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Beyond the Barriers: Labeled or Loved?

By Dr. James Bradford

As a kid I was short, skinny, and shy. That made me an easy target for name calling and bullying. Getting pretty good grades and sometimes "busting the curve" didn't help. Then, during high school, my family moved from Canada to the United States. Most of my new American "friends" had no trouble reminding me that I was, indeed, an "alien" — and probably the only one around.

To state the obvious, it is no fun being labeled and rejected. But when it comes to valuing people, God has much more in mind than "fun." He looks at every human being through the lens of created dignity. People are not worth loving because they fit our preferences or agree with our opinions. They are worth loving because they are the handiwork of God's creative intention and genius, thus bearing the very image of God himself.

It is as if God has hung a sign around the neck of every human being that reads, "Created by Me — handle with care!" This creation-centered dignity trumps preference, prejudice, politics, passion, position, and power. It is blind to skin color, education, financial status, and occupation. Our vision of people created in the image of God puts a holy muzzle on our otherwise out-of-control tongues and bridles our raging attitudes of superiority and even, dare we say, hatred.

This is where Jesus is so uncomfortably counter-intuitive. For example, "When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, 'Will you give me a drink?'"(John 4:7, NIV). Here, Jesus defied the sizeable temptation to label another human being, and in doing so broke through at least four seemingly insurmountable barriers.

Racial Barrier

First, there was the racial barrier. This is the issue that the Samaritan woman initially reacted to: "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (John 4:8) Racial prejudice ran deep between Jews and Samaritans. In fact, the real sting of Jesus' famous "Good Samaritan" story was that the good neighbor was exactly that, a "Samaritan." In their blinding prejudice, Christ's Jewish listeners had no where to put that, and that was the point.

Gender Barrier

Jesus also broke through the gender barrier. This is what first shocked the disciples when they got back from their shopping trip. They were "surprised to find him talking with a woman" (John 4:27, NIV). Jewish rabbis prayed, "I am thankful that I am neither a Gentile nor a woman." Furthermore, they considered Samaritan women, in particular, to be unclean from birth. Yet, here is Jesus, talking to a woman, and an unclean one at that.

Religious Barrier

Then Jesus broke through the religious barrier. Because the Samaritan religion was a contorted mix of Judaism and paganism, the Jews considered Samaritans little more than religious road kill. The Samaritans had built a temple at the foot of Mt. Garizim about 400 B.C., but the Jews had destroyed it in 128 B.C. So the Samaritan woman cuts to the chase: "Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem" (John 4:19, NIV). Differences in dearly held ceremonial traditions and doctrines, laced with religious hostility and unforgotten history, created barriers that most in Jesus' time could not overcome.

Moral Barrier

Finally, Jesus broke through the moral barrier. "You have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband" (John 4:18, NIV). She was a woman with a past, shamed by lust and relational failure. Furthermore, scholars have speculated that the whole setting at that well, with that kind of woman, created a possible ambiguity of intentions for Jesus that any self-respecting person would want to avoid. Yet, there He was, not letting even her lifestyle create a barrier to His living water.

Jesus' Secret

We live in a culture where public discourse is now so shrill and combative that Jesus' behavior seems strangely out of place. We are accustomed to hearing people shout over each other on cable news shows and demean anyone who disagrees with them in the public arena. Jesus, however, refused to play to the stereotypes and in doing so defied a culture that thoughtlessly labeled and discarded people.

What was His secret? He essentially did two things – He entered her world and He reached her heart. Entering her world was the unnatural thing to do. The racial, gender, religious, and moral barriers were immense. It would have been easier to label and accuse than to listen and engage. Entering her world took time and courage, but Jesus did it.

Having entered her world, Jesus then reached her heart. Beneath this woman's promiscuous exterior was a heart that had been used and discarded by many different men. Now this man, Jesus, would change the rules of engagement and reach her soul. No barrier was too strong for that important work. He exposed her secrets prophetically but handled her heart tenderly. Jesus loved someone incredibly different from himself, and in doing so left her reformed, not demeaned.

Followers of Jesus cannot take this lightly. As Creator God, Jesus imbedded immense value in every human being, and as Incarnate God, He pushed beyond reaction and on to redemption. Jesus came to bring life, not apply labels. His example constrains us by the love of God to be barrier-breakers ourselves.

In order to follow Him on this difficult path, Christ first invites us to take our hearts to the Cross where our prejudices and preferences can die and love can live. Then in resurrection life Jesus calls us to approach every person in our lives with new eyes, and new questions. Not "how can I avoid them?" but "how can I enter their world, as foreign as that might feel?" And not "what do I not like about them?" but "how can I look past my own preferences and prejudices to reach their hearts?"

This is the way of Jesus, into the lives of people He loves. We must follow.

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