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While Jesus was traveling to Galilee, He met a Samaritan who had come to draw some water from the well. The Jews considered the Samaritans inferior, and it was not even acceptable for the Jews to be anywhere near them, let alone talk with them. Samaria was between the regions of Galilee and Judea, but to get to Galilee from Judea, most Jews went completely around Samaria, but not Jesus. This Samaritan was also woman and had come to the well unescorted. During this time period, Jewish men, especially Rabbis did not even speak to women. Socially, man had put up so many barriers that there was no way for Jesus to talk to this woman, but Jesus' love knows no bounds. He not only talked with the Samaritan woman, He healed her spiritual needs as well by sharing with her the living water of eternal life. All He cared about was fixing this one woman's relationship with God. "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16" Man has a way of putting up so many social barriers and divisions, that it is very difficult for people to even like each other, let alone love each other. But these barriers mean nothing to the Lord Jesus. He loves everyone regardless of their class or social standing, and in doing so Jesus shatters all social barriers. |
One day, Jesus’ disciples were found eating food with hands that were not ceremonially washed by some religious leaders. They came to Jesus and asked why he, being an influential leader of the time, did not have his disciples follow the religious tradition. Jesus then explained that what comes into the body cannot make a person unclean but what comes out of a person can make him unclean. Jesus called those religious leaders hypocrites because they were too concerned with the outward action and forgot that God was the whole point. These man-made religious traditions focused on how to be good in the eyes of men, but the Bible says, “The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7b) |
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There was this one time when Jesus was at a feast held by a tax collector. In the feast, there were all sorts of people, who were modern-day equivalents of drug dealers, pedophiles and rapists. The religious leaders and scholars were surprised to find Jesus eating with a whole bunch of what they called “sinners”, so they complained to Jesus’ disciples. However, Jesus knew their complaint and simply explained that he came for those who admit that they are sinners regardless of what they have done. This shows that Jesus is a friend of lowlifes. He did not care if he would be regarded as a lowlife just because he was with these people. To Jesus, it is better to have a lowlife that has turned from his wicked ways than to have an upper class intellectual who refuses to acknowledge the need of salvation. Jesus’ actions show that God’s love is the same for everyone, even people of the lowest sort. |
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