I thoroughly enjoyed writing last week’s blog entitled,” How Good is Good Enough and How Bad is Too Bad?” My point of departure was the Gospel of Grace, which was God’s plan even before the world was created. (ref. Ephesians 1:4) Today’s posting is a variation on that same theme of hope, but today I will use two encounters with Jesus that reveal his compassionate heart and his equal love for the “best” and the “worst.”
The Gospel of John (3:1-19) introduces us to Nicodemus, a high-ranking Pharisee who was also a member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish high court. To have such a lofty position meant you were considered to be among the “best of the best”. But obviously Nicodemus was impressed by Jesus’ teachings, and certainly by his miracles which he most likely witnessed first-hand. He was curious, and he wanted to know more. So under the cloak of darkness, undoubtedly not wanting to be seen by his fellow Pharisees, he came to have an up-close and personal visit with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are proof enough that God is with you.”
But Jesus, not being one to beat around the bushes, jumped right to the truth he knew Nicodemus didn’t know, but might be open to hearing. “I assure you, unless you are born again, you can never see the Kingdom of God.” “What do you mean?’ exclaimed Nicodemus. ‘How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?” Jesus replied, “The truth is, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives new life from heaven. So don’t be surprised at my statement that you must be born again. Just as you can hear wind but can’t tell where it is coming from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”
“What do you mean?’ Nicodemus asked. Jesus replied, ‘You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things. I assure you, I am telling you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe us. But if you don’t even believe me when I tell you about these things that happen on earth, how can you possibly believe me if I tell you what is going on in heaven. For only I, the Son of Man, have come to earth and will return to heaven again. And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so I, the Son of Man must be lifted up on a pole, so that everyone who believes in me will have eternal life. (This is a reference to Numbers 21:4-9 when Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole so the people who kept their sight on the bronze snake would not be killed when bitten by the poisonous snakes surrounding them. This is a fore-shadow of Jesus being lifted up on the cross. All who keep their focus on him through faith will also be saved.)
Jesus continued, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish, but will have eternal life. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it. There is no judgment for those who trust in him. But those who do not trust him have already been judged for not believing in the only Son of God. Their judgment is based on fact: The light from heaven came into the world, but they loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil,” and they chose not to turn away from their sinful ways.”
Wow! Nicodemus got more than he had expected. The truth is…regardless of who you are or what you think you are; regardless of your credentials, accomplishments, or the adulation other people have for you, none of that matters when you are standing before God accounting for your life. The only way to achieve eternal life is to be cleansed by the blood of Jesus. And the only way for that to happen is to accept him as your Lord and Savior.
And now to the opposite end of the spectrum, “How bad is too bad?” I don’t think it is a coincidence that Apostle John chose to put these two stories so close together in his Gospel. Again, it shows that regardless of who you are or what you have done, in Jesus’ eyes, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you allow yourself to be transformed by Him.
The woman of this story remains nameless. She is referred to only as the Samaritan Woman, but she was known throughout Samaria as a fallen, despicable, harlot who had slept around with many other women’s husbands. When she met Jesus, it was about noon and she had made her trip to the well at that time because the other women would have nothing to do with her. They either went in the morning or in the evening to avoid any contact with this wanton woman.
Jesus and his disciples learned that the Pharisees’ resentment toward him was increasing, but since it was early in his ministry, he didn’t want to confront them yet. So he decided to leave Judea and return to Galilee. The usual “Jewish route” would have taken then around Samaria because in the eyes of the Jews, the Samaritans, because of their intermarriage, were considered “unclean”. But Jesus -being Jesus – decided to break with tradition and travel straight through Samaria until they came to a town called Sychar, the home of Jacob’s well. But this was only the beginning of breaking with tradition. No self-respecting Jewish man would talk to a Samaritan woman, especially not a notorious, immoral woman, and especially not alone. But Jesus sent his disciples to the village to buy food, then sat down to wait for his anticipated appointment.
As the woman approached the well to draw water, Jesus said to her (4:1-26), “Please give me a drink.” Startled, she said to Jesus, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?’ Jesus replied, ‘If you only knew the gift God has for you and who I am, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.’ ‘But sir, you don’t have a rope or a bucket,” she said, ‘and this is a very deep well. Where would you get this living water? And besides, are you greater than our ancestor Jacob who gave us this well?’ Jesus replied, ‘People soon become thirsty again after drinking this water. But the water I give them takes away thirst altogether. It becomes a perpetual spring within them, giving them eternal life.’ ‘Please, sir’, the woman said, ‘give me some of that water! Then I’ll never be thirsty again, and I won’t have to come here to haul water.”
Now Jesus shifts gears because he really wanted to get her attention. “Go get your husband,” Jesus told her. ‘I don’t have a husband,’ the woman replied. Jesus said, ‘You’re right! You don’t have a husband – for you have had five husbands, and you aren’t even married to the man you’re living with now”
Obviously startled at Jesus’ truth about her, she too tries to shift gears. “Sir’, the woman said, ‘you must be a prophet. So tell me why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place to worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at mount Gerzim where our ancestors worshiped.’ Jesus replied, ‘Believe me the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father here or in Jerusalem. You Samaritans know so little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews. But the time is coming, and is already here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for anyone who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.’ The woman said, ‘I know the Messiah will come – the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.’ Then Jesus told her, ‘I am the Messiah!”
As good as Nicodemus was, this woman was equally as bad, yet none of that mattered to Jesus. He loved them both equally, and he wanted them both to know the truth so they too could believe and be his witness in this world. After the Samaritan woman returned to her village and shared her experience with Jesus, many came out to the well to see him, then they begged him to come back and stay in their village. Jesus complied and stayed in the village for two days, just long enough for many Samaritans to hear, to believe, and to be saved.
Regardless of what we have done or who we have been, the only thing that matters in the end is Jesus Christ, and if he is our Lord and Savior. Paul reaffirms this in Colossians 4:11: In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us” (who are saved.) Amen!
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May God Bless Ya…
Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)
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