Bridging the Gap

PROPERS:          3 LENT, YEAR   

TEXT:                 JOHN 4:5-42

WRITTEN FOR, BUT NOT PREACHED AT HOLY TRINITY, PENSACOLA, ON SUNDAY, MARCH 15, 2020.

A different sermon was written and preached

for this Sunday because of the rapidly-developing

crisis caused by the COVID 19 pandemic.

ONE SENTENCE:        Christ, by his example and teaching, models for us how to “bridge the gap” between peoples.    

                                    

            Jesus, as always, is on foot in the Samaritan village of Sychar today.

            We tend to lose sight of the fact that Jesus walked everywhere he went.  That was his sole mode of transportation.  From way up north, in Tyre and Sidon, all the way down to Jerusalem – and all points in between.  Hundreds of miles – on foot.

            We also lose sight of the fact that Jesus did not look “like us”, and he didn’t speak like us.  He was a Middle Eastern male – likely dark complexioned with dark hair.  He spoke Aramaic – common in his time, but a long-dead language now.  His words were translated into Greek for the early New Testament, and later, in various forms of English.

            Despite what many people think, Jesus did not speak King James’ English.

            But, more than any of that, we don’t usually understand the drama of Jesus’ teaching and example with the Samaritans.

            We are confronted with such an example today.

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            We tend to think of the Parable of the Good Samaritan, when the word “Samaritan” appears in our gospel.  It is, of course, one of Our Lord’s most famous parables.

            There is a tendency to think of it in terms of a good-hearted stranger, helping a victimized traveler.  It is, indeed, that, but so much more.  It is a story of race and religious bigotry.

            And those same issues rise to the surface in Jesus’ visit to the Samaritan village of Sychar today.

            The Samaritans were the “kissing cousins” of the Jewish people – but they were despised.  They lived in the northern section of the land, in an area we now know as the West Bank.  The Samaritans, it is believed, were the descendants of Joseph’s sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.  They were the remnant of the people who had survived the Assyrian conquest of the Northern Kingdom in 722 BC.

            But, more than that, they followed a different set of scriptures and believed that the true place for worship of God was not the Holy City of Jerusalem, but Mount Gerizim, near the modern-day city of Nablus.

            The differences were both real and significant. Samaritans had nothing to do with Jews.  Jews had nothing to do with Samaritans.  And never did the twain meet. We may think divisions are new in that portion of the world, but these hard feelings go back to the biblical era and before.

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            Jesus was apparently in Sychar alone.  He is thirsty from his long journey.  He does something remarkable.

            He sees a Samaritan woman at the common well, and he asks her for a drink.  This is truly unusual.  A Jewish male speaking to a Samaritan female.  This was not done. A Jew speaking to a Samaritan, and a male speaking to a female.

            The rest of the gospel passage has so much more – mostly bearing witness to the unique nature of Jesus.  The early church chose to memorialize this scene in early scripture.  It is not here in John’s gospel by chance.

            Likely, I think it is preserved because it emphasizes the same point that the Parable of the Good Samaritan – preserved in the Gospel according to Luke.  Both stories convey the point that the barriers which divide people of faith are chimeras – something artificial, not real.

            It is so interesting to me how we are able to see the barriers that Jesus crosses and accept them – but see them as final examples, a trend that we are not to continue.

            Jesus’ examples of pushing the limits were recognized in Paul’s words from his Letter to the Galatians: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

            Why are we fine acknowledging that, yes, there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male not female, but we are fine with other barriers that continue to this day?  

            Jesus came that all might come within his saving embrace.  Our arms need to be open to offer that embrace.

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            A prominent car dealer in New Orleans, Ronnie LaMarque, had television advertisements in the early 1990s that proclaimed, “We’re bridging the gap.”

            He was referring to his car dealerships’ efforts to reach across the Mississippi River and garner business from both the West Bank and the East Bank – both Greta and New Orleans.

            Jesus Christ models for us how to bridge the gap.  By his life and example, he removed barriers, broke down walls, shattered stereotypes, and disarmed prejudice that separated the children of God.

            His actions were not limited by the time and the circumstances.  His life is a model for us today.