Talking with the Samaritan woman

“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.)” John 4:9
In Israel in Jesus’ time, as in many places today, there were certain groups or types of people that you simply didn’t associate with. Jews did not associate with Samaritans (the ‘half-Jews’ who were products of the northern kingdom of Israel who had been taken into captivity in Assyria and forced to integrate with other races). Men did not associate with women who were not related to them. You didn’t associate with lepers, or befriend tax-collectors.
Yet Jesus showed no partiality on the basis of someone’s race, gender, or social standing. He talked with this Samaritan woman – whom even the other people in her own town avoided, because of her having had multiple husbands. He taught her the truths of God, just as He taught His own disciples. He gave her the same opportunity to believe in Him that He gives to you and I today.
I don’t know about you, but I constantly need reminding of this fact: Every person is important to God. We might look out over a crowd of people, or pass by them in the street, and think nothing of it. But God knows each one of those people: their name, their family situation, what is troubling them, what He has planned for them. Each person is created in the image of God and they are precious to Him. If we are to represent Him faithfully, we should act like Jesus and not show partiality to anyone, but treat everyone with respect. Everyone needs to hear the gospel, so that they might believe and be saved!