Women in Ministry- Where to Draw The Line- Part 3- The Woman at the Well

Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” 30 They went out of the town and were coming to him.

31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.”33 So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

Why didn’t Jesus stop the woman and send his disciples to command the men in the town?

39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word.42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”

Jesus never told women that they could not share the Gospel. If that was Jesus’ intent, he would have told his disciples to stop the woman at the well from going and telling the entire town, filled with women, kids, and – gasp – men.

No, Jesus, the Son of God, fully God and fully man, was on a perfect time table. God sent Him to this place. He walked through Samaria when a ‘good’ Jew would avoid it. He spoke with a woman who was a Samaritan- for a ‘good’ Jew this was a shocking break of tradition- to speak with a woman and a Samaritan was shocking- even his disciples marveled that this was happening. But despite the fact that there were disciples there, Jesus- knowing that the woman would go and tell the town- allowed her to go. And she SAID

λέγω (legō 3004) 1. say -ing, -est; said, -st; saith. to lay, lay together, to collect; then, to lay before, relate, differing from the words below in that it refers to the purport or sentiment of what is said and the connection of the words; it denotes the collecting of words in a sentence or oration; in reference to the scripture it denotes the statement of the scriptures (while λαλέω (laleō 2980) is the utterance or speaking of that statement.) When λέγω(legō 3004) seems to be put for εἶπον (eipon), it has reference, not to the meaning of speaking but of thinking, feeling, commanding. When used in connection withεἶπον (eipon) the speaking is an additional notion (when used alone the idea of speaking already exists.)

The command to the men was COME see a man who told me everything I ever did.

gets the force of an interjection, come! come now!

The men came…and believed…

39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.”

μαρτυρέω (martureō) to be a witness, to bear witness, that is to say to attest anything that one knows, and therefore to state with a certain degree of authority, usually for something, and hence, to confirm or prove.

     Now at the time this was written, women were not to be a witness at trial. They were not 

considered reliable. However Jesus let this woman witness and testify to what she knew- 

that Jesus was the Son of God and the Messiah that they were waiting for. Her testimony, 

her command was to come and see- and the townspeople did just that.

     She did not go to the synagogue. She did not go to the temple. She went to the town and 

proclaimed what she saw and heard. It is blasphemous to suppose that Jesus did not have

 

this planned from the beginning. It is blasphemous not to suppose that Jesus knew that the 

woman would testify, that the woman would speak . And she did- she said- she commanded- 

she TESTIFIED as to what Jesus did and said. And that is evangelism. And that is what this 

woman did. It was not one to one. It was not handing out tracts. It was a verbal 

proclamation to the people of the town the truth of the Gospel.

     And many believed.