Think back to the year 2010. We were told the internet would be the "Great Equalizer." We believed that if everyone had a voice, we would finally understand one another. We imagined a global village where borders would fall away, where technology would bridge every divide, where connection would finally heal our fractured world.
But by 2026, we've realized the opposite happened. Instead of a global village, we built a global high school cafeteria, where every table is a fortress.
And here's what haunts me as I stand here: I'm not angry about this. I'm grieved by it. Because this wasn't a conspiracy. Nobody woke up in a Silicon Valley office in 2010 and said, "Let's fragment humanity." It happened slowly, invisibly, through the very mechanisms that were supposed to save us.
Context of Epistemic Closure: The Room of Mirrors
The term "Epistemic Closure" was popularized in political science, but it has deep spiritual implications that we need to reckon with in the church.
Imagine a room with no windows, only mirrors. When you speak, you only hear your own echo. When you look out, you only see your own face. You feel connected because you're surrounded by reflections that validate every thought you have. But you're alone. And you don't even know it.
This is the "Filter Bubble."
In 2026, algorithms are designed to keep you "engaged," and the easiest way to keep you engaged is to feed your ego. The algorithm knows that if it shows you something that challenges you, you might "exit" the app. It knows that cognitive dissonance causes friction. So it shields you from the "Other." It creates a version of the truth that is comfortable, but it is a half-truth.
And here's the dangerous part: a half-truth lived as a whole truth becomes a full lie.
The Babel Connection: The Sin Wasn't the Tower. It Was the Uniformity
Let's look at Genesis 11:1-9. The text says, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves."
We usually think the sin of Babel was pride that audacious human impulse to reach heaven. But look more carefully at what preceded it: "Now the whole world had one language and a few words" (Genesis 11:1).
One language. One vocabulary. One way of thinking.
The sin of Babel wasn't just the height of the tower; it was the homogeneity of the people. They had unified under one voice, one narrative, one collective ego. They wanted a world where no one disagreed, where dissent was impossible, where they could reach "Godhood" through their own consensus.
God confused their languages not as a punishment, but as a mercy. Why? Because a world where everyone thinks exactly the same is a world where the Holy Spirit is no longer needed. The Spirit is always the voice calling us beyond ourselves, always inviting us to understand the "Other," always creating friction between our comfort and God's kingdom.
In 2026, we're rebuilding Babel. We're just using algorithms instead of bricks.
The Depth of "Imago Ego": Losing the Image in the Other
When we live in these digital silos, we begin to suffer from a spiritual sickness. We start to believe that our "feed" is the "world." We lose the Imago Dei the "Image of God"in our neighbor.
If someone thinks differently than me on my feed, the algorithm teaches me three things:
• "Cancel" them
• "Block" them
• "Mute" them
And the algorithm promises us that if we do, our anxiety will decrease, our certainty will increase, and we'll feel better. And it's right. We do feel better. That's what makes it so dangerous.
But here's what Scripture says: You cannot "mute" a brother or sister for whom Christ died. You cannot "block" someone who bears the divine spark. When we only love those who reflect us, we aren't practicing the love of Jesus; we are practicing Digital Narcissism.
Jesus said in Matthew 5:46, "If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?"
In 2026, the tax collector has been replaced by the "follower." If you only love your followers, if you only engage with those who like your posts, if you only listen to voices that already agree with you, then you are not living the 20/26 Vision. You're just living the algorithm.
But let me be honest for a moment: I struggle with this too. I feel the pull of the silo. I notice myself seeking out voices that validate what I already believe. I have to consciously, repeatedly, choose to listen to someone who challenges me. This isn't a condemnation I'm issuing from on high. It's an invitation I'm extending from where I'm struggling too.
The "Glitch" in the System: The Scandal of Radical Proximity
The Historical Context of the Lawyer's Question. In Luke 10:25, a lawyer stands up. In the Greek, the word for lawyer is nomikos he wasn't a courtroom attorney in our modern sense; he was an expert in the Nomos, the Divine Law. He asks Jesus a deceptively simple question: "Who is my neighbor?"
It sounds innocent, but it's actually a question of enormous consequence. We must understand the "Theological Algorithm" of the 1st century. The religious elite had categorized the world into neat, digital-like boxes:
Clean vs. Unclean.
