Across the Great Divide

When did it happen to you? When in your life did you feel like you were crossing some great divide whether geographical, cultural, or otherwise? I am certain there were lots of other moments when I felt a huge influx of energy as I crossed over into something that was different from my everyday life, but the one that first pops into my head today happened when I was in middle school.

My friend, D.G. Pantazis and I had been buddies since the second grade, maybe even longer. We were in the same elementary class. We played soccer together. We spent the night at each other’s houses. I loved hanging out with his family. They were tight knit, hospitable, warm, and affectionate. To me they seemed just like any other healthy family that I knew. That was until D.G. invited me to work at his church one weekend in the fall of sixth or seventh grade.

The Pantazis family attended the Greek Orthodox Church in Birmingham, and D.G. had asked me to help volunteer during their huge Greek Food Festival. While I had said yes, at first, I was a little hesitant. I did not know my way around the church, nor did I know anyone except D.G., nor did I know exactly how I could be of help, and so I felt like a stranger in a strange place. Then, as I crossed over this imaginary threshold, which I had created in my mind, I moved from being a tag-a-long to being a ready and willing helper. It was during this transition that I noticed that I was embraced, supported, and perhaps most importantly well-fed! I very easily trace my love of Greek food to that weekend, but more than that I hold onto this memory as a time when despite some noticeable cultural differences I was welcomed and included as part of the Body of Christ.

This Sunday we will hear the story of Jesus sitting at a well with a Samaritan woman. Jesus knew far more about crossing boundaries than I do and especially more than I did back in Junior High. In this encounter alone, he traversed many boundaries. Jews were not supposed to hold things in common with Samaritans. Married (or at least coupled) women were not allowed to talk with single men. A righteous religious person was not to congregate with someone who was scandalous enough that she had to go get water at an odd hour to avoid scorn from others. Of course, in Jesus we see that God is quite often willing to cross big boundaries, like the human-divine line. Jesus did not regard these boundaries as barriers to cease conversation. In fact, even as his disciples questioned what he was doing Jesus broke down the walls of separation inspiring this woman to become an evangelist who would bring new people to believe in the Savior of the world. In this way, Jesus showed us just how far God will come to meet us.

Our Savior will cross any gulf we attempt to create to show us that we are loved. No sin, no creed, no culture, no race, no religion, no gender, no sexual identity, nothing, not even death will barricade Christ Jesus from beholding us as His beloved. This was evident when Jesus sat down at a well with a scandalous woman, it was evident when a friend invited me to be loved as an “other” at his church, and we as followers of Jesus are challenged to make this evident today. What barriers can we cross to love others? Christ collapses the impossible gulfs in our lives, how can we follow that example to cross our great divides? How will you show the other that she or he is loved?