Most of us like to hang out with people who are a lot like us. We know that differences exist in the world, but we don't want them in our own lives. We're a tribal people. We take sides. When we enter a room, we gravitate to people who look like they may be one of us. We watch TV programs, even networks, that affirm what we think because we feel "at home" with them. We attend churches where the people are likely to worship God like we do, and we make sure to sit on the "right" side of the arena, or stadium, when we go to a watch a game.
The North going Zax and the South going Zax don't talk much. They see the world differently and they don't have much in common. There's no doubt about that, but the issue is deeper than socializing and rooting for our favorite team...because the circles we draw make others the targets of our suspicions and fears. The circles that keep others out tend to feed our own sense of entitlement and to diminish the Image of God in others. Thus, in a surprisingly short period of time, people who are different from us...become people who are dull-witted, mean-spirited, old-fashioned, racist, anti-American, sinful, and even evil. This was the way it was between the Jews and the Samaritans in Jesus' time. They despised each other. They didn't want anything to do with one another. It had been that way for centuries.
The Jews and the Samaritans shared the same patriarchs, but their sense of being "one with one another" had long since disappeared by Jesus' time. Indeed, if they had to travel from Judea to Galilee, most Jews would walk around Samaria, rather than having anything to do with it. But the Bible says (John 4) that Jesus and his disciples journeyed through Samaria en route to Galilee, and that they came to a town called "Sychar," which was the site of Jacob's well. According to John, while his disciples went into town to buy food, Jesus waited by the well... and a Samaritan woman came to draw water. Women drew the water in those days, as they did in our own colonial days, and in both cases women would generally go to the well in a group... because drawing water was an important time for socializing. But this was at noon... and the woman was alone, indicating that her friendship circle was small. "Can I have a drink?" Jesus asked, and his question took the woman aback. "How can you, a Jewish man, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?" she replied. It was a good question, because Jesus had violated two important social boundaries. In the first place, men didn't talk to women they didn't know and in the second place, Jews didn't talk to Samaritans. The woman was caught off guard, but Jesus noted that she would've asked him for living water if she knew who he was. Sir, the woman said, Give me the water you have so that I won't have to come to the well everyday. It's a long walk and it's often hot when I get here.
"Go and call your husband," Jesus said. Bring him to me, he said... and the woman confessed that the man she was living with was not her husband. Their conversation deepened and it became clear that the woman had 5 husbands in her past (some whom may not have actually been "husbands"). In any event, it became clear that Jesus may have violated a third boundary- by talking to a woman with a questionable past. The Jewish rabbi and the unnamed Samaritan woman talked on, but their dialogue ended with the woman saying, (v. 25) "I know that God's Messiah will make all things clear when he comes"... and Jesus said, "Ego eimi, I am!" I am the Messiah, the One whom you're talking about, the One who can meet your needs... for water, acceptance, love. And so it was a moment that was shared, even initiated, by the great "I AM" with an unknown Samaritan woman... who had a questionable past. She is the one whom he chose to speak to. She is the one whom he took the time to know. She is the one whom he offered living water, and she is the one whom he longed to save. She ran off to tell others in the village, and it's important to note that her sharing of what she had seen and heard- brought many people to Jesus.
But I want to return to the boundaries that keep us from loving others and simply ask these questions: 1) What people do you avoid? 2) What kinds of people are deplorable to you? 3) What sort of people do you walk out of your way... not to see? 4) Who are the Samaritans in your world? 5) Who are the people who are somehow "unclean" to you? 6) Are there people who make you "nervous" simply because they seem to be part of a group... that falls outside of your circle of love? Black people? Jewish people? Muslim people? Poor people? Tattooed people? Loud people? Haughty people? Gay people? Abusive people?.... How wide is your circle of love? Who's in? Who's out? Are the boundaries permeable? Or impenetrable?
Christ lived in a world that was filled with boundaries. Some people were worth loving and some deserved to be hated. Some people deserved respect and some were only around to serve a purpose. Jesus knew that. He knew that he wasn't supposed to welcome children, let Mary sit with his disciples, eat with sinners, heal a Roman Centurian's daughter, touch lepers, or converse with those who were leading unsavory lives. He knew all of these rules... and ignored them... because his circle of grace was really really large! In fact, it included everyone who was willing to be included. God's love is like that. It's inclusive, welcoming, and nonjudgemental . So, be careful with the circles you draw. Some of them come naturally- like family, church groups, and Cub fans- but some of them deprive other- the very people who need it most- of the love that Christ Jesus offered to the poor and disrespected in his time... and of the Living Water that he offered to a Samaritan woman!
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