THE PREACHING THE GOOD NEWS THAT SAVES LIVES (Part 4)

“And this good news of the Kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24: 14)

B — How did Jesus Christ preach?

“A woman of Sa·marʹi·a came to draw water. Jesus said to her: “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone off into the city to buy food.) 9 So the Sa·marʹi·tan woman said to him: “How is it that you, despite being a Jew, ask me for a drink even though I am a Sa·marʹi·tan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Sa·marʹi·tans.) 10 In answer Jesus said to her: “If you had known of the free gift of God and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 She said to him: “Sir, you do not even have a bucket for drawing water, and the well is deep. From what source, then, do you have this living water? 12 You are not greater than our forefather Jacob, who gave us the well and who together with his sons and his cattle drank out of it, are you?” 13 In answer Jesus said to her: “Everyone drinking from this water will get thirsty again. 14 Whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty at all, but the water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water bubbling up to impart everlasting life.” 15 The woman said to him: “Sir, give me this water, so that I may neither thirst nor keep coming over to this place to draw water.” 16 He said to her: “Go, call your husband and come to this place.” 17 The woman replied: “I do not have a husband.” Jesus said to her: “You are right in saying, ‘I do not have a husband.’ 18 For you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. This you have said truthfully.” 19 The woman said to him: “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 20 Our forefathers worshipped on this mountain, but you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where people must worship.” 21 Jesus said to her: “Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, because salvation begins with the Jews. 23 Nevertheless, the hour is coming, and it is now, when the true worshippers will worship the Father with spirit and truth, for indeed, the Father is looking for ones like these to worship him. 24 God is a Spirit, and those worshipping him must worship with spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him: “I know that Mes·siʹah is coming, who is called Christ. Whenever that one comes, he will declare all things to us openly.” 26 Jesus said to her: “I am he, the one speaking to you” (John 4:7–26. For the study of this text, the numbers marking the verses were voluntarily left).

- Jesus Christ aroused an unusual double situation (verses 7–9): He was Jewish and spoke in public to a Samaritan woman. Jews and Samaritans hated each other so much that at the time, to insult one of their compatriot, they sometimes called him a “Samaritan” (see John 8:48, it is interesting to note that the illustration of “Good Samaritan”, clearly fits in Christ’s purpose, to subtly denounce this anti-Samaritan Jewish religious racism (Luke 10:25–37)). Moreover, Jesus Christ spoke in public to a woman, which was not the uses. In John 4:27, it is written that even his disciples were astonished at this situation. Be that as it may, in verse 16, Jesus Christ asked the woman to bring her husband for to continue the conversation. While Jesus Christ always had a chaste attitude towards women, he respected the customs regarding the relationship between men and women, and of course, of biblical morals.

Therefore, it is important not to have prejudices on the people to whom we are preaching the Good News. Jehovah God and Jesus Christ love all peoples and humans of all races, both men and women (Acts 10:34 “God is not partial”).

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