To them, a "neighbor" was a fellow observant Jew someone who kept the law the way they kept the law. Anyone else Gentiles, tax collectors, and especially Samaritans was filtered out of their moral responsibility. They had "blocked" the Samaritans long before social media existed. There was 400 years of tribal coding that said: Those people are not your people. They are not your responsibility.
The algorithm of their culture whispered, "Your neighbor is someone like you."
The Scandal of the Samaritan
Jesus responds with a parable that would have made the audience physically uncomfortable. He mentions a Priest and a Levite the "influencers" of their day, the ones with the biggest platforms and the most followers. They passed by on the other side.
And notice their excuse: They had a "liturgical reason" for their distance. They didn't want to become ritually defiled. They chose Virtual Purity over Physical Mercy. They maintained their moral cleanliness by maintaining their physical distance. They could say, "I love humanity in general" from a distance. They could advocate for justice without risking anything. They could post about compassion without getting their hands dirty.
Then comes the Samaritan.
To the Jewish listener, the Samaritan was the ultimate "Enemy." There was a 400-year-old "echo chamber" of hatred between these two groups. Samaritans were heretics, collaborators, traitors. Everything in the listener's algorithm screamed, "This is the enemy. This is the one you don't help."
By making the Samaritan the hero, Jesus wasn't just telling a nice story about charity. He was crashing the software of their prejudice. He was introducing a "glitch" into their system of exclusion.
The Depth of Radical Proximity
Here's the detail that undoes everything: The Greek text says the Samaritan "came to where he was."
He didn't send money. He didn't post about the man's suffering. He didn't organize a committee to discuss the problem. He came. He got close. He knelt in the dirt.
In 2026, we have mastered the art of "Digital Distance." We can argue about poverty from a leather couch. We can post about justice while sitting in a gated community. We can perform compassion without risking comfort.
But Kingdom vision requires Radical Proximity.
The algorithm thrives on distance. Distance is what allows you to dehumanize. It allows you to reduce a human being to a "take" or a "thread" or a "side." But you cannot ignore the humanity of someone when you are kneeling in the dirt with them, when you are pouring oil on their wounds, when you can see the dignity in their eyes.
Distance is where algorithms live. Proximity is where the Gospel lives.
A Practical Confession
And here's where I have to level with you: The person easiest to hate is the one you've never touched. The easiest person to dismiss is the one you've never had to look in the eye. The easiest person to "cancel" is the one you know only through a screen.
But sit across a table from someone? Listen to their story? Understand the wound behind their words? Everything changes. You can't dehumanize someone whose breath you can feel.
The 20/26 Insight: Love Is a Proximity Thing, Not a Sentiment Thing
Here's the core truth that will change how you see both the Gospel and the algorithm:
Love is not a sentiment you feel at a distance; it is a sacrifice you make in proximity.
If your Christianity only exists on your screen, if your faith is something you curate and perform and optimize for engagement, then it isn't the Christianity of the Good Samaritan. It's something else. It's performance. Its narcissism dressed up in Scripture.
We are called to move past the "Digital Veil” that screen that acts as a barrier between us and the real world. We are called to recognize that the person you were programmed to ignore, the person on the other side of the political divide, the person whose theology doesn't match yours, the person whose life looks different from yours that is the very person God has called you to serve.
The Architecture of Unity: One Lord, One Faith, One Feed
Exegesis of Ephesians 4:3-6 Paul writes this while in chains. He is imprisoned. He is writing to a church in Ephesus that was a cultural "melting pot" of friction Jews and Gentiles, rich and poor, slaves and free people trying to figure out how to be "one."
He uses a word I want you to remember: syndesmos the bond of peace. It's an anatomical term for ligaments those connective tissues that hold a body together. Paul is saying that peace isn't the absence of difference; it's the connective tissue that holds difference together.
He lists what he calls the "Seven Ones":
• One body
• One Spirit
• One hope
• One Lord
• One faith
• One baptism
• One God and Father of all
The Scholarly Insight: Unity vs. Uniformity
This is crucial for 2026, so let me be clear: There is a massive difference between Unity and Uniformity, and the algorithm wants Uniformity.
Uniformity is what the algorithm seeks. It wants to group people who are exactly the same so it can sell them the same products and ideas. Uniformity is fragile because it depends on everyone agreeing. It's fragile because it's false. It's built on the illusion of consensus, and the moment you introduce someone who thinks differently, the whole thing fractures.
