TD Jakes - The Radical Rabbi
We are going to study the Word of God together. We’re going to get into the Word of God together, and we’re going to discuss the Word of God together from the Gospel of St. John 4:20–28. Yes, somebody has been reading from John. Amen. John 4:20–28. We’re entering at a unique point in this discussion between Jesus and the woman at the well. Most of the discussion has been omitted because it is not relevant to the point I want to emphasize. However, I want you to join me at the 20th verse, knowing that the conversation is already well underway. For the most part, we have omitted her personal life, her tragedies, her struggles, and her issues, leaving them in the solitude of her own confession with Jesus. We are focused more on how the conversation is starting to pivot toward what Jesus is going to do through her.
Am I at the part’s house? It’s good to be home. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus said to her, «Watch this closely, woman; believe me, the hour comes when you shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeks such to worship Him.»
If you read this as a Christ follower, you might not fully grasp how radical that statement is. But if you read it as an Orthodox Jew, you would understand how revolutionary it was for Jesus not only to condemn their worship in the mountain of Gerizim but also to assert that the hour comes, and now is, when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship God. God is a spirit.
Verse 24: God is a spirit! God is a spirit! God is not a philosophy; God is not an ideology. God is a spirit! God is not a thing; God is not the creation; God is a spirit! God is not the universe; God is a spirit! God is a spirit! You can’t bind Him; you can’t hold Him. God is a spirit! Nobody elected Him; nobody can disavow Him. God is a spirit! And they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit, not in a mountain, not in a temple, but in spirit and in truth.
The woman said to Him, «I know that the Messiah comes, which is called Christ. When He has come, He will tell us all things.» Jesus said to her, «I that speak unto thee am He.» This is a Bible-loving church. And upon this came His disciples, and they marveled. They were shocked that He talked with the woman. Wonder why? Yet no man said, «What seekest thou?» or «Why talkest thou with her?» The woman then left her water pot and went her way into the city and said to the men, «Come, see a man!» Can you say amen? Amen. I want to talk for a few moments about the subject: The Radical Rabbi. Rabbi simply means «teacher.»
Spirit of the Living God, rain down upon us, descend upon us like dew in the morning. Moisten our hard hearts, our callous dispositions, and our indifferent attitudes, that we might be so moved by You to enter into the integrity of this text. I thank You for what You’re going to do. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.
You may be seated in His presence. There is a word from the Lord. I think sometimes our Western culture has damaged our perception of who Jesus is and how He operated, through our cinematic productions, and perhaps some of our artwork and depictions, and our Sunday School illustrations. Jesus often comes across as being rather gentle, meek, humble, and quiet—almost passive, if you will. But the truth is, Jesus was not always gentle. He could be confrontational; He could be outspoken. He called them a generation of vipers—a whole generation of snakes. He told the Pharisees that they were like dead men’s bones. He even went into the temple and overturned the tables, kicked things, and moved things. Jesus was radical!
While we labor to fit in, we serve a God who stood out. He did not ingratiate Himself with the Pharisees or try to mingle with the Sadducees or be a part of the Sanhedrin. Jesus was radical. He announced His ministry in the temple, and He didn’t stay in the temple wrestling with them over orthodoxy; He took it to the streets. He went into the highways and byways and the alleys, touching the untouchables and the least likely in His ministry because He was a radical Rabbi.
So radical that Nicodemus sought Him by night, saying, «I know that Thou art a teacher, a master, a rabbi sent from God, and I want to know about this concept of being born again.» Jesus was radical. He went to the winebibbers; He hung out with sinners. You’re much holier than Jesus because the church today would disqualify you if they saw you with a sinner, yet they worship a God who hung around sinners. The sinners followed Jesus, washed His feet, and came to know God through Him while the religious people criticized Him because He was radical.
Anytime you are different, you will be controversial. Because some of us have always wanted to fit in so badly, we have never been our authentic selves. We need validation from people, and in doing so, we compromise our revelation for validation so that we can fit in with the Pharisees or the Sadducees or the family picnic, or the family reunion, or the class reunion, or the sorority; anything can become a clique or a club. Anything will challenge you to have the courage to be radical.
