hiding behind the lie

Devotions from Jefferson Vann # 2388

John 4:15-22

Joh 4:15 “Sir,” the woman said to him, “give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to pass through here to take out water.”

Joh 4:16 “Go call your husband,” he says to her, “and come back here.”

Joh 4:17 “I don’t have a husband,” she answered. Jesus said “You have correctly said, ‘I don’t have a husband,

Joh 4:18 Because you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”

Joh 4:19 “Sir,” the woman says, “I infer that you are a prophet.

Joh 4:20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you people are saying that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.”

Joh 4:21 Jesus says to her, “Believe me, woman, an hour is coming when you will neither worship the Father on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.

Joh 4:22 You Samaritans are worshiping what you do not know. We worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews.

Joh 4:23 But an hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth. And the Father is looking for worshipers like this.

Joh 4:24 God is a spirit, and those who worship him must worship spiritually and truthfully.”

Joh 4:25 The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming” (the one being called Christ). “Whenever that one comes, he will report everything to us.”

Joh 4:26 Jesus told her, “I am he, the one speaking with you.”

hiding behind the lie

The Samaritan woman’s shift in conversation is one of the most human moments in the Gospel of John. Jesus has just exposed the painful truth about her personal life, and rather than remain in that vulnerable place, she pivots to a long‑standing theological dispute between Jews and Samaritans. It is a classic move: when the heart is uncomfortable, the mind reaches for abstraction. A doctrinal debate feels safer than a moral confrontation.

She raises the question of worship locations—Mount Gerizim or Jerusalem—and then quickly adds that the Messiah will eventually sort it all out. In other words, the disagreement can be postponed. The deeper issue can be avoided. The truth can wait.

But the Messiah is already standing in front of her.

Jesus answers her deflection not by entering the debate but by revealing Himself. “I am” (Ἐγώ εἰμι)—the One speaking with her. The very presence she hoped to defer is the presence addressing her directly. The truth she thought could be postponed is now unavoidable. The One who resolves theological disputes is the One who has just spoken into her life with divine authority and divine compassion.

This moment carries a profound lesson. The church does not need to wait for Christ’s return to know what is true. The definitive revelation has already come. The Word became flesh. The Son has spoken. And He has pointed His people to the Scriptures, declaring that they “cannot be broken” (John 10:35). The truth is not hidden, postponed, or inaccessible. It is present, revealed, and trustworthy.

The Samaritan woman’s instinct—to hide behind theological uncertainty—is still common. Many avoid repentance or obedience by claiming that truth is too complicated, too disputed, too unclear. But Jesus’ answer stands: the Messiah has spoken. His Word is enough. His revelation is sufficient. The Scriptures He affirmed are reliable.

The call is not to wait for more light but to walk in the light already given.

LORD, keep us from hiding behind the lie that your truth cannot be known.