“Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?”
My Notes
What Does John 4:29 Mean?
"Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?" The Samaritan woman at the well runs back to her town and becomes an instant evangelist. Her testimony is remarkable for its honesty — "all things that ever I did" doesn't hide her past. It uses it as evidence. A stranger knew everything about her, which means he's no ordinary man.
Her evangelism is also remarkable for its question format. She doesn't declare "This is the Christ." She asks "Is not this the Christ?" — not from uncertainty but from rhetorical invitation. She's drawing people in, letting them investigate for themselves rather than demanding they accept her conclusion. This woman — a Samaritan, a serial divorcee, a social outcast — becomes the first missionary to a non-Jewish community in John's Gospel.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What part of your story have you been hiding that might actually be your most powerful testimony?
- 2.How did the Samaritan woman go from avoiding people to running toward them — and what caused the shift?
- 3.What does her question format ('Is not this the Christ?') teach you about how to invite people to encounter Jesus?
- 4.Who in your life needs to hear you say, 'Come see the man who knew everything about me and didn't reject me'?
Devotional
A woman who came to the well at noon to avoid people left the well running toward them. That's what an encounter with Jesus does — it reverses your relationship with the very thing you've been hiding from.
She'd been avoiding the town. Five marriages and a current live-in relationship meant she was the subject of every whispered conversation in that village. She came to the well at the hottest hour because nobody else would be there. And then Jesus met her, and suddenly she's running back to the very people she'd been dodging, shouting: come see this man!
Her testimony is brilliant in its vulnerability. She doesn't hide her past — she leads with it. "He told me all things that ever I did." She uses the very thing that made her an outcast as the evidence for Jesus' identity. Her shame becomes her sermon. The thing she was most embarrassed about becomes the thing that draws an entire town to Jesus.
If you've been hiding — from people, from God, from yourself — because of what you've done or what's been done to you, this woman's story is your invitation. You don't have to clean up before you testify. Your mess is your message. "Come, see a man who knew everything about me and didn't walk away." That's the whole gospel.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Come, see a man,.... An uncommon, an extraordinary man, a prophet, and, who himself says, he is the Messiah, who is now…
Is not this the Christ? - Though she probably believed it, yet she proposed it modestly, lest she should appear to…
All things that ever I did - The Jews believed that one essential characteristic of the Messiah would be, that he should…
We have here the remainder of the story of what happened when Christ was in Samaria, after the long conference he had…
all things that ever I did How natural is this exaggeration! In her excitement she states not what He had really told…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture