Grab a Bible and read John 4:4-26. Don’t miss what Jesus says in vs. 26.

There are lots of cool encounters Jesus had with people. But this one with the woman at the well is one of the coolest. Jesus broke many barriers to speak into her life. First, in Jesus’ day, a man would not have spoken to a woman in this type of setting. Second, Samaritans and Jews hated each other. It’s a really long story, but basically, the Jews disliked the Samaritans so much that they would go miles out of their way to keep from walking through the region of Samaria. But Jesus didn’t care one bit.

He didn’t sugarcoat anything, either. He began to face the woman about her faith. The woman tried to get Jesus off-track by bringing up the religious arguments that existed between the Jews and Samaritans. Jesus didn’t bite. Instead, He turned the spotlight on her life of sexual recklessness. What an amazing encounter! Jesus went straight to what she really needed, and didn’t let up until she understood what was going on.

So, what was going on? Verse 26 sheds light on it. Jesus, the Messiah, was reaching someone in desperate need of a Savior. He spoke the truth. And instead of scaring her away, He drew her in. Think about this next time you have the opportunity to speak into someone’s life. Don’t shy away from the tough subjects. It’s the people who are hurting the most that need the peace only Christ can bring.

This weekend, we started out a new series called PROOF. We’ll be journeying through the Gospel of John together, and every week, we’ll have two devotionals for you on the blog to go through on your own: one on Wednesday afternoon and another on Friday morning. Here’s the first!

Read John 2:1-11, and pay close attention to verse 9. It says a lot about Jesus and His heart.

Here’s the scene: Jesus is at a wedding. Weddings in Jesus’ day aren’t like weddings today. They were a week-long celebration, including huge feasts and parties involving tons of guests. Jesus is in this type of atmosphere, probably near the end of the wedding celebration.

For a host to run out of wine was a huge offense; people would have talked about this for years, and been a huge disgrace for the family. So Mary tried to get Jesus to intervene. Jesus eventually performed His first miracle, turning a very large quantity of water into wine. In itself, it’s an impressive miracle. But there’s something unexpected about this miracle, and if you aren’t looking for it, you’ll probably miss it.

In vs. 9, we see that the master of the banquet didn’t know where the wine had come from–but the servants did! Jesus so often appealed to the lowly, the outcast, the sick, and the poor. The religious elite and the wealthy very rarely found His message to their liking. Jesus’ followers were for the most part made up of common laborers. It’s fitting then, that the witnesses to His first miracles weren’t the upper-crust religious dudes. Nope, it was the servants. Pretty fitting for a King who says in His Kingdom, “The last shall be first.”

Have the words of Jesus ever been startling for you? What does this passage tell us about the heart of Jesus?

Feel free to add to the conversation and leave your own comments!