“We All Need Jesus”


BIBLE READING: John 2-4
DISCUSSION                                                                  
                In John 3 and 4 we have two stories of people that are having their first one on one contact with Jesus.  The encounter is with Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews who visits Jesus at night. In John 4 we meet the nameless Samaritan woman who goes to the well to draw water.  As I study these two separate accounts, I cannot help but notice a significant correlation.  The two people in the stories, Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman, are opposites.   Nicodemus is a Jewish man, who is a ruler of his people, having somewhat of an education in the Jewish ways.   The Samaritan woman is just that, a woman who is a servant who has gone to draw water.  The connections continue.  He is a moral man who seeks Jesus out to uncover more of His teaching, while she is a woman that has been caught up in immorality (having five husbands and living with a man now), and she doesn’t seem to care less about Jesus, rather He seeks her out.  Nicodemus goes to Jesus at night, while Jesus comes to the Samaritan woman during the day. I believe with all my heart that God has John place the two accounts very close together within his gospel for a reason.  Even though the two stories parallel as opposites, the lesson is they both needed Jesus.  Today the lesson is the same; it doesn’t matter if we are old or young, rich or poor, Jew or Gentile, man or woman, moral or immoral; we all still need Jesus!
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