Christ the Savior of the World (John 4:39-42)

In the book of John (chapter four) we read of John’s description of the account of the Samaritan woman and the well. And in the last verse on that section (v42) the Samaritan men having seen and heard Jesus speaking concluded by telling the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him (referring to Christ) and we know that this in indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.” Here we have a monumental announcement made by the Samaritan men in the fact that Jesus was the Christ and how He was the Savior of not just the Jews, but of the whole world.

We often times do not consider what the Samaritan perspective would have been for the coming Messiah due to how they had been separated from the Israelites by the Assyrians some 700 years prior to this meeting. We know that the prophet Isaiah had predicted a time when the Gentiles would seek after the Messiah in Isaiah 11:10. But there is never any mentioning of the Samaritans. The Jews in Jesus day looked to the Samaritans in such a derogatory manner that when traveling they would go around the region to which the Samaritans lived instead of walking the straight path through their land. The Jews felt that because they had intermingled with the dreaded Assyrians (2 Kings 17:5-6) they were no longer part of God’s people. But we read here how the Samaritans help on the teachings of their fathers that a Savior would come and save all His people including them. Despite the fact the Jews looked down upon the Samaritans as being an inferior, tainted race, God still saw them as souls that needed to be saved. Likewise, in our day people sometimes tend to look down upon those who are less fortunate than them and see them as a lower class of people due to their income levels. But what we all need not ever forget is God has sent His only begotten Son to die for all people and not just a particular class, group, or race. Jesus is the Savior of the world and for all and we have a responsibility to go out and make disciples of all the nations not just the ones who we feel are worthy. Jesus Christ died that cruel death so that all men could be freed from the penalty of sin regardless of where they live or how much money that make. Just as the Samaritan men proclaimed that day when they believed that Jesus was the Christ, the same can be said today for Jesus still is the Savior of the world.