toward the city. The verb used by John here, apheken, lends itself to the idea that she forgot the vessel. It is the same word which is translated remission, forgiveness, and means a forgetting of our sins by God.

John 4:29 records for us, at least partially, her testimony to the people of the city. We also receive insight into the compelling force that causes her to testify. She had just undergone what some people might call a religious experience. This experience, as we have commented before (John 4:15-18), consisted in a personal conviction of her sin and a beginning trust in His person as the omniscient One. These two factors were the motivating and compelling force that caused spontaneous evangelism in her life. As the apostle Paul said, Knowing therefore the fear of the Lord, we persuade men,. and, the love of Christ constrained us. (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:11; 2 Corinthians 5:14).

In the concluding phrase of John 4:29 the woman puts the question in a hesitant form. As Robertson says, With a woman's intuition she. does not take sides, but piques their curiosity. She is in no social position to make theological decisions and dogmatic conclusions. Who would accept her convictions a woman who is an outcast of the community! So she deftly plants the seed of curiosity and allows them to form their own conclusions.

The tense of the verb erchonto (were coming) in John 4:30 is one of John's word pictures. The picture is of a long stream of excited people coming toward Jacob's Well.

Quiz

1.

Why do you think the disciples hesitated to question Jesus openly?

2.

What caused the woman to leave her water pot?

3.

What are two factors which form motivation for spontaneous evangelism?