Dear Friend,
We’ve become so familiar with the term “good Samaritan” that it’s easy to forget what the word “Samaritan” meant to Jesus’s first audience. Most Jews despised Samaritans. They were viewed as outside of God’s promises, hated, sinful, impure.
So stop and imagine what the disciples thought when Jesus said to them, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8b, NIV). Share God’s love with them? Really?
Yes, really! And I believe Jesus was very intentional with His words. You can’t reach the ends of the earth, He is saying, without going through Samaria first. Reach the unloved and the marginalized, the invisible and the unwanted. Go into the hard places and offer hope to those who’ve been told they had no hope.
No doubt that was a hard teaching for the disciples to accept. It can be hard for us today when we consider our own “Samaritans,” the people our world has cast out—the different and the persecuted. But if the posture of our hearts isn’t ready to serve the Samaritans, we’ll never be ready to serve the rest of the world.
Through Biblica, you are sending God’s witnesses into Samaria. Our staff members and partner ministries reach out to the invisible, untouchable, and hope-deprived every day. And you are sending the very best witness of all: God’s Word, in languages and formats that people can readily understand.
Thank you for your continued support to fulfill Jesus’s commission to all His followers.
Geof Morin
President/CEO, Biblica
