A hand-me-down faith?

Many of the Samaritans from that town [Sychar] believed in Jesus because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers. They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Saviour of the world.” John 4:39-42

I became a Christian while still very young – about 15 – but I didn’t “inherit” my faith from the family home. My parents were good people, but not explicitly Christian, and not church-goers.

Many of the Christians I have known over the years were what might be called “cradle-Christians”, born and brought up in the faith, and I have sometimes vaguely wondered who had the best of the bargain, if I may put it like that.

Certainly, to learn in your infancy about Jesus, to be introduced to church, to learn something of the Bible and something about prayer and worship, is a great thing, laying a foundation which can never be destroyed, even if you later drift away. But is there a danger that you end up rather coasting along with a second-hand faith? As I heard a preacher say once, “Hand-me-down clothes may be fine – but not hand-me-down faith!”

The people of Sychar, a town in Samaria, experienced a big shock one day. There was a woman in their town who was of decidedly dubious reputation – so much so that the other women didn’t mix with her. That, at least, is the most likely reason that she was collecting water alone from the village well when a tired and travel-weary Jesus came along; she knew she wouldn’t be welcome when the women went out as a group. It was probably the hottest part of the day and anybody who could be indoors at home would be.

She and Jesus get into a lengthy conversation. It looks as if she is impressed by at least four things: first, he is prepared to talk publicly to a woman, which broke the social conventions of the day; second, he is prepared to talk to a woman who is a Samaritan, a member of a people who were bitter enemies of the Jews; third, he has an uncanny and rather alarming knowledge of her personal life; fourth - and truly staggering, this - when they get to “religious” matters, he bluntly claims to be the one she refers to as “Messiah (called Christ)”.

If her fellow townspeople were indeed enjoying a mid-afternoon siesta, it seems they were rudely awakened. She suddenly appears (minus her water-jar, but red-faced and panting) and announces, “Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?”

And – whatever their misgivings about her character and reputation – that’s exactly what they did; they “came out of the town and made their way towards him”.

They too are massively impressed – they even ask him (a Jew!) to stay in Sychar for a couple of days. During that period many other people hear the woman’s story and come to see Jesus for themselves. And what do they say to the woman? “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the saviour of the world”.

I do hope that they were more gracious to her than that might seem! But all credit to them for wanting to check Jesus out for themselves. No hand-me-down faith for them! “You told us,” they are saying, “and we’re grateful for that. But that isn’t enough! We wanted to find out about this Jesus ourselves”.

There is a sense, of course, in which all of us have a hand-me-down faith: the good news of Jesus crucified and risen again has been handed down for two thousand years in order to reach us. But the need is still there for each of us to take it from those who pass it on to us (and, of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean family members) and make it our own.

I wonder if anyone reading this has still not done that? Oh yes, you know the story of Jesus; you have an understanding of the gospel; you respect and admire many of those you know as Christians; you have been challenged and inspired to try to live a good life. That is all good.

But you have never yet come to a point where you can say “Jesus is my Saviour and my Lord. I know him personally by faith, and following him to the best of my ability is now the mainspring of my life. My priorities and motivations are now decided by the teaching of scripture and the inner light of the Holy Spirit, not by the prevailing winds of opinion and fashion. Yes! I really am – how amazing! – a new person!”

There is a line to be crossed, a decision to be made. There is an invitation to be responded to: “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 35:8). Why put it off for a single minute?

Heavenly and holy God, in Jesus you have given yourself to us, not simply that we might believe in you, but that we might know, love, obey and enjoy you. Bring me to a place where I can truly say “My Lord and my God”. Amen.