Breaking Down Barriers: The Inclusive Good News-Part 1

Though we may not care to admit it, one facet of the human mindset is the tendency to build barriers. We often erect barriers based on our personal comfort zones. If someone dresses like us, speaks likes us, acts like us, enjoys the same activities as us, they’re okay. But give us someone with hair dyed black, a tongue stud, spiked dog collar, and sagging pants, and those barriers build faster than a kid with Legos(TM).

Sometimes barriers are based on externals, like mode of dress or skin color. At other times, they’re based on things not so easily observed, like religious beliefs or socioeconomic status. Usually behind all barriers is a subtle struggle for power and prideful prestige.

Whatever the reasons for the barriers we erect, this one thing can be said: Barriers are not Christ-like. Jesus used His time on earth to break down barriers, not to build them.

I think it no coincidence that Jesus was born to humble peasants, or that His birth was first announced to one of the lowest classes of society, the shepherds. As Christ grew to adulthood and initiated His ministry, He made it his common practice to reach the outcasts–beggars, harlots, lepers, the blind, deaf, lame, and even the much-despised tax collectors–all for the purpose of revealing that the good news of His Kingdom was for everyone.

Over the next few days, we’ll take a look at a familiar story in which Jesus effectively broke down four different barriers. As you read these passages, please prayerfully consider how you can join Jesus in breaking down barriers today.

Breaking Down Barriers: Gender

Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that He was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John—although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but His disciples. So He left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. Now He had to go through Samaria. So He came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as He was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”(His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)~John 4:1-8 (NIV)

I love these words: “Now He had to go through Samaria.” There was an alternate route from Judea to Galilee Jesus could have taken, one most religious-minded Jews took on a regular basis. So why does the Bible tells us that Jesus had to go through Samaria?

I believe He was on a divine mission. His God-inspired agenda for the day included a divine encounter with a very unlikely woman.

Let’s get this picture set in our mind. It’s high noon. The sun beats down mercilessly, and a hot east wind stirs up dust at the village well. No one is out in this heat. No one, that is, except a lone woman. The fact that she’s alone in the scorching heat of the day reveals much. The other women had already come and gone, during the cool morning hours, to fill their jars for the day, but this woman wasn’t part of the ‘in’ crowd’s early-morning water-gathering ritual.

So why is this lone woman at the well at this unlikely time of day?

Because she’s an outcast, a victim of man-erected barriers. In addition to her status as outcast, it was also against Jewish custom for men to speak to women, especially in a one-on-one environment.

But Jesus wasn’t concerned about custom, her status as an outcast, or what people might say. Jesus was concerned about her.

By initiating the conversation at the well with this shunned woman, Jesus effectively shattered the gender barrier.

Breaking Down Barriers – Discussion Questions:

Why is there a gender barrier?
What gender barriers exist today?
How can those barriers be overcome?
What is the difference between the gender barrier and personal boundaries?

Tomorrow’s Post: Breaking Down Barriers: The Inclusive Good News-Part 2. Join us as we discuss racial, moral, and religious barriers.

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