Sunday, March 9, 2008
John 4:5-10; 19-24
Senior Pastor
Today we look in on a time when Jesus encounters a woman from another race. He is Jewish and she is from a strand of Jews who have intermarried with other racial backgrounds and now they are known as Samaritans. They are a part of related, yet distinct, racial groups where hatred and separation have now grown into cultural taboos about their interaction. She alludes to those when Jesus asks her for a drink of water. She says, what in the world are you thinking, you being a Jew and me being a Samaritan? Then just to make sure the reader understands, John includes, Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans. (v. 9) The point is clear: we do not talk, we do not cross, we do not interact.
To grasp the gravity of such a situation, let me remind you of an incident closer geographically as well as historically to us.
It was May 31, 1921. That day a black teen was arrested. The day before in downtown Tulsa Dick Rowland, a nineteen-year-old black male who was working as a shoeshine boy, went into a building to use the bathroom. He was riding the elevator to the floor where he needed to be. In those days, you may know, elevators were not self-operated but always had elevator operators. On that day in 1921 a seventeen-year-old white female was running the elevator.
The elevator lurched and threw the young man off balance and he fell into the operator. She panicked and screamed. Another man came running to investigate the scream and saw the startled black teen and the flustered white teen on the elevator. Dick Rowland quickly exited the elevator and left the building. The girl initially accused him of assaulting her, but quickly retreated from that accusation. In fact, the next day when she was talking with police, she admitted that she had overreacted and that the incident had been inadvertent.
But by then Dick Rowland had already been arrested and the story that was sweeping across Tulsa was that a young black man had attempted to rape a young white woman. By Tuesday afternoon (5/31) rumors of a white lynch mop reached the police. By that evening there were groups of both blacks and whites gathering in different parts of the city. Several hundred blacks and perhaps a couple of thousand whites were gathered downtown near the jail.
Sometime before midnight a white police officer attempted to disarm a black citizen and a shot was accidentally fired into the air. Chaos broke out and a mob mentality took over. Twelve people were shot in the aftermath. Calm was restored, but only briefly. Around 1:00 a.m. a fire broke out downtown at Archer and Boston, near the site of the robust black business district, known as Black Wall Street.
Fires burned all night – white mobs keeping fire fighters
from reaching the fires. Before
daylight some 15,000 whites were gathered at the dividing line between what had
been black and white Tulsa. At some
point the mob crossed the line both literally and figuratively. As one historian puts it, “cars of marauding
white Tulsans streamed into the streets, firing indiscriminately at any
African-American target in sight. Women
and children proved no exception. An
elderly African-American couple, kneeling in bedtime prayer in their home, was
startled by an invading mob. After
murdering the couple execution style, the mob ransacked and pillaged the house
before setting it ablaze.” (in Black
Wall Street by Hannibal B. Johnson, p. 47)
Businesses, homes, even churches were burned to the ground. Untold numbers of people were killed. The American Red Cross was the humanitarian
agency that responded to the devastation and reported that in excess of
1,000 homes and businesses were destroyed and over 8,000 people came for
assistance.
All of this sparked because cultural taboos about
interaction between men and women from different races were violated.
Things could have ended very differently for Jesus and his disciples that day. But Jesus bridges the gap between the racial divide that he encounters as he meets this Samaritan woman. They discuss some of their differences in history and ethnicity and locale and places of worship. And these differences could have led to further division and greater problems. Let’s not fool ourselves, these are still very difficult problems to solve as conflicts around the globe attest – as segregation in Enid attests. But the Gospel gives us some help and some direction.
When this woman asks Jesus to tell her which is the proper
place to worship – here where the Samaritans worship or in Jerusalem where the
Jews worship – do you remember what he says?
Look at verse 21: Jesus
said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the
Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.” She gives him a couple of physical locations and Jesus says
neither. And once again we see this
common Gospel pattern where Jesus takes a question about the physical realm and
turns it so that he points the person toward the spiritual realm.
She says, which mountain? He says, neither. Then he goes on to say, “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.” (v. 23a) In other words he suggests that our spiritual focus should transcend our physical differences, i.e., our particular preferences of place and style and such.
The Oklahoma Conference of Churches is an organization that works with a number of different denominational groups (some historically black and some white) that are cooperating in an effort to build a broader consensus within the body of Christ in terms of common theology and practice. They contacted us recently asking if we would host a worship experience for Enid where all these denominations might come together to celebrate our oneness in the body of Christ. Susan and I looked at the calendar and agreed that we could do that in the Fall and we suggested that Worldwide Communion Sunday would be a great day to do so. We will be telling you more about that, as we get closer to that day.
I want us to worship with other groups. It will enrich us. It will inspire us. But more importantly, I think it will be in keeping with the will of God. I think God wants us to bridge the gap between the races. Jesus goes on to say, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. (v. 23b) I think the church is designed to visibly reflect that oneness, that diversity of God’s children, but unfortunately we have fallen well short of that spiritual vision.
But notice that Jesus says God is seeking us. God is wanting to help us. God desires that we do this, that we be those, that the church be that place, that bridges the gap between the races and experiences the fullness of God and God’s family. Jesus lays out the challenge to this Samaritan woman and it still is before us today.
Can we transcend our cultural taboos? Can we transcend our racial prejudice? Do we even consider the possibility that the segregation evident on Sunday mornings across our nation in Christian houses of worship may actually grieve the heart of God? Do we see this as a spiritual issue?
That is what Jesus says to this woman. He says this division and antagonism between our people is a spiritual issue. The answer is a spiritual answer. He says, in effect, don’t allow the physical differences or the cultural differences or the past problems be a reason for division. No, he says, God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. (v. 24) Do we want to be those people that God seeks? Can we be those who are so open to the leading of Jesus that we allow our spiritual values to outweigh our cultural and racial views about segregation and integration?
It is no easy task. If it happens, I think it will surely take the power of God to help us through. Sometimes it is hard to even know where to start. But some of you sent me a copy of some responses from young children when asked about love, that I think will help. Let me read a few:
Love
is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day. (Mary Ann, age 4)
Love
is what’s in the room with you at Christmas when you stop opening presents and
listen. (Bobby, age 7)
If you
want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend you hate. (Nikka, age 6)
You really shouldn’t say “I Love You,” unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget. (Jessica, age 8)
That’s a start isn’t it?
Start with a spiritual base.
Start with a friend you hate…interesting contrast, a friend you hate. What an insight: rather than an enemy you hate, think of it as a friend you hate.
Then figure out how to say “I Love You” … a lot.
May God be with us. Amen and thanks be to God.
It was May 31, ________.
The elevator lurched and threw the young man off balance…
But by then Dick Rowland…been arrested…a young
black man had attempted to ________ a young white woman.
Businesses, homes, even churches were burned to the
ground.
Untold numbers of people were ____________.
…in excess of __________ homes and businesses were
destroyed and over 8,000 people came for assistance.
…because cultural taboos about interaction between men
and
women from different ___________ were violated.
…differences could have led to further ________________...
v. ____
…our spiritual focus should transcend our
physical differences…
But more importantly, I think it will be in keeping
with the ________ of God.
But notice that Jesus says God is ______________ us.
Can we transcend our ____________ prejudice? Do we even
consider the possibility that the segregation evident… grieve
the heart of God? Do we see this as a spiritual issue?
v. 24
Start with a ________________ base.
Start with a ____________ you hate…
Then figure out how to say “I Love You” … a lot.
Kid’s Question: Today Jesus tells us that God is __________ us.