Now, looking at this text, we have two ways to approach it. We can look through a microscope and focus on the woman at the well and how she comes down to meet Jesus. We can draw nourishment from her story because all of us are, in some way, thirsty and we readily identify with the woman at the well. We can zoom in on the specificity of her predicament; perhaps she didn’t get along with other women or came down at a particular hour. Or perhaps she was used to dealing with men who said flirtatious things to her. All of us have had to deal with something at some time that made us want to be alone with our thirst.
I’d rather be thirsty by myself than have water from an enemy. We could take the microscope and hone in on the particulars of their conversation and argue over who was the most thirsty, the woman or Jesus, because it was not the woman who mentions thirst first; it was Jesus who said, «Give me to drink.» But we don’t have time to do that; my assignment is not to be microscopic.
I want to go deeper than a microscope, to a telescope, and back away from the text. Because it’s only when you take a telescope and back away from a situation that you understand why you are in that situation. Sometimes you are too close to the problem to understand the «why» of the problem. It’s only when you take a telescope and back away from it that you gain perspective.
That’s why most of us don’t understand what we’re going through until after we get through it. In retrospect, your life makes a lot more sense than it does in real-time while you are experiencing it. When you’re dealing with it, you’re feeling it. And oh, y’all didn’t hear me; that was good. When you’re dealing with it, you’re feeling it, and the feelings bring you down to a microscopic perspective: «You hurt me.» At that level, we don’t understand why we are in the season that we are in.
And isn’t this a season now? The people who know, know what I’m talking about. Isn’t this a season where you don’t know from day to day what you will have to deal with, from moment to moment? It’s a season that if you are microscopic and not telescopic in your view, you’ll think that God is not there.
This woman believed in the Messiah yet didn’t recognize the Messiah, even while she was talking to Him. This suggests it’s possible for God to be present and for you not to perceive Him as God in the middle of your situation. Her religiosity embraced the idea that the Messiah is coming; yet she does not realize that she is talking to the Messiah while waiting for Him until He reveals, «I that speak to you am He.»
You see, Jesus is the seed of Abraham, and we know this. We write it in songs, and we put it in music, but we don’t always understand the power of what that means. It not only means that He is the seed that passed through Abraham’s dead loins, quickening Sarah’s barren womb, causing her to conceive Isaac, and passed down through over 42 generations. When He came forth, He declared, «I am the Seed of Abraham.»
He is also the promise of Abraham that through thy seed shall all nations of the Earth be blessed. Yes, that is telescopic—through thy seed shall all nations be blessed. But they weren’t ready for Jesus to deal with all nations; they wanted Him to just be the King of the Jews—much like some denominations today. If you don’t go to our church, you aren’t in the real church. If you don’t do it like we do it, then I call you a false prophet. The Jews wanted to franchise the seed of Abraham. But the prophecy stated that through thy seed shall all nations of the Earth be blessed.
While they wrestled with when He would set up His kingdom, Jesus said, «I must needs go through Samaria.» This is shocking because the Samaritans and the Jews did not get along; they have a long history of discord. They were originally closely related, all tracing back to the Israelites. However, over time, a rift developed. You can get into a fight with someone and be in a fight for so long that you can’t even remember why you were fighting in the first place.
If you are embroiled in a generational conflict, if your mother doesn’t like them—my wife always says you can tell what people really think about you by how their kids treat you. Now, I’ve had no dealings with the kids, but they might already be treating me differently because they heard their mother say something that shaped their opinion about me.
So, a lot of what we think, feel, and believe is passed down. Oh, y’all aren’t going to talk to me this morning. In fact, many of the foods you dislike are the result of what you were not exposed to. Some of you are so microscopic in your thinking that if your mother didn’t cook it, without even tasting it, you’ll declare, «I don’t like it!»
Sometimes, you have to trace things back from a telescopic perspective and ask yourself, «Why don’t I like it? Why don’t I go? Why do I have this attitude?» You have to start separating what was placed on you from what is really you. Your ideas about marriage, what a husband ought to be, and what a wife ought to be were passed to you based on what you saw or didn’t see, liked or didn’t like. You can’t expect me to play a part in a movie where I never read the script you were given.
Now let me return to the Samaritans. You all like it better when I talk about other people. In 722 BC, the Assyrians attacked the northern tribes of Israel, dispersing and scattering them, moving into their territory. They even began to intermarry with them, which affected them in several ways. They became new in their ideas because, when you intermarry, you change.
