Are You Loving People the Way Jesus Loved You?
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If there is a phrase that gets thrown around a lot in this world, it is that we need more love. In 1966, Dionne Warwick famously recorded the song “What The World Needs Now,” and the need mentioned in the song was love. If you were to ask anyone walking down the street, does the world need more love today, the obvious answer would be yes. Ask anyone in the church and they would tell you the same thing, so it is safe to say we all agree with this song. Here is the challenge: What should this love look like? This is where the rubber meets the road.
In John 4, Jesus leaves Judea to go back to Galilee. To travel from Judea to Galilee was a common trip many Jews made during this time. Even though the fastest and most direct way to get to Galilee was to go through Samaria, many Jews avoided taking this route. Historians will tell us they did this for a few reasons. One was because of safety. Jews and Samaritans did not get along. In fact, Jews considered Samaritans to be half-breeds. They did not associate with them and they did not like them. According to the Biblical Archeology Society, this route was not the safest route either.
“Although this route would have taken only three days by foot, many Jews chose to avoid it. They preferred longer routes that were historically safer. The Jewish historian Josephus records a violent quarrel between some Galilean Jews and Samaritans, while the Galileans were traveling through Samaria (Antiquities). Passing through this volatile region carried real risks.”
Even though Jesus had different options to get back to Galilee, the Bible says he had to go through Samaria. He had to travel through the area which posed the greatest risk and the area with the people that Jews did not associate with. Why did he do it? Because Jesus loves with a purpose.
In this same chapter, Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at a well and begins a conversation with her by asking for a drink of water. This was wrong in many ways in this society. It was wrong because of the way Jews and Samaritans felt about each other. It was also wrong because it was not right for a Jewish man to have a private conversation with a woman, let alone a Samaritan woman. Yet here we find Jesus breaking all these rules. Why did he do it? Because he had a purpose. There was a Samaritan woman who needed to know who he was and if he had to break traditions and norms to minister to her, that is what he did.
Jesus’ love brought him to Samaria on purpose and this one conversation with this Samaritan woman not only changed her life forever, but it changed that town forever.
For you to love on purpose like Jesus did, you must break cultural and societal norms because you care about those around you who don’t know Jesus.
To be honest, this command to love like Jesus challenges me and shows me how far I have to go. I don’t always love like Jesus loves, and to me that is sad and shameful. My prayer for my life today is that Jesus would fill me with this type of love so that I would always walk in obedience to this command. It may cost me something and it may come with criticism, but the people whose lives will be affected by it make it all worth it. I pray you see this the same way too.
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