But Unity is a miracle. It is the bringing together of things that are different,different cultures, different theologies, different politics, different experiences. In the New Testament, unity isn't the absence of difference; it is the presence of a higher authority (Christ) that makes those differences secondary. The differences are still there. They're just no longer ultimate.
The "Feed" of the Kingdom is not curated by our likes. It is not designed to keep us comfortable. It is curated by the Blood of the Lamb.
The Application: An Audit of the Heart
To live with 20/26 Vision, we must perform what I call a "Spiritual Audit." And this is where it gets uncomfortable. I want you to honestly answer these two questions:
The Content Audit: Does my digital consumption make me more like Christ or more like my political party?
That's not a rhetorical question. Look at what you follow. Look at what you engage with. Look at the voices you amplify. Are they drawing you closer to the character of Jesus His compassion, His willingness to sit with the "Other," His refusal to build walls? Or are they drawing you closer to a political tribe that just happens to have a cross in the lobby?
The Affective Audit: Do I feel "outrage" more often than I feel "compassion"?
Because here's the thing about outrage: It's efficient for the algorithm. Outrage is fast. Outrage spreads. Outrage makes you feel righteous without requiring you to actually sacrifice anything. But compassion? Compassion takes time. Compassion is slow. Compassion requires you to actually enter someone's pain.
If your emotional life is primarily fed by outrage, if you're feeling more angry than loving, more certain than humble, more divisive than bridging then the algorithm has won. Not because you're wrong about the issues. But because you've let the machine shape your soul.
The Kingdom Milestone: From Followers to the Reconciled
In 2026, the world measures success in followers. The algorithm measures success in engagement. But the Kingdom of God measures success differently.
In 2026, the milestone isn't how many people "follow" you; it's how many people you have "reconciled" with.
Have you moved toward someone who disagreed with you? Have you listened to understand, not to win? Have you made peace where there was division? Have you prayed for someone who challenged you? Have you sat at a table with an "enemy" and discovered they were just human?
That's the Kingdom milestone.
We must trade "Outrage" (the currency of the world) for "Intercession" (the currency of the Kingdom).
When you see a "post" from that person who irritates you, the algorithm says: Attack. The Spirit says: Pray. One builds a "Feed"; the other builds a "Kingdom."
The Un-Programmable Life
In 2026, the most powerful witness you have is your unpredictability.
If the world knows exactly what you will say because of your "demographics," if they can predict your entire worldview based on your zip code or your church tradition or your political affiliation, then you are just another data point. You are just another person the algorithm has already figured out.
But when a Conservative Christian speaks with radical grace to a Liberal neighbor that's a "glitch."
When a Liberal Christian speaks with deep reverence for traditional truth that's a "glitch."
When someone refuses to fit into the algorithm's neat categories, when they love the "enemy," when they think for themselves, when they follow Jesus instead of following a tribe that is the "Peace of God that passes understanding" (Philippians 4:7).
You become a walking contradiction to the system. And that's exactly what the system hates.
The Final Challenge
I'm going to leave you with three sentences, and I want them to haunt you this week.
Don't let a line of code tell you who to love.
Don't let a Silicon Valley billionaire tell you who your neighbor is.
Look up from the scroll. Look into the eyes of the person in front of you.
The 20/26 Vision is this:
We don't see users; we see souls. We don't see adversaries; we see "Immortals" for whom Christ died. We don't measure success by how many people follow us; we measure it by how many people we've reconciled with. We don't retreat into digital distance; we move toward radical proximity.
The algorithm whispers, "You deserve comfort."
Jesus says, "You are called to love."
Choose wisely.
Kingdom Milestone for the Week
The Proximity Challenge: This week, identify one person you typically engage with only digitally someone you debate with online, or whose perspective you dismiss, or whose life is filtered through a screen. Then do something radical: Reach out and ask to have a real conversation. Not to convince them. Not to win. Not to change their mind. Just to understand. Just to be reminded that they're human. Just to let proximity do what distance never could.
And as you do, pray. Not prayers of judgment. Prayers of listening. Prayers that ask God to open your heart to the image of God in this person you've been tempted to dismiss.
Benediction
May the God who calls us from Babel into unity, who sends us from digital distance into radical proximity, who loves not from a distance but by taking on flesh and dwelling among us, keep you un-algorithmic, un-programmed, and undeniably human. May you see the face of Jesus in every face that challenges you. And may the Spirit give you the courage to love when the algorithm commands you to divide.
Amen.
