Breaking Bad...Barriers

Joel Gilbert

The Gospel of John: Believe • Sermon • Submitted 2 years ago • Presented 2 years ago • 37:14

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General theme - Our hatred, biases, prejudices, and bigotry cause us to miss divine opportunities. In Jesus day, Jews and Samaritans did not get along. Jesus travelled through a despised land, talked to a despised woman, of a despised race, and a despised reputation. All of these were despised - not because Jesus viewed them that way, but because His culture did. As a result of Jesus breaking through the social barriers, many people believed in Him. In the movie “Avatar,” the Na’vi have a phrase “I see you” - meaning - not only do they see you physically - but they see who you are. Jesus truly saw this woman who was socially outcast because of her lifestyle and showed her compassion. Jesus saw the people of this Samaritan village and willingly remained with them for two days, opening scripture to them. Do we see the people around us the way that God does? Is there latent prejudice that keeps us from engaging with people who are different than us?

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We have a problem of overreacting to things in our culture. Our instantaneous news and social media driven culture seems to demand immediate responses to events, incidents, and more. So often, some people will react without thinking about the ramifications.

In response to the deaths of some African Americans at the hand of police officers - there were many cries to de-fund the police. Those deaths were tragic and avoidable, but there must be a better solution than getting rid of all law enforcement. I’m grateful the President began to address that narrative.

When it seemed that the origin of COVID-19 that started this pandemic originated in China, incidents of racially motivated crimes against people of Chinese descent increased.

In 2003, when the nation of France refused to join in the war against terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan, some people because calling French Fries, Freedom Fries. This reaction did little more than cause people to look foolish.

In the late 90s, when Disney was perceived to be making morally questionable choices in their programming and days of recognition, Southern Baptists voted at their annual convention to boycott all things Disney. I find it interesting and ironic that this year, roughly 25 years later, the SBC is meeting in Anaheim, just blocks from Disneyland - and are even offering discounts to the theme park. I don’t think Disney is any more moral today than they were in 1997 - what changed?

One of the things that seems to make things worse today is that if you don’t hold the same view or build up the same barriers, then you’ll get canceled or cut off as well.

All of these cancellations and protests seemed to set up a barrier between the righteous and the unrighteous, the clean and the unclean.

While social media seems to have ramped things up in recent years, this is not a new problem. Jesus dealt with it in his day.

During His earthly ministry, Jesus was frequently pushing people to look at their biases and prejudices And even divisive religious practices. He pushed against the tendency to ignore or ostracize people for a variety of reasons.

He was referred to as a glutton and drunkard because He chose to hang out with people who struggled with those vices.

He was called a friend of sinners because he invited dishonest (tax collectors) and sinful people (the adulterous woman) to follow him.

Jesus seemed to be in the business of breaking down bad bias barriers.

Today, as we consider Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman, we are going to look at the bad barriers he broke down around the woman and the results in her life and the lives of the others in the community.

In the passage we read, Jesus has a very interesting conversation with this woman. I found their conversation enlightening and full of lessons to be learned. The underlying lesson seemed to be that…

Jesus was not confined by the Cultural Barriers of His day. He was more concerned with the truths of the Bible and the advancement of the Kingdom than he was with the man-made traditions that were put in place to keep people from sinning.

So as we consider this passage today, we will consider some of the cultural barriers that Jesus broke through in this one encounter and the results.

First of all, we notice that…

Jesus Broke Through Cultural Barriers

There are several things that Jesus does to reveal to us what he thought about the cultural barriers that permeated Hebrew culture in that day.

First of all, Jesus…

Walked through a defiled land (4)

If you were to look at a map, you’d be able to see Judea, Samaria, and Galilee all in a row, from south to north. Jesus was down in Judea, not too far from Jerusalem, and decided that he needed to go to Galilee. So He heads north. The challenge is that directly north of Judea is Samara. The tension between Jews and Samaritans ran so deep that Jews, according to some scholars, would not enter Samaria for fear of becoming ceremonially unclean. Many times, even though it was the quickest route between Galilee and Judea, some strict Jews would travel around Samaria in order to avoid this defiled land.

