Jesus humbled himself to the mercy of someone else's hospitality for the sake of the gospel.
Most of us don't like to feel dependent on other people, let alone on people we think should be dependent on us. Yet even Jesus humbled himself to be dependent on someone who was unlike him and who really needed something from him more than he needed her hospitality. In John 4, Jesus' interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well has much to teach us about living on mission: crossing boundaries by asking deeper questions for the sake of opening opportunities for Gospel conversations.
You don't need to go on an international missions trip to do this. In this 28-minute audio message from a Wednesday night Bible study, Rory Tyer, VP of Marketing with Global Outreach, shares a tool called "social identity" and uses it as a lens to help us better understand Jesus' conversation with the Samaritan woman. If we build bridges to people around us, like Jesus did, then the Spirit will open up Gospel conversations, just as happened when Jesus was invited to stay in the woman's town. Many believed in him as a result!
May we who are Jesus' hands and feet be willing to humble ourselves to even accepting hospitality from people who are very different from us for the sake of loving them and opening up doors for Gospel conversations.