Scripture Notes: The Truth (John 4)

Jesus demands nothing less than the full truth from us. After speaking for a while to the woman at the well in Samaria, he tells her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” Perhaps there is a pause as the woman thinks about what she will say next. She decides on the truth: “I have no husband.” This must have been so difficult to say. This woman knows that she is sinning by living with a man to whom she is not married. Maybe she has been trying to convince herself that he really is her husband on some level, or maybe she has tried to push the nagging internal accusation of her sin out of the way.

But here before Jesus, the One Who gives the living water that this woman now desires (even though she does not fully understand what it means), she determines to come clean, both to Jesus and to herself. She speaks the truth. 

This is what Jesus is looking for, and He calmly acknowledges it. He tells her that she is right in what she has said, that she has had five husbands and the one she has now is not her husband. She has spoken truly. Notice that Jesus does not accuse her or scold her or berate her. He simply speaks truth back, getting everything out in the open so that it can be seen and dealt with and retired. A bad situation must be acknowledged before it can be handled, and that is what Jesus does here. Now that the woman has spoken truth, He can take her further and lead her through that truth to a better way of life. 

We do not know what happens to this woman after her encounter with Jesus. We do know that it changes her life, for she comes to believe in Him not just as a prophet or a holy man but as the Messiah, and she hurries to tell others about Him. We can imagine and hope that she turns from her sinful ways and embraces the truth not just in words but in life, for that, too, is what Jesus calls all of us to do: speak and live the truth.