The longer my wife and I have been married, the more we change places. She used to be the introvert, but after 40-some years, I’m starting to be a little more introverted because of our association. What does your mama tell you about association? Association brings on assimilation.
The new settlers intermarried with the remaining Israelites, leading to the formation of a distinct group of people—the Samaritans. The Samaritans and the Jews are related in origin but different in experiences. When you share an origin but differ in experiences, those differences manifest in your interactions.
We tend to focus on what separates us rather than on what unites us, becoming identified by our differences. The Samaritans accepted only the first five books of the Hebrew Bible (the Pentateuch), while the Jews recognized the entire Hebrew Bible, both oral and written, as sacred. However, both believed in God and the coming of the Messiah, albeit from different perspectives: one on Mount Gerizim and the other awaiting Him to come through the lineage of the Jews.
Eastern Gate, they’re both waiting in two different places, and they’re arguing about where he’s coming from. We have fought about everything in the world you can think of: natural hair, weaves, stilettos, tennis shoes. I’m liberated; I’m not wearing heels anymore. We have fought about everything—I’m natural; I don’t wear makeup, but she has on all that makeup. She’s pretty. We fought about light skin, dark skin, Democrat, left-wing. We have fought about everything you can think of. I’m a southerner; I only eat Southern cooking, but I like Mexican food. We fought about food; we fought about everything. Such were the times—only more severely are the differences between the Jews and Samaritans.
I want to illustrate it this way: it would be like me going to a Klan meeting. I knew that if I used that illustration, it would really drive the point home, so I want to use it. We’re both Americans, we’re both in the South; we both believe in Jesus, but we have a long history that would shock my pastors if I said, «I’m going to run a revival at a Klan meeting.» When Jesus said, «I must needs go through Samaria, » it was that shocking.
Now you see the power of the text. When you’re reading the Bible, you’re reading it backwards; you’re reading it after it happened without putting it in the context of the times in which it happened. You read the facts, but you miss the intensity of the moment’s feelings. Why were the disciples shocked that he was talking to this woman? It’s the same way you would be if you saw me hanging out with the Klan, and I would say, «Well, they believe in Jesus, they’re Americans, and we both have passports, » but the differences have become more important than the similarities.
I’m just in my introduction, and I’m not going to make it! Lord, help me, Jesus! The Samaritans built their own temple because, even throughout history, when they tried to join the Jews in building a temple, they were forbidden; they were shut out. They said, «We’ll build our own temple; we’ll build it up on the mountaintop; we’ll serve God our way.» The Jews insisted that the holiest site in Israel is in Jerusalem, in the synagogue, and they were fighting about that. They are historically fighting, culturally fighting, fighting about everything imaginable, including politics. Right in the middle of it, Jesus says, «I’m going to go down to the well and go to Samaria.»
The Jews have returned to Judah and rebuilt the temple. Why is Jesus going down to Samaria? Because he’s radical! He’s radical enough to go where you’re not supposed to go, to do what you’re not supposed to do, to be your own person, to stand on your own two feet. What’s the good of being free? If Jesus sets you free, why would you let people bind you up?
I want to declare somebody free today; I don’t know who it is, but I want to cut somebody loose today. I want to break some chains off of somebody in the room today. I want some authenticity to come out of you. If nobody likes you but God, I want you to come to the point where you can stand up, be yourself, and stand in the power of what God is saying to you. Shake hands with somebody and say, «I want you to like me, but you don’t have to.» Oh, something’s about to happen in here! I’ve got to be careful because I’m going to start a revolution in here. I don’t want to mess up and start a riot! I cannot afford to let the way you think incarcerate the way I live; I’ve got to do me.
One of the things I take issue with is this: if Jesus gave the keys to the kingdom to Peter, but he never gave anybody the keys to hell, then how do you think you can send me to hell? Are y’all not going to talk back to me today? Jesus was radical when he went to Samaria—period! It was radical to sit down by the well and wait for a woman in a misogynistic society for the Messiah to wait on a woman. Come on, sisters, you know I’m keeping it real for you up in here! You know how people do. You know how men have subtle ways of dishing you without outright dishing you and putting you in a second-class position. You work with it every day. You live with it every day. They will look past you and talk to your husband like you’re invisible, because you know what you go through as a woman.
