A Prophet

The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.”
John 4:19

 In English grammar, the little word “a” is an indefinite article. That means that the noun it is linked to is nothing special or in particular. When the Samaritan woman called Jesus a prophet, she was seeing Him as one among many religious professionals.

The woman at the well had never seen Christ before, and yet He knew all about her. He knew things that only God could know, so she assumed that God had revealed the information to Him. No one in that village had ever seen a man of God before, but seeing how extraordinary this stranger was, she concluded that this stranger must be a prophet.

The title was meant to be a compliment. After all, hundreds of years had gone by without any prophet at all so, she was putting Him into a special category. Herein lies the whole problem; Christ is in a class by Himself. In every group that people want to put Him in, the Savior must have the preeminence.

In the minds of modern theologians, Jesus is a prophet. He is a spiritual leader that formed a world religion and is on par with Moses, Buddha, Confucius, and Krishna. But Christ is Lord of lords and all others will bow the knee to Him.

In Islam, Christ is honored as a prophet. However, Mohammed is considered to be “the Prophet” so the Lord of Glory at best comes in second place. However, the Lord Jesus remains the only “Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6).

Whenever Christ is bundled to something else, He is esteemed as less than the God of the universe, so people reject Him for what He claimed to be. Many see Jesus as a way to God (among many others) or a Savior for some people in the world. Unbelief likes to use the indefinite article. It would be like calling Him a prophet.