This is Spoken Gospel.

We’re dedicated to seeing
Jesus in all of scripture.

In each episode, we see what’s
happening in a Biblical text

and how it sheds light
on Jesus and his gospel.

Let’s jump in.

Jesus offers life even to the most unlikely, but
it’s often the most religious who turn Jesus away.

John presents two stories in John 4.

In the first, Jesus prophesies to
a Samaritan woman at a well,

and in the second, Jesus heals
a politician’s son in Capernaum.

The Samaritan woman believes
that Jesus is the Messiah,

and her whole village
trusts him as Messiah, too.

But in Capernaum, the city responds
with skepticism and persecution.

Jesus knew this would be the case.

Right before he arrives, Jesus says that
a prophet has no honor in his hometown.

After healing the politician’s son, he
indicts the crowd for their unbelief.

While the Samaritans are eager to trust Jesus at
his word, Capernaum just wants a magic show.

Jesus tells his disciples to look up and
notice the fields are ripe for harvest.

They need to “look up” because the harvest
field isn’t among the Jews but among

Samaritans—not among the religious,
but among sinners.

And the Samaritan woman
is both of those things.

She had been divorced five times and had been
ostracized by her community for sleeping around.

This why she came to the well
at the hottest part of the day.

As a Samaritan, she was also
the victim of a long history of

segregation and persecution
by the Jewish religious majority.

Yet this woman of poor
reputation is the person

to whom Jesus chooses to
reveal his identity as the Messiah.

This woman becomes
Jesus’ first missionary.

Her entire town believes
that Jesus is the Messiah—

not because of his miracles
but because of his words.

While there was hard-heartedness among
his own people in Capernaum, Jesus’ message
is welcomed by those on the margins.

Jesus wants to win over both the
outcast sinners and the hard-hearted.

After spending two days of ministry among
the Samaritans, he intentionally returns to

where he knows he will be
misunderstood and rejected.

Jesus wants everyone to trust him.

Whether they’re the outcasts of
society or the deeply religious.

That’s because Jesus is the harvester who
has come to collect his harvest
wherever it can be found.

And just as Jesus offers living
water to the Samaritan woman,

anyone who tells Jesus they are
thirsty will be satisfied by him.

May the Holy Spirit give you eyes to see God
who sows seeds for eternal life among all people.

And may you see Jesus as the great harvester
who harvests souls no matter where they are found.