40 So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of His own word.
4:40
So when the Samaritans had come to Him,
The Samaritans made their way to Jesus because of the testimony of the woman at the well.
they urged [ kept on urging] Him to stay with them;
The Samaritan urge for Jesus to stay with them indicates the confidence they had in Him. These new believers wanted more of Jesus. This is surprising because the Jews and Samaritans had no dealings with each other.
and He stayed there two days.
Jesus stayed in Samaria two days, the same two days as verse 39.
4:41
And many more believed because of His own word [message].
Jesus taught the Samaritans in person. Many more came to Christ because of His message. The Samaritans came to Christ through two means: (1) the testimony of a woman and (2) the message from Christ. Although the Samaritans were influenced by the woman’s testimony, that was not the clincher for their belief. The clincher was the Savior’s message to them.
It would be interesting to know exactly what Jesus said to the Samaritans. The people of the town saw and heard Jesus for themselves. Jesus did not do any miracles for them, but they simply accepted His word.
PRINCIPLE:
All God asks of us is to share what we know.
APPLICATION:
The people of Samaria verified the testimony of the woman at the well. Human testimony needs verification. Their ultimate verification lies in the words of Jesus. The testimony of the woman was not the final authority.
A radically changed life is effective in bringing people to Christ. However, more people believed through personally meeting Jesus.
