I Am He

The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us." Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He." (John 4:25-26)

Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one who is speaking to you." (John 4:26 NRSV)

There is something in here that can be easy to miss but that is profoundly important. The whole conversation at this point is coming to a climax, to the focal point of the very reason that Jesus began talking with this woman to start with. Jesus loved this woman and had been led into this very circumstance by the Holy Spirit so that she could personally encounter the very Messiah that she had put her hopes in for so long.

I find it rather fascinating that this Samaritan woman expressed such faith in the coming Messiah that usually is thought of as primarily a hope of the Jewish people. But even though her ethnic background was scorned by nearly every Jew she may have come in contact with, she still had chosen to cherish a personal hope that the Messiah would come to benefit her irregardless of her heritage, background or condition. And because of this faith deep inside her heart, God granted her the wonderful privilege of being able to have an intimate conversation with the Son of God alone. That is simply astounding in my mind.

The part that is easy to miss in this story is found in the two words, I am. Of course it does not come out quite so clearly in some English translations which is why I included an alternative reading above. But the statement that Jesus was making to this woman went far beyond a simple acknowledgement that He should be viewed as the person she was putting her life trust in. It was really making a powerful statement that could increase her appreciation of who the Messiah really was to a whole new level.

These words, I AM, were originated as the highest declaration of the power and identity of the Almighty God to Moses. God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" (Exodus 3:14) Through all succeeding generations the Jewish people viewed this statement as one of the most sacred things ever spoken, one of the purest forms of identity when it came to defining who was the true God as opposed to all other claims.

So when Jesus was speaking with the Jewish leaders and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM." (John 8:58 NKJV), it is no surprise that the Jews immediately took up stones to kill Him. In their minds darkened with unbelief, for Jesus to claim that He was truly God Himself was the ultimate blasphemy. It shocked them beyond all comprehension to think that a mere man would apply to himself the title of the great YAHWEH of heaven. Jesus' life was so out of harmony with their picture of what God was like that many of them never were able to enter into belief. The God they wanted to believe in was far more forceful, not nearly so humble and certainly would not demean Himself to live the kind of life and hang around with the kind of people that Jesus did.

And yet Jesus never changed His life in the slightest to accommodate the mistaken notions about God that humanity believed. He came to reveal the heart of the Father and He did that faithfully all the way to the end. But on rare occasions like this one with the woman at the well, Jesus was able to share His true identity with a far less hostile audience, and in this case the results were nothing less than thrilling.

This woman was already so compliant to following the promptings of the Spirit that she was actually much farther along in her faith journey than were any of the disciples that spent most of their time following Jesus. Imagine what could have happened and how different the gospels might have been written if even one disciple of Jesus had entered into the level of deep trust and belief in the divinity of Jesus to the extent that this woman did in such a short period of time. The effects of such belief would have been electrifying to say the least. This kind of belief is highly contagious and extremely effective in arousing similar faith within the hearts of others. If the disciples had been willing to believe in Jesus early on like this woman was willing to do, the truth about Him and His affect on the people would have been greatly multiplied from how the story now reads.

The very next verse highlights this contrast rather sadly. The priorities of the Jewish disciples seemed to be focused more on conforming to social expectations rather than on sharing the truth about Jesus and who He was to anyone who would listen. The differences between how the disciples viewed this situation and how this woman related to it are like night and day. The reasons for the disciple's amazement in the next verse was that Jesus was violating so many social restrictions in talking with a woman, and a Samaritan woman at that. But what becomes obvious in this story is that the woman herself is also filled with amazement – first that Jesus would speak with her at all given the many reasons why He should not, but then amazement from a heart that simply couldn't contain the excitement and joy of meeting the most important Man in the whole universe in person.

Unfortunately I presently fit too much into the class of the disciples rather than with this woman. My confused ideas about God prevent me from enjoying the kind of abandon and freedom to enter easily into a deeper level of belief and trust in a personal Messiah and Savior. I have so many religious barriers to deal with, so many questions that demand to be answered, so many fears to be delivered from before my heart feels safe to jump for joy and race into town to tell everyone about this most amazing Man.

I don't like my condition, but I have to be honest and confess my true condition at this point. I long for the day when my heart can teach me to dance, to sing for joy, to witness without any inhibition to the amazing power of love sent to earth to save me in the person of Jesus the Messiah. I crave to have the abandon of this woman to race back to all those who have despised and shamed me all of my life and invite them to join in a spirit of belief in the only One who can save any of us from our sins. I seek and I pray for God to give me a heart and mind similar to that demonstrated by this woman.