The region of Samaria was formed when the kingdom of Israel divided. After Solomon, the people of the northern Kingdom (Samaria) decided to set up their own kings – often ungodly. Their faith became watered down and even somewhat mixed with other religions. Because of this, Samaritans and Jews disagreed with each other on issues of the faith And so Jews refused to interact with Samaritans and refused to be defiled by walking through their land.

Jesus broke through that barrier.

In addition to walking through a defiled land, Jesus…

Talked to a woman (7)

DA Carson writes that…

“Some Jewish thought held that for a rabbi to talk much with a woman, even his own wife, was at best a waste of time and at worst of diversion from the study of Torah.” (Carson, The Gospel According to John, p. 227)

Jesus clearly disregarded this bad cultural barrier in talking with her - which is why she responds to him by saying,

John 4:9 ESV

The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)

More than just talking to any woman, Jesus talked to a woman…

... of a defiled race (7)

The Assyrians came and conquered the people of Samaria, the northern kingdom. When they resettled the land, many Assyrians intermarried with Samaritans. This caused many pure Jews to look down on the Samaritans. According to the Bible Knowledge Commentary, there was a Rabbinic writing that stated that “Samaritan women were considered as continually menstruating,” which essentially deemed them as permanently unclean. Again, Jesus did not consider this bad barrier worthy to be observed.

Jesus talked to this woman, of a defiled race, …

… and a defiled lifestyle (18)

For many strictly religious people, this woman would have been considered sinful because of the fact that she had been married so many times.

But it’s not only the religious people that treated her this way. If you look in your bibles at John 4:6 - what time of day did Jesus meet up with this person? The sixth hour or about noon

Several of the commentators have pointed out that being in the middle of the day, this woman would have been coming to the well alone - because none of the other women would have wanted to be near her either. Many women would have gone in groups at the beginning or end of the day. She probably had a sort of reputation. Sometimes those reputations are well-deserved. Many times, those reputations are difficult to shed, which may be a bit why there is such harshness in her tone with Jesus.

Have you ever come across people who present a hardness in their personality? I wonder if this woman had been hurt so many times by her former lovers that she presents this hard edge to her personality in order to drive people away or as a defense mechanism - and yet Jesus looks right through that and engages her. He sees who she is, that she has value, that she has hurt. He doesn’t really comment much on her lifestyle, but he offers her hope and a future.

With this conversation, Jesus introduces a pattern of talking with outcasts in order to reveal the fact that God’s love is for everyone. We already talked about this briefly, but elsewhere in Scripture He showed this by…

Working with a Tax Collector (Mt. 9:9-13)

For many folks, tax collectors were viewed like some view politicians today. They were not to be trusted because of their cheating ways. Jesus, breaks with this accepted view and sees value in the person – even bringing him into his discipleship circle.

He also demonstrated the love of God by…

Forgiving an adulteress (John 8:1-11)

In this encounter, several religious leaders of his day bring a woman who was caught in adultery. They had already cast judgment on her and sought to stone her. They also wanted to trap Jesus. His response was forgiveness. “If any of you is without sin, let him cast the first stone.”

For Jesus, her value was not in her mistakes, but in her creator. He called her to leave her sinful lifestyle, but did not condemn her.

In addition to working with a tax collector and forgiving a sinner, Jesus showed the love of God by…

Healing the ceremonially unclean (Mt. 8:20-22)

Now, in this encounter, Jesus is walking through a crowd and a woman, who was unclean because of a bleeding problem, touched him in order to be healed. Her very act of faith made Him ceremonially unclean – because she touched him. His response was not anger or rage or bitterness. His response was love – “your faith has made you well.”

