John 4:5-42
By: Rev. Ken Sauer
Pastor, Parkview UMC
Newport News, VA
www.parkview-umc.org
“Breaking Barriers”
A colleague of mine was eating with a parishioner in the food court of a mall.
As they were eating and talking my friend’s attention was drawn to two teenagers—a girl and a boy who were seating themselves at a nearby table.
What caught my friend’s attention was the way these two teenagers looked.
The boy was wearing those really droopy drawers…you all know what I’m talking about.
Both kids were dressed in black, they had piercings in their noses, lips, eyebrows, etc….
They were “Goth” kids my friend said.
As he watched them, he began to classify them in his mind…
…put them into certain categories.
Categories which build barriers between people…
…he began to try and imagine what kind of mischief they must be up to…
…he was judging them by their appearance.
Then, to the shock and awe of my colleague, the boy and the girl, joined hands—bowed their heads and gave thanks to God for the food they were about to eat—unabashedly, in the middle of that busy mall food court.
The classification of people is most definitely an indictment against all of us.
Instead of getting to know others, we so often take the ‘easy way out,’ and judge them quickly.
We allow our first impressions to ruin the wonderful opportunity we have to break down the barriers of misunderstanding between persons that cause prejudice, hate, pride, and violence.
In verse 4—right before our Gospel Lesson for this morning we are told that Jesus “had to go through Samaria.”
Jesus could have avoided Samaria.
Many Jews were able to easily avoid that place by crossing the Jordan and traveling on the east side.
But Jesus “had to go through Samaria.”
Why?
Could it be that Jesus had to go through Samaria because there was a harvest there?
Could it be that, even in Samaria, a place that was considered to be so ungodly…
…there were people of sacred worth…people who God loves... who were ripe to accept Christ and be transformed?
Could it be that Jesus doesn’t classify people—put people into categories like we so often do?
This person is good, this person is bad, this person is not the right race, this person is not intelligent enough, this person is too intelligent, this person is too sinful, this person is too dirty, this person is too ugly, too poor…whatever it is…
…Jesus doesn’t see people this way and neither should we.
Has the exclusivity of any club, organization, institution, or even certain part of town ever caused you to feel as if you do not measure up?
Well, Jesus broke through these barriers of exclusivity.
He was just as likely to be found speaking with a rich young ruler as he was a leper, an outcaste…
…any person on the fringes of society.
Jesus reached out to all, and made bridges of love and friendship, as He brought the message of God to our world.
Sadly, 2,000 years later, we still haven’t gotten what Jesus was about.
For…some of the very institutions which exist as the self-proclaimed mouthpieces for Christ can be some of the most exclusive parts of society.
When we read the Gospels we find that Jesus was constantly in conflict with the religious authorities of His day.
He associated with the wrong people, broke the Sabbath, challenged the Hebrew Law, and spoke out against the practices of the temple priests, Pharisees, Scribes, and other religious leaders.
And He paid dearly for doing this.
They killed Him.
I was in conversation with a group of colleagues not too long ago, when one person in the group made the statement: “If Jesus were to come to earth in 2005 like He did 2,000 years ago He would be put to death again.”
Then this person poised the question, “But who would it be that would put Him to death?”
My response was, “Probably the leaders of the Christian Church.”
They would not approve of the kinds of people Jesus would accept into God’s Kingdom.
And Jesus would not approve of the way we, so often, shut the doors of the kingdom of God in so many persons’ faces.
Today’s Gospel Lesson is a perfect example of how Jesus transforms conventional wisdom, breaks down barriers, and challenges the status quo of this world.
The Jews of Jesus’ day hated Samaritans.
The Samaritans were the descendents of the ten lost tribes of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, who had been overrun and conquered by the Assyrians 700 years before Christ.
It was unthinkable for a self-respecting Jew to have anything to do with a Samaritan, yet Jesus intentionally journeyed through this region.
Moreover, it was against all accepted practices for a Jewish man to engage a woman in conversation.
Yet, Jesus talks with a woman.
And we see in verse 27 that when the disciples returned they were surprised to find Jesus talking with a woman.
Now, we must look at this in the context of the world in which Jesus lived.
In Christ’s day there was serious debate as to whether or not women even had souls.
And it has only been relatively recent that our own society has begun to accept women as equal to men.
Can you imagine how radical a thing it was that Jesus was doing that day at Jacob’s well in Samaria?
It was Christ Who gave women their chance…
…it was Christ Who saw their possibilities, Who uncovered their value.
Jesus Christ was the first One to break down these barriers.
And as Christians, we are called, as Christ’s Body on this earth, to break down barriers for the sake of the Gospel.
We are called to stop shaping life according to societal definitions of what is acceptable and comfortable, and to express our openness to those who are different, just like Jesus did in His encounter with the Samaritan woman.
Are we doing this?
And if so, how are we doing this…or how well are we doing this?
John Wesley told us that there is no Christianity without social justice, and, yet, look at how little social justice there still is in our world.
Without the proper health insurance, hospitals refuse to treat persons.
Our government is set up so that the rich are becoming richer and richer, while the poor are becoming more and more poor.
I am so often astonished at what little options there are for those who suffer from mental disabilities, but do not have the outrageous amount of money needed to pay for private care.
It’s easy to ignore the outcastes of society.
It’s easy to just close our doors, turn up the heat, plop down on the couch, watch t-v, and give never a thought to the injustices that our neighbors are living with.
It’s easy to pass by the beggar, the mentally ill, the homeless…when we have a car with warm seats and a stereo…
…after all, we are not our brother’s keeper…
…or are we?
This is the excuse that Cain gave to the Lord when asked “Where is your brother Abel?”
Where are our brothers and sisters right now?
Where are our brothers and sisters who live on the fringes of society, who have hunger pains in their bellies, who are dying alone in the streets…as if, for some reason, a large percentage of God’s creatures are indeed expendable?
The Samaritan woman must have felt as if she were expendable…or somehow less than human.
After all, she was drawing water, by herself, in the heat of the day…
…which was very odd…
…because the normal time to do this was in the cool of the evening, when all the other women gathered about the well and heard and shared the news.
This woman’s unsavory reputation had made her unpopular in the town; and the other women had intentionally ostracized her.
So rather than having to deal with such demeaning snobbery, she had made it her habit to slip out to the well at a time when she could be reasonably certain that no one else would be there.
So there she was at the well, and as always, it was Christ Who took the first step…He is the One Who opened His mouth and started the conversation that would not only radically change her life, but also the lives of so many in that town.
In verse 39 we are told that “Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony…”
Often it is from those we least expect it—like the teenagers giving thanks to God for their food in that mall—that we are shown the Way—that we see Jesus…
…and in seeing Jesus, we see ourselves for who we truly are and we see what we can become in Him.
God’s grace knows no bounds.
Jesus “had to go through Samaria,” even though it would have been easier to avoid it.
What places are we called to go through—although we could easily avoid them—simply because in those places there are people who are ready to hear and experience the Gospel of Jesus Christ?
As Christians we are called to follow Christ…
…to go to the places Christ would go…
…to speak to the people Christ would speak to…
…to love the people Christ loves—even if no one else loves them.
Like Christ, we are called to take the time to get to know people…
…not to pre-judge them.
We are called to break down the barriers—not build more…
We are called to be Christ to this world, and that includes everyone…no matter what there race, class, mental abilities, or lack of…no matter how sinful we perceive them to be….
…and in doing so we will truly be living what we pray…
…that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Amen.
