Brenda Salter McNeil wrote a phenomenal book about evangelism called, "A Credible Witness". She based her book around Jesus and the samaritan woman at the well, and her view on evangelism is first and foremost based on crossing cultural boundaries. Jesus went to the samaritan woman. The question is, do we understand what this meant in Biblical times? Allow me to paint a background story on the situation. Samaritans were thought to be muts, half-breeds, and unclean, but this woman was not only a samaritan, she was an adulterer. This woman had married many men and was in the midst of practicing adultery when she encountered Jesus. Now, please understand that Jesus had no reason to cut through Samaria on his way back to Jerusalem. Jews avoided Samaria like the plague. However, he encountered this Samarian woman, adulterer, at a town well at mid-day. Because this woman was out at the well drawing water mid-day, it lets us in on a little bit about who she was in the community. She was the lowest of the low in the Samaritan community and could not draw water from the well at the same time as women of good standing in her town. Jesus crossed not only a racial divide when he approached this woman, but he crossed a gender and social divide.
Jesus was all about reconciliation as evangelism. This story of Jesus and the woman at the well is one of the truest example of what it means as a Christian to cross the divides into evangelism. We are called to cross into the divide, to live uncomfortably and for those traveling with Jesus into Samaria wasn't comfortable. In fact, as Jews, it was probably detestable to them to be around these "half-breeds". I'm not quite sure what my point is in writing this except to share with you what I believe about evangelism. I believe that the Lord has called us to reconcile with one another on all levels. We do Him an injustice when we only preach part of the Gospel, when we cop-out and fail to tell people that He not only came to reconcile us with the Lord, but he came to reconcile us with one another. It is so important for us to realize that we are called to preach the Gospel to all people, of all nations, of all social classes, of both genders. The Gospel is for all, not just for a few, or just to say, Jesus saved you, repent and live! There is more to the Gospel than that, and if we are to live out our walks making disciples, then we must preach the entire gospel of reconciliation with our fellow men. Racial reconciliation and gender reconciliation are not things to be set on the back burner. These are what we are called to preach as an integral part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As followers of Christ we have been told to go out and make disciples of all nations, and in this to find reconciliation with everyone. It is no longer Jew versus Samaritan, Black versus white, japanese versus korean, or any other racial divide that I have failed to mention. It is up to us, in a new generation to reconcile with one another and to end this continuous cycle of hate and of looking down on one another based on skin color, the way we speak, whether you're a man or a woman, etc. Jesus crossed all of these divides, ALL of them, and so should we as His followers. Proverbs 19:2 says, "It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way." We must educate ourselves with God's word and then go out and preach the message that Jesus would have preached, reconciliation, both with God and with men.
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