He Will Do Anything For You

Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John  (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. And he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. — John 4:1-6

This gives us a bit of the backstory about the environment surrounding the ministry of Jesus. And what John wants us to know is that there are many challenges that Jesus will have to navigate. He will have to deal with religious pressure, cultural nuances, differing religious beliefs, and even cultural corruption. But what I love about Jesus is that he is willing to step into all of it.

Right here, Jesus steps onto forbidden land — the region of Samaria. What you need to know is Jews despised Samaritans and the land where they lived. They considered them "sellouts" because of a split in Old Testament times. Therefore because of this split, many devout Jews refused to step foot in this region. But not Jesus. He walks right in. And goes to a town known for its drunkenness. It was renamed "Drunken," which is what "Sychar" means. It was a town of a bunch of drunkards.

But note Sychar was not always this way. It was a town formerly known as Shechem. This is where Abraham first resided when coming to the land he knew as Canaan. And one of the first things he did was build an altar to God in Shechem. Later his grandson Jacob (a.k.a. Israel, whose descendants would become the people of Israel) would buy a piece of land here and, we assume, dug this particular well. And it was here that Jesus stopped on his journey. And just like Abraham and Jacob had done before him, Jesus takes a break in a location of great significance. Yet it had now become a city of drunkards.

So notice how Jesus has just gone from one audience to another. He was just interacting with a religious leader (like Nicodemus), and now he is about to interact with the religious opposition in a city of drunkards. How about that?

This is what I love about Jesus. There is nowhere he's unwilling to go and no person he is unwilling to reach. He will overcome every obstacle so that you might know him and his love for you. So if you are concerned that you might be unreachable, unredeemable, and unloveable, you need to know you are wrong. You are not unreachable, not unredeemable, and not unloveable. Jesus will do anything and every to reach and redeem you. He will even walk onto forbidden land, into a city of drunkards, to save you. So the real issue is not whether or not he will accept you. The real issue is whether or not you will reject your false assumptions and beliefs about him and accept him.

So do that today. Accept the fact that Jesus loves you. And know there is no wall he won’t kick down, and no lie he won’t tear down to come after you.

ASK THIS: Are you ready to move through your sin and shame and be accepted by the God who accepts you?

DO THIS: Accept his love.

PRAY THIS: God, I accept that you accept me.

PLAY THIS: Reckless Love.