There’s a woman coming down to the well, and Jesus, who only has three years, is running out of time, and he’s waiting on her. And she’s a Samaritan. You have to have courage to be different. If you are different in any way and you go to this church, you have to have courage, because some of your friends say, «Why are you going over there to that Potter’s House? I thought that was a black church.» You have to be your own person and say, «My soul is getting blessed at the Potter’s House, and the blessing doesn’t come in colors.» That’s why when you see Mexican folks, white folks, German folks—any kind of people that don’t look like you—you ought to go out of your way to be kind to them. Because anytime you dare to be different, you have to climb over something someone thought about what you said.
Somebody holler, «I’m here! I’m here!» I want to point out to you that God doesn’t do anything by accident. He sends the disciples away for food. He didn’t eat; he wants them out of the way so they don’t bring their prejudiced ideas into this moment of miracles. If you read the text, it doesn’t make sense. He sent them away to get food, and when they brought the food back, he said, «I have meat you know not of, » which means, «I was just getting you out of the way so that I can break down some barriers and touch somebody that you don’t like, » because sometimes God blesses people you don’t like. Tell three people, «Something’s about to happen in here this morning! Something’s about to happen! Something’s about to happen!»
I feel it. I feel it in the room. Something is about to happen; something is about to be shattered. Some tradition is about to be shattered; orthodoxy is about to be shattered. God’s about to do a new thing in you; God’s about to stir up something in you, and everybody can’t handle it. Some folks you need to send to go get lunch so you can do what God called you to do. If Jesus is the Seed of Abraham, then through the seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed. That doesn’t just mean the nations you like. He has a passion for the Samaritans.
Let me prove it to you: when the Pharisees asked him, «You say love thy neighbor; who is my neighbor?» That’s when Jesus gave them the story of the Good Samaritan. It’s like saying, «The Good Klan member.» Oh, you’re feeling some kind of way now? Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about! Oh, God! I wish I was back preaching in the days of social media; I would go all the way there with you and go completely off! Because there are people you don’t like that you don’t know, and you will go off like you know them.
I don’t like Oprah? The truth is, when was the last time you had coffee with Oprah? But we will develop a narrative and be angry and emotional about somebody we have never met. So all of you who can’t grow with me, go get some lunch. That doesn’t mean I don’t love you; it doesn’t mean we’re not going to get back together. But for what I have to do at this moment, I know you can’t handle it. You go get some lunch, and you can come back when it’s over and ask questions. That’s why the Bible said they marveled at why he was speaking to this woman. They didn’t marvel when he spoke to the woman caught in the act of adultery. See, people have selective grace. If you fit the profile, I’ll give you grace, but if you don’t fit the profile, Jesus talks to the woman and starts a narrative that is reflective of the Good Samaritan.
Do you know how the Pharisees felt when he said the Good Samaritan? He says the Levite passed by, saw the man bleeding on the Jericho road, and offered no aid to him. Come on, somebody! He says, «But when the Good Samaritan came, he got down off his beast, put the man on his beast, wrapped up his wounds, and poured in oil and wine.» Sometimes God will use people to bless you that do not fit the narrative of your expectations. You bring them to the family reunion, and your grandma is rolling her eyes, talking about, «Well, come on in, » and you’ve got to have enough courage to know what you know. While they grow, their theology was different and off. Their politics were different; they had generational differences and a mutual disdain for each other. But Jesus is trying to get them to open their minds.
Have you ever tried to open a bottle, and no matter how you squeezed it, you couldn’t get it open? It’s embarrassing as a man because we’re supposed to be able to open anything, and your woman is looking at you. So you put a little pressure down on it, and you try. That’s the way it is trying to open up people’s minds. You’re trying to get them to open their minds, but you’re breaking generational curses that were imposed upon you, that you were born into, that you were exposed to. Sometimes you’ve got to put some pressure on it to get it to turn, which is what repentance means. Repentance does not mean to come, slobber on the altar, and cry about something you did. Repentance, «metanoia» in the Greek, means to change the way you think. Can I go deeper? Am I helping somebody in this room?
While they focus on what is different about them, I want to focus on what is common among them. Whether you are a Jew or a Samaritan, you still need water. The human body is composed of roughly 60% water. So water needs water; if you don’t get water, you won’t irrigate your organs. Your tissue and brain health are compromised; your joints aren’t lubricated. The vitality of your brain is diminished because you need water. That’s why she’s coming to the well; that’s why he’s sitting at the well talking about, «Give me to drink.» He has asked this woman for water before she has any!
