God is not constrained by cultural barriers

Scripture reading
1The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, 2although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.

4Now he had to go through Samaria. 5So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

7When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" 8(His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

9The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a])

10Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."


Observations
This is the first part of the famous story about the curious meeting of Jesus with a Samaritan woman.

For today, I would like to look at the social barriers and how the work of god is not constrained by them.

Look again at verse 9, where the woman was greatly surprised about being approached by Jesus. Why – because of the social barriers which she had thought would prevent such interaction.

Broadly speaking, these social barriers stemmed from two causes; (a) racial divisions between Jews and Samaritans and (b) the woman’s own social status within her own people.


Jewish Samaritan hostility
A brief background is necessary in order to fully appreciate the divisions between the Jews and the Samaritans.

Prior to the death of King Solomon, the nation of Israel consisted of twelve different tribes. However, after his death, attempts by his son, Rehoboam, to become king, were rejected by all but two of the tribes.

As a result, the nation of Israel was split into two, with ten tribes from the north (those who did not accept Rehoboam’s rule) electing Jeroboam as their king, whilst the remaining two tribes accepted Rehoboam as their king.

During the period of 724-722 B.C, the capital of the northern tribes, Samaria, was overrun by the Assyrians, who instituted a policy of mixing ethnic populations of captured nations. The result – a form of mixed breed, or hybrid race evolved, and these came to be known as Samaritans.

Feelings of bitter enmity developed between the Samaritans and the two remaining Jewish tribes, for which there were several causes. The mixed race nature of the Samaritans formed one source of contention, with the Jews seeing them as a source of half breeds, who were not proper Jews. Another factor was the division of land following the split, under which the northern tribes received the vast majority of the fertile land and springs. Finally, there was a considerable degree of competition between the two groups in terms of supremity of religious practices.

One consequence of the resulting chasm was a refusal on the part of the Jews to approach or talk to a Samaritan (and vice versa) – to do so being effectively taboo from a social standpoint.


An outcast
Aside from racial tensions, the woman’s own social status would have prevented any form of interaction between herself and Jesus.

It emerges later in the story that the woman had five husbands, and indeed, was living with a sixth man who was not her husband. Accordingly, she had a well earned reputation for sleeping with any man who would take her, and for this, she was a complete outcast, one who was ostracized even within her own community.

Evidence of the extent of this is prevalent throughout the story. Firstly, she was at the well alone, unusual as it would have no doubt been the norm for women to go together. It is more than likely that her ostracism was the cause of this.

A second indication is the time of day. Our passage above indicates that she went to the well at about the sixth hour, which, as I understand it, translates to about midday. Normal practice would have been to go early in the morning, before the worst of the heat struck, and the most likely reason for the woman going at this time would have been to avoid an uncomfortable confrontation.



Jesus not limited by social taboos
My point is that under normal circumstances, this interaction would simply not have taken place.

As people, our own behavior is naturally influenced by social taboos and customs, and as such, a Jew would not have talked to a Samaritan under such circumstances.

But Jesus was no ordinary Jew. He was nothing less than the son of god, and as such, he is a long way above social taboos, norms or customs, which will not constrain him in any way from completing the masterful plan of god

It was the will of god for this conversation to take place, and Jesus had every intention of the fulfillment of that will, irrespective of any form of social taboos or customs.

My key point here is simply this – the gospel is powerful, and no social or cultural barrier will ever constrain god in any way from revealing himself or making himself known to whomever he pleases.


Prayer:
Dear heavenly father,

Lord, it is simply beyond our comprehension just how far you are above our petty social conventions and taboos.

I pray that through this episode, as well as throughout the entire bible, that you help us to be reminded of how far above our miserable squabbles you are. We can only thank you and praise you that your perfect will is carried out both in heaven and on earth. This is in spite of our pettiness and because of your greatness.

In your great name I pray.

Amen.