Jesus also demonstrated the love of God for us by…

Touching and Raising the dead (Mt. 8:23-26)

Again, this very action would have made him ceremonially unclean. And yet Jesus lived the pattern that Paul describes in Phil. 2 - looking to the needs of others.

We could go on and on talking about the way that Jesus was willing to minister to people of a “defiled lifestyle”.

Let’s briefly reflect on some…

Contemporary Considerations

I believe that the church today could learn a lot from his actions with the Samaritan woman and these people. Let me be clear, He did not condone their lifestyles or conditions, but did treat them with love and compassion. He did not define them by their sin, but saw them as humans, image bearers of God.

LGBTQ

society wants us to embrace and endorse every lifestyle choice, the churches who have not acquiesced to that view are often decried as judgmental and bigoted. What are we to do? How would Jesus handle this situation? Here are some of my thoughts…

social media, stay out of the fray

have conversations with people in that community, even invite them, for a meal or more

In conversations, aim to identify them as image bearers of God and not by their sexual orientation - this will be difficult.

build relational Capital for the gospel to be heard. Let the Holy Spirit do His work of convicting of sin.

(Brian S. or Tim W.)

Politics

I’m not sure if Jesus would identify with any political party. I wonder if he might even have friends and disciples from all of them

Race/ethnicity

people with mental illnesses and disabilities or different abilities ?

how can we love and serve families who struggle in this way?

sure there is prayer, but is there more that Jesus would call us to do?

I’m grateful that we were led to prepare a room in the back for people with sensory issues. In recent years, it’s not been used to help in those ways. Should we outfit it to be ready?

and yet that is only Sunday. How can we come alongside and support?

I‘d love to hear your ideas and thoughts on how we can break down barriers.

I us die for? what do we need to do to buil

The underlying question is who is the good news of the gospel for? What is required for them to receive it?

So Jesus broke through bad cultural barriers by going through a defiled land, talking to a woman of a defile race and lifestyle. In addition to that…

He was willing to take from a defiled cup (7)

In verse 7, it says that Jesus asked for a drink. In verse 9, John includes a parenthetical statement for his readers in order to help them understand this tradition. Another translation of that reading has said “Jews do not use dishes Samaritans have used.” (Bible Knowledge Commentary, p. 285).

I think that beyond just drinking from a cup, there is a nearness and fellowship that comes with sharing food with others. When we were in the Middle East, hospitality was a big deal. It was a sign of friendship and trust. By being willing to drink from her cup in her presence signified more to her than it would to us.

Finally,…

He defiled worship by removing its location-specific limitations (23)

For Jews, Jerusalem was the place to be. For Samaritans it was Mt. Gerizim. For Jesus, it was neither. He sought genuine worship - in spirit and in truth.

So we see that Jesus broke through cultural barriers, but to what end? Let’s look at...

The Results of Ignoring Cultural Barriers

There are several results that we can see in the lives of the people who are involved.

Generally Speaking, ignoring bad barriers allowed Jesus to...

Seize a Divine Appointment

This entire encounter would not have happened if Jesus had continued with what was expected. He would have never gone through Samaria or talked with that woman. And yet because He chose to act differently than what the culture expected, He was able to be there for the appointed time. He was there at noon, just as she was. What’s more, that one encounter opened the door to impact the lives of people in that whole community.

Ignoring cultural barriers not only allowed Jesus to seize a divine opportunity, but it allowed Him to...

Set the Samaritan Woman Free

Let’s put ourselves in this woman’s shoes for a moment. She is coming to the well at the hottest part of the day. Maybe she is ashamed of her lifestyle and her decisions. She may feel alone - none of the other women will talk with her. The men see her as an object to be used and then discarded. Day after day she is caught in this cycle of going to the well, getting water, carrying it back to her home, roughly a mile away.

Now, throughout their conversation, the Samaritan woman pushes back at Jesus, seeking answers to obvious questions. She pushes back over...

The Social Conflict

She questions why he would talk with her. She knows that Jews and Samaritans don’t get along. Why would He give her the time of day?

