It's quite the contrast of people that Jesus shares the gospel with from chapter 3 to chapter 4. In chapter 3 Jesus has a quiet conversation with Nicodemus, a leader of the Pharisees, possibly a leader in the Sanhedrin. Jesus points to Nicodemus' lack of salvation through his 'righteous' good works. Nicodemus would equal a modern-day Bishop or some other high-ranking church official by today's standards. Moral, upright, clean, educated, yet not saved. In chapter 4 Jesus has a private conversation with the woman at the well. Not only is she a woman (religious leaders don't talk to women), but she is a Samaritan (Jews don't talk to Samaritans). Not only is she a Samaritan woman, she's an 'immoral' woman who has had 5 husbands and is not shacked up with a 6th. Women weren't educated back then, so she is the antithesis to Nicodemus, yet both were in the same sorry state, namely, unsaved.
Jesus shared the gospel message with Nicodemus, and the woman at the well. From what we know, both ended up being saved, one from the true line of Israel, the other from an mixed race society. Jesus didn't play favourites. He preached the good news to both rich and poor, to both woman and man, to the religious right and the immoral.
The question I have asked my congregation to ponder is "What criteria do you have for those whom you decide to share the gospel with?"
I know we'd like to think we're above such questions. I know that we'd like to think that we'd be open to sharing with all just like Jesus, but do we practice what we know is right?
Jesus came to save all kinds of people, not just the Israelites. Both Jew and Gentile are saved through faith in Christ, and not by our works or bloodlines.
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