So stop telling me that God will only ask you for something you have. God will ask you for something you haven’t even drawn from yet. There is a call on your life that you haven’t even dipped your buckets into the well to see who you really are, and God will ask you for something you don’t think is in your inventory. Who’s ready to get the water you don’t even have? He will ask you to be a leader, and you’ve never led before. He will ask you to be a preacher, and you don’t like to talk in front of people.
I spent two years arguing with God about my ministry. I said, «Please just get somebody else. This won’t go well. I’m a bad choice. Leave me alone. I’m honored; I’m flattered. Thank you; see you! I don’t even want to be that!» For almost 50 years, my whole life’s destiny has been built around something I was trying to fight off. Who else in this room has a call on your life that you are trying to fight off because you don’t feel qualified, or it’s not you, or you know how people are, and you don’t want to be bothered with it? And yet, God keeps drawing you, saying, «I thirst! I thirst! How come you are asking me for water?»
I just got to the well myself. My buckets are dry; my storage is empty! I’m depleted; I’m in need myself! You ask me for water; why don’t you have your own bucket? That’s what they’re talking about! You know you’re thirsty—you should have brought something for yourself! «I’m thirsty too!» What draws them together—the Samaritan and the Jewish rabbi—is water. As long as he is in the flesh, he’s thirsty too. It reminds me of the statement he makes while dying on the cross: «I thirst.» The God in him is not thirsty; the man in him is thirsty.
The God in him is living water; the God in him is an artisan well, springing up to everlasting life. It is the man in him that is thirsty. It is possible to be divinely anointed and still be human. Oh, y’all don’t know that? Y’all don’t know that? You know your phone is going? Go and get some lunch! I’ll take a Big Mac with some fries and a Coke. See you later! God bless you! Happy Sunday! As anointed as you are, you’re still thirsty. As well as you can sing, you’re still thirsty. As talented as you are, you’re still thirsty. As educated as you are, you’re still thirsty. And Jesus is radical enough to meet her at the point of her thirst. If you’re watching right now online, I don’t care how thirsty are you, how lonely are you, how shocked you were when he walked out the door and left you with the bill and the kids.
You’re holding the pillow and crying at night. God is laying beside you; got the other pillow, he’s right up against you. Somebody hollered, «Fast!» They brought her down to the well, and he knew that sooner or later, she was going to show up. When you get through talking in tongues, when you get through dancing all over the church, when you get through being deep and spiritual and judging everybody else, putting people in and putting people out and sending folks to hell; sooner or later, you’re going to come down to this well, and I’m going to be waiting on you when you get there, and I’m going to show you yourself.
Let me hear it! I didn’t mess around and feel like preaching now. Y’all should have stopped me about 20 minutes ago before I felt this anointing creep up the back of my spine and hit me in the center of my cranium. I tell you, the power of the Holy Ghost, power, power, love, Holy Ghost and power. I feel the power! If you’re watching from Lake Nona, this is what I’m talking about. This part right here: love! Yeah, I need a drink, I need a drink. I walked all the way down here 'cause I’m thirsty, and I’m dry, and I’m tired, and I’m lonely. Give me this water that I fasted not for. I’m tired of coming here. Is anybody tired of the same old statement? I’m tired! Give me this water that I thirst for. I’m going to give you 15 minutes, 15 seconds, to give God a crazy praise.
Praise him till you feel the water. Praise him till he quenches your thirst. Praise him till he meets your need! Tell three people, «I’ve got to get this water! I’ve got to get this water!» I can’t come to church and cross my legs and look cute. I’ve got to get this water for the devil I’m fighting! I’ve got to get this water for the trouble I have to deal with. I’ve got to get this water for the things I’m going through. I’ve got to get this water! If I don’t get this water—If I don’t get this water—He says to her, «Your people worship in the mountain, you know not what you are doing.»
