(P)The...
Illustration
(P)
The list of Jesus' accomplishments is quite endless, but certainly very outstanding among them was his ability to sweep away the false distinctions that humanity had allowed to divide them. There were three major assumptions that Jesus directly challenged in this encounter with the woman at the well. First, merely by having an intimate conversation with her, he challenged the assumption that Samaritans were inferior to Jews; or that any race or nationality is inferior to another, for that matter. Second, in his statement about true worship, he challenged the assumption that God cares where God is worshiped. It is clearly the sincerity of the worship rather than the place or the form that is important to God. And, third, he challenged the assumption that women were second class citizens. The woman is sent off to carry the gospel to her people, one of the very first to do that.
Can this possibly be the founder of a church that has been known to exclude persons because of their color or race? Can this be the guiding spirit of Christians who refuse to sit at the Lord's table together? Could this be the master of a household that would exclude women from leadership in its affairs? Anyone to whom the answers to these questions is not obvious should find a well and wait humbly there for Jesus to bring living water.
- Shearburn
The list of Jesus' accomplishments is quite endless, but certainly very outstanding among them was his ability to sweep away the false distinctions that humanity had allowed to divide them. There were three major assumptions that Jesus directly challenged in this encounter with the woman at the well. First, merely by having an intimate conversation with her, he challenged the assumption that Samaritans were inferior to Jews; or that any race or nationality is inferior to another, for that matter. Second, in his statement about true worship, he challenged the assumption that God cares where God is worshiped. It is clearly the sincerity of the worship rather than the place or the form that is important to God. And, third, he challenged the assumption that women were second class citizens. The woman is sent off to carry the gospel to her people, one of the very first to do that.
Can this possibly be the founder of a church that has been known to exclude persons because of their color or race? Can this be the guiding spirit of Christians who refuse to sit at the Lord's table together? Could this be the master of a household that would exclude women from leadership in its affairs? Anyone to whom the answers to these questions is not obvious should find a well and wait humbly there for Jesus to bring living water.
- Shearburn
