Christ's Ministry in Samaria and Cana

Read John 4:31-54.

 Let's look at the disciples....

            

          In this passage, they miss the opportunity to see a woman converted and to see Christ in action, modelling how to witness to a non-believer. Where were they, you ask? Well, they were off looking for food because they thought that's what Christ needed most at the moment. Sometimes it's easy to get distracted by the physical things in life. Now, did they know what was about to happen? Who knows? But, they missed it all the same.

       Verses 32-33 show us the spiritual immaturity of the disciples at this point in time. Even though they were Christ's disciples, they still didn't quite get it. They hadn't yet learned the reason for ministry. They still didn't understand that as they gave more of themselves to God, they would be blessed in return. The cool thing is, if you look at the later epistles, they had grown spiritually in the Lord.

     Okay, Christ doesn't leave them in this spiritually blind and immature state. He takes the moment to teach them. In verse 35, he rebukes them and begins to teach them about spiritual vision. In verses 36-38, he teaches about the blessings of witnessing.

    Now, let's look at the Samaritans in verses 39-42. First of all, these people are desperate!!!! They believe the message of a woman who the majority of them looked down on as well. These people were hungry for Christ. This is a great example of how God uses the weak to draw the mighty to Him. In the end, we see that the Samaritans were so hungry and are so filled by Christ that they beg him to stay with them.

    We're going to switch gears a bit and look at another miracle. This is miracle number two. Christ has decided to move on from Samaria, where a spiritual revival has taken place and moves onto Galilee, a spiritual wilderness, where he received no honor or welcome. This doesn't phase Christ and he continues to minister to those willing to listen. As Christ comes to Cana, it seems almost as if John is comparing and contrasting the first miracles with this one. Take a look at the water into wine miracle and compare it to this miracle and see what kind of similarities there are. We will look at this week the individuals of the passage, so for now, just enjoy this miracle of Christ and see what you can take from the passage.