She also pushes back revealing...

The Spiritual Struggle

She pushes back, inquiring about the nature of water, misunderstanding the water that Jesus was referring to. The region in which she lived was very dry. There were no natural creeks or streams. The best they could do is get water from this well.

And yet - Jesus uses a bit of a play on words. He refers to “living” or “moving” water. In a liquid sense, this would be like comparing water in a bucket verses water coming from a hose or a faucet or a river - still water verses moving water.

Initially that’s the water she is thinking about. That’s the water that she wants.

But Jesus is referring to a water that is spiritually refreshing - not tied to dead-end tasks (like pulling a bucket up from a deep well) - but spiritual water that wells up to eternal life.

In all of this pushing back, she is actually demonstrating an openness to Jesus’ message.

One of the exciting things about this story, is that we can already begin to see the living water welling up in her. As she probes and Jesus responds, she realizes that He is someone of spiritual significance. Jesus reveals His true nature and character as being the Messiah. In her fervor, she returns to the town - telling everyone that to “Come see a man who told me everything that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” (v. 29).

In addition to setting the woman spiritually free, Jesus ...

Uncovered the Spiritual Blindness of the Disciples (27-38)

One of the things that help us to trust in the reliability of the Bible is the way that it presents people. Look in verse 27 -

John 4:27 ESV

Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?”

They didn’t ask him those questions - but it appears they were thinking it. The disciples are portrayed throughout the Gospels in a very real and fallen way. Their faults are placed right out in front. It gives me hope as I see the way that I struggle with things and fail to perceive exactly how God is working.

Beyond their marvelling at the fact that Jesus was talking with this woman, they ask Him about eating. Look at verses 31-33 -

John 4:31–33 ESV

Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?”

Just as the woman was initially focused on physical water, the disciples are clearly focused on physical food. They were blind to the the spiritual opportunity that was right in front of them.

Jesus continues by saying…

John 4:34–38 ESV

Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

I can almost imagine Jesus initially pointing to some nearby fields saying … there are yet four months and then the harvest - and then turning back toward the town saying… look the fields are white unto harvest - as a crowd of people begins to approach, which brings us to our final point.

Ignoring cultural barriers allowed Jesus to not only seize a divine appointment, set the woman free and uncover the blindness of the disciples, but it allowed Jesus to...

Satisfy the Spiritual needs of the Samaritans (39-42)

John writes that “many Samaritans believed in Him because of the woman’s testimony...” (v. 39). I think this speaks volumes about the importance of seeing people for who they are and ministering to them. She was so excited about what she experienced with Jesus that the testimony of His goodness began to well up in side of her. So almost out of curiosity, the people of the town began come to Jesus, to see this man. John writes that many more believed because of Jesus teaching.

Her testimony peaked their interest, His teaching captured their hearts - so much so that they compelled him to stay for 2 more days.

By ignoring and even breaking these cultural barriers - Jesus seized a divine opportunity and ministered - not only to this woman, but to the entire city and demonstrated God’s love for all humanity in front of His disciples.

Conclusion

There are Samaritans all around us - not people from Samaria, but people that we “hate” - or strongly dislike - or people that may hate us.

(Other denominations, other religions, unwed mothers, people who identify as LGBTQ, foreigners, political rivals,)

be willing to build a bridge to them - whether the barrier is ours or theirs, we should work to break through.

Who are my Samaritans?

Who do I fail to see?

What is God leading me to do about them?

Where do I need to confess my own sins of bigotry and prejudice?

but we have to recognize that Jesus broke through huge barriers for us. He left the glories of heaven to put on flesh like us and showed us how to live. He then took the punishment that we deserve because of our sin and died on the cross. He conquered that sin by rising from the grave, freeing us eternally from the bonds of our sin. We simply must receive his free gift of life by faith, recognizing the cost of our sin, repenting, and the believing in his finished work by faith.

His whole life as identified by breaking down barriers. He culminated that by building a bridge between heaven and earth with the cross.