Whenever We Draw a Line - Genesis 25: 7-10; John 4: 1-9 - March 27, 2011- Cicero United Methodist Church - Everett J. Bassett

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            Imagine that you are not here yet - you will be born, say, in the year 2030. And imagine that by some fluke of fantasy, you are given today the opportunity to start to form the kind of world you will be born into. You have no idea where you will be born, or in what circumstances. Your parents may be married, maybe not. You don't know whether you will be male or female, tall or short; odds are pretty good that you will be born into the Third World, and that you will be poor, but maybe not. You may be born into a powerful nation, or a relatively weak nation; with able body and mind, or not; with freedom, or under oppression; into a loving home, or not; and who knows what religion, race or ethnicity you will be? Not knowing any of those things, what kind of world would you want this to be when you arrive?

            A high school class was given this exercise, and we might guess some of the consensus they came up with. It would be a world where everybody had a chance - whether they were born rich or poor, privileged or not - they would want a chance to succeed. And as they discussed it, they realized that that meant a world without barriers, where the walls dividing people had been torn down. Not that everybody would be the same - that would be pretty boring. But that differences were celebrated, and people respected and honored each other, and wanted everyone to succeed, and to be included. The class reflected that there were times when such a world was imagined - the American vision that everyone would have the rights of 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness;' the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; the hopeful imagination of a new world sung about by John Lennon.

            But the class also quickly realized that none of those wonderful dreams had ever come true. In fact, this is a deeply unfair world, and a deeply divided world. Millions, and maybe billions of people do not have an opportunity for a very happy existence by most any standard. And there are towering walls between people. In our own nation, researcher Robert Putnam published survey results claiming that 92 % of Americans said that our nation is' deeply divided along racial lines; 95 % said that we are deeply divided along economic lines; 97 % said that we are deeply divided along political lines. And, a smaller number but still significant - 73 % said that we are deeply divided along religious lines. Those divisions are huge barriers to the kind of fair world we would want to design.

            And so, if things are going to be any better in this world for those who will be born in 2030, clearly we have a lot of work to do. What I hope we can see this morning is that Jesus began that work; and that means a new world is possible, if you and I continue it. And that fits in perfectly with our theme for Lent of leaving something old behind so that we can embrace something new and wonderful. Two weeks ago, Jack talked about the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, and how it demonstrates for us that if we want to follow Christ, we need to be ready to give our obsession with material things and focus on the spiritual things that really matter. Last week we read about Nicodemus, and the commandment from Jesus to let go of old things so that we can be reborn into a new life of salvation and hope.

            This week, once again, Jesus leads us to dream about new possibilities, and the person whose encounter with the Lord gives us this opportunity to dream is an unnamed Samaritan woman who came to the village well one day at noon, and found herself in a highly unlikely conversation with a man named Jesus. In fact, some would call it an inappropriate conversation. The first person to express alarm was the woman herself. She says in John 4: 9, 'How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?' And then, in case we miss the shock of this, John goes on to immediately explain the law of the day: 'Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.' That was a solid wall of racial separation by which people lived in that time and place - and Jesus crashed through it.

            But that was only part of the shock of this encounter. The woman also points out the gender wall- 'how is it that you are talking to a woman of Samaria?' And here she is joined in her astonishment by Jesus' disciples; in John 4: 27 we read, 'Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman.' So again here's a wall of separation that everyone was expected to live by. And we can see the reason for the astonishment of the disciples - not only was this a woman, it was a woman with a bad reputation - a woman of loose morals. C'mon Jesus. Don't you see how this looks?

            Somebody has said that whenever we draw a line to separate ourselves from others, Jesus walks over that line and stands with the others. And that is exactly what people encountered again and again. The rich drew a line between themselves and the poor - Jesus crossed over and stood with the poor. The educated drew a line between themselves and the commoners - Jesus crossed over and stood with the common people. The able-bodied drew a line between themselves and the physically challenged - Jesus crossed over and stood with the differently abled. The self-righteous drew a line between themselves and the known sinners - Jesus stood with the sinners. Men drew a line to oppress women - Jesus stood with the women. Jews / other races - he stood with the other races! The pattern is amazingly consistent - people love to draw lines to mark out the walls of division; and Jesus loves to break down the walls and cross over those lines. And I believe that what those who follow Jesus can say to those high school students who are considering what it would take to have a better world for all people in 2030 is, 'Jesus showed us how; he already demonstrated the process and the possibility. Let's do it. Let's break down the walls, and cross over the lines that separate us by class and gender and sexuality
and race, and all the other destructive divisions we feel for some reason are necessary. They're not. We can do better. Jesus can show us the way.'

            So our Lenten challenge is this: in addition to giving up something material in order to embrace something spiritual; and in addition to giving up the old life so we can be reborn; how about giving up some old prejudices so we can come closer to embracing all of humanity, and celebrating the vision and hope of the greatest dreamers among us?

