1 Peter 3:15-16
Gentleness and Respect
15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.
Matthew 13:34
Jesus Teaching in Parables
34 Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable.
John 4:1-26
Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman
1 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a])
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
17 “I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
Matthew 15:21-28
The Faith of a Canaanite Woman
21 Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.”
23 Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”
24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”
25 The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.
26 He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”
27 “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”
28 Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.
Matthew 7:28-29
Jesus Taught With Authority
28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.
Matthew 28:16-20
The Great Commission
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Mark 13:31
Jesus' Words Will Never Pass Away
31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
When I speak sometimes I am to the point and very much like to cut through the chase...Jesus spoke much differently (and much better than me I will add), and often spoke in parables...He always spoke with a reason, and for a reason, had a purpose, and new that His words would last forever...He had this art in speaking and engaging people in conversations that was and has been like no other orator or speaker ever to walk the earth...His parables make us think deeply about things and reflect on the lessons He teaches us in His Parables...
His words over time would encompass the earth...And with all the diversity and differences there are in our country alone, how could His word spread to the entire world and to all nations and still hold the sacred and spiritual importance the early followers had for His word?...
Jesus knew that since His words would last forever, and that they would eventually be reaching different crowds and different peoples -with different beliefs...His words would touch different cultures and different nations, so whatever He said would (over time) have to relate to anyone, anywhere...His disciples would take His words and in the Great Commission and spread them throughout the Roman Empire...He spoke with this gentleness and respect that St. Peter talks about in his first epistle, and added this strong sense of authority...St. Peter was at first, one to speak quickly and be quickly to the point, but He learned from his Master that when speaking to others, and if you want them to listen to you, this took an art that Jesus had...And I might add that Jesus' gentleness and respect was there, yet He was so powerful and unique that He came across as One having this great authority...He had this divine power and authority that made people want to listen to Him...
Jesus knew that different cultures would never accept His word, and His word would pass away if they were not spoken in the right way and the right context...Cultures even today are hard to mix...People in different nations each have their different traditions...But regardless of this, in His Great Commission, His disciples are to make followers of all nations, and not just to the people from the small regions and villages that He taught (I do not think He traveled more than two hundred miles from His birthplace)...
Jesus always had the listener wanting to hear what He was going to say or trying to figure out and interpret the spiritual meaning of what He had just said...They could feel this authority coming from Him...His parables were all laced with images about life and people...And later people from around the world would be able to visualize His teachings according to their own culture, traditions, and their origins...His parables would give the entire world a lesson in spiritual living...His parables would give the person from a different culture and nation, a moral lesson that even they could very much relate to, even though He was not from their region and He was from a different culture...And because of the visual words and images He used in His parables, people are more likely to remember His teachings...
The Jewish people did not get along with everybody in Jesus' time...They were at odds with the Samaritans and the Canaanites...And He surprises His own disciples and followers, in two of His great conversations with women of these different groups...Samaritans, Canaanites, and the Jews had different beliefs, traditions, and ways...Teachers of His time did not speak to women in a teaching way, let alone having a discussion with a Samaritan and a Canaanite...He converses with a Samaritan woman at a well, who peppers Him with questions...He even tells her that He is the Messiah...Jesus trusts her in telling her the things that He did, and in return she believes that He is, in fact, the Messiah who could explain all things...And He also helps a persistent Canaanite woman, whose daughter is suffering terribly...Jesus even tells her that He came first for the lost people of Israel...The Gentiles would be helped later in His Great Commission...But instead of putting her off or treating her curtly, He divinely takes away the suffering in her life, by healing her daughter...
Jesus shows us the value of this gentleness and respect, and adds a touch of His Love and surprises all of His followers by helping the Samaritan woman and the Canaanite woman...They are different from Him and the people of Israel He came to teach...He gives not only the two women hope, but gives the world hope in His conversations and parables...He shows us we should help all people...
Everyone is our neighbor...His words truly will never pass...Jesus gives us earthly stories that we can relate to with sacred and holy lessons of heaven...He give us this great hope, that everyone everywhere is important and unique...No matter what one's background, culture, or country, He brings eternal hope...He spoke the greatest words ever spoken and they will never pass away...