God Welcomes All the Nations - Welcoming Samaritans and Non-Jews

Welcoming Samaritans and Non-Jews

In the first century, Jesus ordered his followers to make disciples of people of all the nations.  (Matthew 28:19)  This was not easy for them.  Jesus' disciples were Jews and, like Jonah, were used to talking only to people from the same background and culture.  Naturally, they would also have felt pressured by the common prejudices of the day.  Jehovah directed matters, however, so that his servants progressively discerned his will for them. 

The first step was to overcome the prejudices between Jews and Samaritans.  Jews had no dealings with Samaritans. Yet, more than once, Jesus prepared the way for the future acceptance of the good news by the Samaritans.  He showed his impartiality by speaking to a Samaritan woman.  (John 4:7-26)  On another occasion, by means of the illustration of the neighborly Samaritan, he showed a religious Jew that people other than the Jews were capable of showing love for neighbor.  (Luke 10:25-37)  When the time came for Jehovah to bring Samaritans into the Christian congregation, Philip, Peter, and John -all of Jewish origin-preached to the inhabitants of Samaria.  Their message produced a great deal of joy in that city. -Acts 8:4-8, 14-17.

If it was hard for the Jewish Christians to love Samaritans, who were in fact distant relatives of the Jews, it must have been even harder for them to show neighborly love to non-Jews, or Gentiles, who were scorned and hated by the Jews.  Nevertheless, after Jesus died,m the barrier between Christians and Gentiles could be removed.  (Ephesians 2:13, 14) To help Peter accept this new arrangement, Jehovah showed him a vision in which he told him to "stop calling defiled the things God has cleansed."  Jehovah's spirit then led him to a Gentile named Cornelius.  When Peter understood God's viewpoint-that he should not call this man of the nations defiled because God  had cleansed him-he said under inspiration:  "For a certainty I perceive that God is not partial, but in every nation the man that fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him."  (Acts 10:9-35) How amazed Peter was when God showed that he accepted Cornelius and his family by pouring out holy spirit upon them!

Next time: God  Welcomes All the Nations - Paul-A Chosen Vessel to the Nations

The Watchtower, 2002