            And the Bible is a great guide for that, because the Bible shows how that very evolution that needs to take place in the biblical people themselves over hundreds of years. The people who wrote the Bible, and there were many of them, in general saw the world as a place of lines and walls. They saw themselves as chosen people, so they built walls between themselves and other people. They were predominantly educated men, so they built walls between themselves and the uneducated - and that especially included women. There are deep divisions in the Bible, built around nationality, race, sexuality, gender, religion - that is all there.

            Once in a while, there is an exception. In our Old Testament reading, we see how two brothers -- Isaac, the forefather and of the Jews and the Christians, and Ishmael, the forefather of the Muslims-- come together to bury their father Abraham' - a reminder of how worldly divisions can be overcome for higher purposes. And there are some wonderful prophetic visions in the Old Testament of how God can break down the walls and bring the people together. But still, the walls are solid and tall in the Bible.

            And then came Jesus, and he challenged the walls. And that was a huge threat to some very powerful people; and, as still happens today, they were able to incite fear and confusion in the not-so-powerful people; so, by the time Jesus was put on trial, pretty much everybody was against him, and he was crucified - we should never underestimate the power of the human divisions that seem to help us sort out the confusion of our lives, but are really prison walls that keep this world in chains, and lead to great cruelty. They are powerful, sinful forces, and because of them, Jesus was crucified.

            But we are Easter people, and we don't believe death has the last word. And the raising of Jesus from the tomb means that something new is happening, and the barrier-breaking love of Jesus is what carries the day when all is said and done. This is the real world that we are given to strive for, with the blessed assurance that in the end God's will shall prevail, and you and I can embrace it and live with it here and now, and look forward to the day when all prejudices are gone, and the human family is whole.

            But there's something important we have to remember, and that is that the change has to begin inside of us. We can see the changes that have to take place in society, so that the world can be more equitable. Jesus said we would always be able to see the speck out there; but we wouldn't always be able to see the log of sin that is in here. What we my not so easily see or admit are the subtle forms of prejudice inside us. None of us would choose to be prejudiced on a rational level. We can see that it is wrong; we can see that it is destructive. And we would choose to act and think otherwise. Our problem is that prejudice is not rational. It operates on a much deeper level than that. It is about attitudes that we have picked up that we might not even be aware of; it is about reactions to differences that we sometimes don't even realize we have; it is about deep fears and discomforts and needs for self-validation that touch us at the very roots of our psyches. So while our choices might be toward openness and acceptance on a conscious level, our responses and attitudes in particular situations can totally surprise us; and feelings surface that we never would have expected, and we find ourselves humbly asking, "Where did that come from?" Sin is a deceptive and elusive enemy.

            Thank God for a Saviour who can break down the walls inside of us, and loosen the hold of sin on our inner spirits. In the Lenten season, we operate on two planes. One is the plane of our actions. We do specific things to build up spiritual discipline and demonstrate our outward obedience to God. So, for example, on the topic of crossing over the lines of prejudice, we might resolve to refrain from ethnic jokes, or to make a conscious effort to learn about another faith, or to get to know a neighbor who has a different lifestyle from our own. Those are outward actions which help us practice the way Jesus taught us to treat other people. We need to practice those things, and Lent is a great time to start.

            But the second plane has to do with attitudes, and our recognition that we can't be transformed without the power of Jesus Christ working on our inmost thoughts and responses. That is why we pray the basic biblical Lenten prayer: 'Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.' We realize that the attitude we want is not something we can accomplish ourselves - it is an act 'Of creation by God inside us. We can't accomplish it. But if we earnestly pray for it, God can break down those inner walls, and over time make us into the likeness of Christ. Our theme verse for Lent is from Paul's letter to the Galatians, 'I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ lives in me.' Wouldn't that be amazing? What would it be like to regard every human being through the eyes and the heart of Jesus? We can strive for that, and pray for it. And God can make it happen. This is a God that opened the tomb. He can open our hearts to one another as well.

            All around us, lines are being drawn - politically, economically, morally, religiously - you name it. It's a deeply divided world - so far from the world we would hope for. And whenever we draw a line, I imagine God's heart breaks a little more. And Jesus walks across that line to look at us from the other side - not to condemn us, or shame us - but to invite us. To invite us to cross over with him and to invite us to meet our brothers and sisters in their diverse beauty. To understand them; to learn from them. And to be drawn ever closer to the deep, deep love in the heart of Jesus.

            Lately, God has been giving me some wonderful opportunities to do that in the area of other faiths. I am a follower of Jesus Christ. Christ is the only way to God for me. That is unshakable. But I have found myself recently encountering other faiths - Judaism, Native American, Islam, agnostic. As our society keeps getting more and more diverse, we will have many more encounters like that. But a funny thing happens. As I learn about others in a spirit of mutuality, they help to strengthen my walk with Christ. I discover that perhaps God has a wider reach than just my small little world. And Jesus says Walk over the line; take down the wall. In the words of the woman at the well, How is it that Jews speak to Samaritans, and men to women, and people of all different lives to one another? I believe it is by the power of God, and for me, Jesus showed how wide that love could be. Let's follow Jesus into that great and wonderful possibility.