Some Light in Her Darkness

“I am the light of the world.”
John 9:5 (NIV)

 I am privileged to lead a weekly women’s Bible study at my church. We are currently studying John’s Gospel account of the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Yesterday our study focused on John 4, Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well.

Most of us are probably familiar with the story. Jesus and his disciples are traveling and reach a Samaritan village. The disciples leave Jesus to buy some food and Jesus, “tired as He was from his journey” (John 4:6), sits down by a well. A nameless Samaritan woman soon arrives to fetch water from the well. The woman comes in the heat of the day to avoid the stares and whispers of the townspeople. She has been married five times and the man with whom she is currently living is not her husband. Morally and socially, she is an outcast.

Jesus unexpectedly initiates a conversation with this Samaritan woman by asking her for a drink of water.  By doing so, Jesus crosses existing cultural, racial, social, gender, and moral boundaries. During the course of their conversation, Jesus both confronts her with her sin, offers her eternal life, and reveals His true identity: He is the long-awaited Messiah (John 4:25-26). The Samaritan woman recognizes her own thirst and asks Jesus for His living water. She quickly leaves her water jar at the well, returns to town, and invites her neighbors to “Come and see the man who told me everything I ever did” (John 4:29).

Her “come and see” invitation follows the “go and tell” pattern of all New Testament evangelism and discipleship. The Samaritan woman’s life was forever changed by her encounter with Jesus. Her verbal testimony is affirmed by the witness of her changed life. She who had previously avoided her neighbors can’t wait to share the good news of the Gospel. God has come not just to her, but for her, and her life will never be the same. Many of her townspeople recognize the change in her life, accept her invitation to “come and see,” and wind up declaring, “This man really is the Savior of the World!” (John 4:42).

One of my favorite “come and see; go and tell, power of a changed life” stories happened soon after I began praying in 2007 that God would allow me to go on a medical mission trip. One day Bruce, James Bruce, and I were at a Special Ones family lake picnic. A new family came that day- all the way from Hungary. As we chatted, I learned that my new friend Adrien was a special needs mom living in Vestavia. Adrien was also a pharmacist in Hungary and her husband, a cardiologist, was working on his PhD at UAB.

My excitement rose quickly. What was the likelihood of a Hungarian pharmacist/special needs mom living in my community coming to our lake outing?

 "Where do you go to church?" I asked.

"We'd like to go to church, but don't know where to go,” Adrien replied.  Where do you go?"

With that exchange, Adrien literally walked into my life. My longed-for short-term mission trip became a 22 months friendship that didn’t just change Adrien’s life; it changed mine!  Together Adrien and I enjoyed coffee at Panera, lunch at O'Carr's, Sunday School at Briarwood, covered dish dinners, special education IEPs, and multiple ESL sessions. God provided numerous life-on-life activities to both have a friend and be a friend. Family weddings, Christmas nativity walk-throughs, Bridge-to-Life conversations, and high school baseball games all provided “come and see” opportunities.  Along the way, I was privileged to see many changes come into my new friend's life, but none was more significant than the day I drew the Bridge-to-Life diagram on an O’Carr’s paper napkin at lunch and Adrien suddenly cried, "I now know why we had to come to the United States. I finally have some light in my darkness!"

Some light in her darkness, not because she found a friend, but because she found Jesus, the Light of the world and the One who satisfies all our thirsts and longings.

We’re living in a post-modern, secular culture that, much like Adrien’s Hungarian country under communism,  constantly asserts, “There is no God!” Who do you know that needs to be invited into your life to “come and see?” Who do you know that you can “go and tell” the good news of the Gospel? Who is living in darkness and needs the Light of the World?

“I once was lost, but now I’m found, was blind, but now I see.”
(John Newton, Amazing Grace)

If we have truly come and seen, then we must go quickly and tell the good news of the Gospel. God’s grace is still amazing!