No Boundaries

The summer months turns the Haeussler house into the busy months. The kids are out of school and running to all kinds of fun stuff like: vacation Bible school; swim parties; Padre games and camps. Fun but busy! We are going to see Peggy's family in a few weeks. We are going camping near Malibu, Ca.. The kids will stay with us for the week camping. It will be a great time.


In our review of the Book of John and Jesus' life, we now will look at the first four verses of Chapter 4 and focus in on v.4..."But He needed to go through Samaria."


As Jesus continue to expand His ministry, His popularity and movement is growing. People are seeing transformation in their lives by following Jesus. People were getting baptised. The amount of people following Jesus and John were many and the social elite were getting concerned . The Pharisees had been in control of the masses for years and years. The traditions and routines of the time worked to support their status. They did not want anything to shake things up. But Jesus was doing just that, shaking things up. Their status was in clear jeopardy, due to the shift of a portion of society's interest in Jesus and His teachings.


Jesus knew hostility was growing. So he set out to go to Galilee. He choose to travel through Samaria. A Jew traveling through Samaria was not acceptable. In the eyes of a Jew, Samaritans were "impure" people. Samaritans did not worship "Yahweh" (or God) the way the Jews did. It was common practice for Jews to travel long distances to avoid the Samaritan areas.


But from Jesus' vantage point there was corruption in BOTH cultures. So, I am sure He saw no point in traveling a long distance around Samaria to go to Galilee. He choose to go straight through Samaria.


What comes to mind is that if Jesus walked the earth today, He would interact with people of all walks of life. He might show up one Sunday at my church. We would think, "we must be doing it right if Jesus showed up here!." But then the next week He might be over at a Roman Catholic Church or a Methodist Church or some other Christian Church. Then we'd think..."hey what's He doing over there?" Then while we all are bickering about all our theological and traditional differences, He walks into a Bar. He'd then try to reach the poor and the rich. Then to prisons to meet with the criminals. The point is, Jesus sees no boundaries. He has deep concern for all of us. This is a characteristic portrayed in the fictional movie "Joshua". While fictional, it exposes the thought of "What if Jesus walked the streets today?" I'd encourage you to rent the movie "Joshua", it really makes you think.


When Jesus crossed the border between Samaria and Judea, He crossed all cultures figuratively and He reaches out to all of us. We know from these verses that Jesus loves us all and will enter our lives if we let Him in.


Jesus, Thank you for having love and concern for all cultures. Your blessing sees no boundaries. Amen