You just go through routines; you just go through rituals. You just come to church; you’re just doing something to be doing. Y’all don’t know. You don’t even know what you’re doing! But I waited on you. You’ve been burning sage, but I waited on you. You’ve been reading your astrology sign, but I waited on you. You’ve been tied up in your mess, but I waited on you. And I know you can’t shout 'cause you don’t want to break your cover, but when you get back to the house, uh, give him praise, uh, on your front porch, for how God… I need a shouting deacon! I need a shouting evangelist! I need a shouting church mother that said, «If it had not been…»
Can I go old school on you? Tell your neighbor, «You don’t know like I know what he’s done for me! You don’t know like I know what he has done for me.» I know! I know what he’s done for me! I know! I know! I feel a praise about to break out in this place! It’s about to get crazy in here! The power of God is about to move! That thing you feel running up and down your spine—God is a spirit! They that worship him must worship him. As long as he was rebuking the Samaritans, he was acting like a rabbi. You all don’t know what you’re doing—worshiping up in the mountains. Jesus told them, «You don’t know what you’re doing.»
You don’t know how to worship. You don’t know salvation is of the Jews. We know who we worship; that’s good stuff! But when he said, «The hour cometh and now is"—how can it be coming and now is? Good God Almighty! The Eternal, Everlasting God don’t pay no attention to a clock. He said it’s already here, and it’s going to hit you in a minute! Slap your neighbor and say, «It’s about to hit you 'cause it’s already here! Hey! He’s here! He’s here! He’s here! He’s here! He’s here! He’s here! He’s here! It’s coming and it’s here! It’s coming and it’s here! It’s coming and it’s here! It’s coming and it’s here! Holy Ghost, and it’s here! Holy Ghost, and it’s here!
Give him a praise! It’s coming and it’s here! It’s coming and it’s here! It’s already here! It’s already here! Yeah, it’s already here! It’s coming and it’s here! It’s coming and it’s here! It’s coming and it’s here! It’s coming and it’s here! It’s coming and it’s here! It’s on his way! It’s here! It’s coming and it’s here! Clap your hands for 30 seconds! Come on, it’s here! It’s coming and it’s here! Type it on the line—it’s here! It’s coming and it’s here! It’s coming and it’s here! It’s coming and it’s here! Everything he promised—it’s here! It’s coming and it’s here! Say it again—it’s coming and it’s here! It’s coming and it’s here! It’s coming and it’s here! Get ready! It’s coming and it’s here! Get ready! It’s coming and it’s here! It’s coming and it’s here! It’s coming and it’s here! And if you get ready, it’s coming and it’s here! Get ready! It’s coming and it’s here! Give him praise! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
It’s hard for me to get off of that—it’s coming and it’s here! Yes, sir! The hour cometh and now is, that they that worship God must worship Him in spirit and in truth. Neither shall you worship in this mountain nor in Jerusalem. What? What? What? What? Rabbi, you have brought the worship in Jerusalem down to the worship at the Mount of Gerizim! Yeah! Because it’s coming and it’s here! It’s coming and it’s here! It’s coming and it’s here! It’s coming and it’s here! It’s coming and it’s here! We’re the only ones who worship God! It’s not about places; it’s about spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to worship Him! As I close, I want you to see one woman who comes down to meet one rabbi at one well to get one water, because God only needs one.
When God got ready to make humanity, he made one man, and out of that one man came one woman, and out of that one woman came all of creation! God always uses one! When Israel was in bondage for 400 years, God didn’t send an angel. God didn’t send no disciples. He sent one man named Moses to go down there and tell Pharaoh to let my people go! When God got ready to bring a people out of a people, he used one man named Abram! When God got ready to deliver the world from their sins, He used one man! For there is but one Lord, one faith, and one baptism!
Slap somebody and say, „I’m the one!“ I’m the one! That’s what the fight is about! I’m the one! That’s what the tears are about! I’m the one! That’s what the test is about! I’m the one! The woman at the well was the one to carry the message to the city: „Come see a man that told me all things I have ever done!“ If you flip over to Acts chapter 8, Philip was in Jerusalem, and the great persecution arose in Jerusalem.
The Bible said Philip went down to Samaria by himself—one man! You got too many folks around you! All you need is one! If God be for you, he’s more than the world against you! Who am I preaching to? Who am I preaching to? Who’s here to get this word? You can stand all by yourself! The power of one is exemplified! Yes, there were other people crucified before him and after him. There were other people crucified around him, but they were not the one! She was the one to plant it! Philip was the one to water it! Because God, in his telescopic view of humanity, was bigger than the king of the Jews. He is the king of kings; he is the Lord of lords! God is bigger than the box and the connotations that you place Him in, and that’s why I call him the radical Rabbi!