Jesus’ Model For Creating Advocates Via Word of Mouth

Hello! In January, I made a commitment to start reading the Bible daily. It’s been a wonderful experience, and on Saturdays I like to publish a post sharing what I am learning from reading scripture. Hopefully these posts will resonate with you. If not, don’t worry, I will return to discussing business, marketing and web3 on Monday!  Thanks for reading! You can view all of my posts on the teachings of the Bible here.

The last week I have been binge-watching a spectacular series on the Bible called The Chosen. Hopefully you have heard of it and possibly even watched it.  If you have not, you are in for a treat, you can watch it at their site. Thanks to generous donations from supporters, you can watch The Chosen for free. I downloaded Angel Studios’ app and watch the episodes with it.  You don’t even have to sign up, just watch.  When you watch an episode, it will tell you who donated and made it possible for you to watch the episode for free, and gives you an option to write them a thank you note, which I think is a very nice touch.

I am a few episodes into the second season right now, and I am loving it. Watching The Chosen is actually helping me better understand what I’ve already read in the Bible. For instance, there is the story of Jesus attending a wedding and turning water into wine. I read this multiple times in the Bible, but seeing the story retold in The Chosen helped me better understand why this miracle was so important, based on the role that wine played at a jewish wedding in this day.

As you know, I love the study of how brands can better connect with their customers to form advocates for their message and brand. It’s main reason why I wrote Think Like a Rock Star, to give companies a framework for building better connections with their most passionate customers. This group is often overlooked, and if a company is smart enough to reach out to their loyal customers, those customers will happily sing their praises and market for them.

As I’ve been reading the Bible, and watching The Chosen, I have been struck by the people that Jesus chose to be the advocates for His message. Jesus repeatedly stresses that He did not come to teach to the righteous and the healthy, but that He came for the sinners and the sick. In one episode of The Chosen, Jesus and his disciples are planning a trip to a nearby city. One of the disciples says that the quickest route to the city is to take a particular road, and the other disciples agree.

But Jesus says that instead, they will take another path, which will make the trip longer, and will bring them dangerously close to a violent city. The disciples immediately protest, fearing for the safety of their Teacher. Jesus explains that He wants to take that path because He needs to have a meeting with a very important person along the way. The disciples are puzzled, but they go along with their Teacher’s plan, and set out on their journey.

At one point in their journey, they come to a well near a city.  Jesus tells His disciples to go to the nearby city and buy supplies for them, and leave Him there. The disciples again protest, but Jesus says He will be fine. The disciples leave, and eventually, a surly woman comes to the well carrying jars to collect water from the well.

Jesus asks her for a drink, and she asks why a Jew would dare talk to her, and asks if He knows who she is and what she has done. Jesus tells her He does, that He knows her sins, and then He tells her everything she has done that she is ashamed of. Jesus then tells her that her well gives you water but you will still be thirsty, and then Jesus tells her that He can give water to her that when she drinks it, she will never thirst again.

At this point, the woman realizes she is talking to the Messiah, and becomes overjoyed. She tells Jesus “I am going to tell everyone about you!” and begins to run toward the nearby city. Jesus replies “I am counting on it!”

Here is a blog post from Angel Studios about this scene and the relevant scripture it comes from. When I saw this scene, it helps crystallize for me why Jesus said He came for the sick and the sinners. What Jesus was saying was, He came to give hope to the hopeless.

Think about this from the perspective of wanting to create advocates for your message.  If you give hope to someone who feels hopeless, how would they react? They would obviously be overjoyed, and want to share what you had done for them, with the world. They would be far more appreciative of the gift you had given them, and as a result they would be far more committed to telling others about you.

This is why Jesus picked the sick and sinners to meet. To talk to, to heal.

To save. Because He wants us to stand up, and go running into the world so that we can share the Good News with everyone.

Here is the trailer for The Chosen. If you haven’t watched the series yet, you are in for quite a treat!