Breaking down the barriers

The disciples’ reaction to Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman is very interesting. John writes,

Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman.

But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” (John 4:27)

Now what does this mean exactly? Does it mean that they had become so used to Jesus’ ways that they accepted this as natural, though no other Rabbi would be caught dead talking to a Samaritan woman, especially in public?

Or does it mean that they wanted to ask these questions, but didn’t dare?

I tend to think it was the latter.

Remember the situation. Jews tended to see Samaritans as half-breeds who had perverted the Jewish faith by mixing it with other religions. As a result, they wanted nothing to do with them.

But as the Samaritans came up from the town to see Jesus, he told his disciples,

I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. (John 4:35)

In other words, “These are not dirty, filthy, outcasts. Sinners beyond any hope of repentance. These are people that God loves.

He has been working in their hearts in ways that you don’t know. Others have been sowing seeds in their heart, and you now have the privilege to reap the harvest.”

And that day, many Samaritans came to believe in Jesus.

Jesus smashed the cultural and religious barriers people had set up to reach a people that were lost. And he calls us to do the same.

How about you? How do you see the people around you?

I look at how many Christians treat gays, for example, and it seems they view gays the same way that Jews viewed Samaritans.

Many in the church almost seem to view them as the enemy. But whatever else they may be, they are not our enemies. They are people like us, in need of a Savior.

Or how many people do you know personally that you fail to share Christ with for other reasons?

Because of their religious beliefs or lack thereof. Or because of their character or personality. Or because you simply don’t like them.

Jesus says to us, “Don’t look at them as people beyond any hope of repentance. And most certainly, don’t look at them as people worthy of contempt.

Look at them as a field that needs sowing, and harvesting. Look at them as people who need me.”

You may be the sower. You may be the reaper.

But let us break down the barriers of culture and religion, and let us break down the barriers we have set up in our own hearts and reach a lost world for Christ.