THE PREACHING THE GOOD NEWS THAT SAVES LIVES (Part 7)
“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)
E — How did Jesus Christ preach?
To have a more precise idea of what can be said in the context of preaching, let us see how Jesus Christ informally preached to a Samaritan woman:
“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).
It is important to balance the fact of avoiding unnecessarily entering into pointless controversy, but also of the absolute necessity of exposing the biblical truth, as did Jesus Christ in this case.
- Jesus Christ spoke of “true worshipers” (Verses 23 and 24): The expression “true worshipers” has the advantage of its great simplicity: either we are, or we are not. Just as Jesus Christ said, there are only two alternatives, one that leads to life and the other to destruction (Matthew 7:13,14,21–23). Likewise, there are only two categories of worshipers: the true and the false. The true worshipers have been appointed by divine providence: Christians: “After he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year they assembled with them in the congregation and taught quite a crowd, and it was first in Antioch that the disciples were by divine providence called Christians” (Acts 11:26). It is shortly before the Great Tribulation that Jesus Christ will make the difference between “true Christians” and “false Christians” (Matthew 7:21–23). Which means that if one were to replace the word “worshippers” or “to worship” with the non-biblical words “religion” or “religious”, the situation will become (and it is) more complex: Indeed, how to recognize the “true religion” “among the millions of other religions that all call themselves “true”? It is better to remain on the simplicity of the term “true worshipers”, used by Christ, or “Christian” used in the biblical book Acts (by divine providence). Clearly, Jesus Christ preached a message, the good news, rather than a “religion” (non-biblical generic word).
On the other hand, Jesus Christ has shown that his “Father is looking for ones like these to worship him”, by means of human preaching, He is the One who is building up His Own People: “At that time those who fear Jehovah spoke with one another, each one with his companion, and Jehovah kept paying attention and listening. And a book of remembrance was written before him for those fearing Jehovah and for those meditating on his name” (Matthew 24:14, Malachi 3:16). Thanks to divine mercy, a “third part” of the current humanity will survive, as a great crowd, to the great tribulation: “And in all the land,” declares Jehovah, “Two parts in it will be cut off and perish; And the third part will be left remaining in it” (Zechariah 13: 8, Revelation 7:9–17: the great crowd that will survive to the great tribulation). Let us preach to the future great crowd that will survive to the great tribulation, the Day of Jehovah (Joel 2:1,2).
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