But Jesus Did
While preparing for a lesson I presented recently, I revisited the account recorded in John 4 about a conversation that Jesus had with a woman. We do not know her name. She is often referred to only as “the woman at the well” and/or “the Samaritan woman.” You may want to do what I did and revisit that account (at least mentally) before you read the rest of this.
The “audience” I have in mind for this post is composed of Christians (as defined/described in the New Testament) who are interested in helping others to also become Christians. Of course, that should be true of every Christian and, hopefully, it is.
I have read a significant amount of material and listened to presentations about what has come to be known as “personal work.” To varying degrees, I have benefitted from most, if not all, of that information.
While restudying how the “ultimate personal worker” dealt with the Samaritan woman who had been married five times and was now “cohabiting” with a man who was not her husband, I thought of some implications for me. Maybe they will help you as well.
At that time, most Jews went out of their way to not travel through Samaria. They did not want to travel through that area or have anything to do with the people who lived there, but Jesus did!
Jewish men did not ordinarily socialize or have conversations with women, but Jesus did!
If most people would have known about her living arrangements, they probably would not have spent any time with her, but Jesus did!
Most people do not confront people who engage in religious practices which are not authorized by God, but Jesus did!
It seems to me that some significant things happened that day at a well in Samaria. Not the least of those things would be that a woman who was living an immoral life became a person who helped others develop a faith in the Messiah.
Our efforts at evangelism might just be much more productive if we would get out of our (often self-imposed) comfort zones, not conform to the norms of those around us, and do what Jesus did!
As you consider that, you may want also think about a passage that seems to really “go against the grain” of what most people would do:
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8)
In some ways, that passage gets to the core of the message of the entire Bible. That message should be our motivation for telling others about the Lord and His will for our lives. It should also be the heart of the message itself. That message could be stated in this way: It would be difficult, if not impossible, to find somebody who would die in my place because of my sins, but Jesus did!
AUTHOR: Jim Faughn
