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The God Who Crosses Barriers
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  • Most of us spend our lives learning how to avoid barriers.
    We take the long way around uncomfortable conversations.
    We stay in familiar places with familiar people.
    We stick to what’s easy, safe, and predictable.
    But Jesus doesn’t live that way.
    Jesus doesn’t avoid barriers — He walks straight through them.
    John chapter 4 tells us something fascinating. It says that “Jesus had to go through Samaria.”
    That word had doesn’t mean it was the shortest route.
    It means it was the necessary one.
    This wasn’t geography — it was purpose.
    This wasn’t coincidence — it was calling.
    Jesus was on a divine mission to reach someone everyone else had already written off.
    Look at John 4.
    John 4:4–9 NIV
    4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. 7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

    Jesus Crosses Cultural Barriers

    Jews avoided Samaritans at all costs.
    This wasn’t a mild disagreement — it was generations of hostility.
    Their division was shaped by:
    History — old wounds that never healed
    Ethnicity — “us versus them” thinking
    Religion — each side convinced the other was wrong
    By Jesus’ day, most Jews would literally walk miles out of the way just to avoid Samaria.
    And yet…
    Jesus does the unthinkable.
    He walks into Samaria.
    Not by accident.
    Not because He didn’t know the tension.
    But because love refuses to take the long way around.
    Then He sits at a Samaritan well — tired, present, unhurried.
    He doesn’t preach from a distance.
    He places Himself right in the middle of what everyone else avoided.
    And then — this is where it becomes truly shocking —
    He speaks to a Samaritan woman.
    In that culture:
    A Jewish man didn’t speak to a Samaritan
    A rabbi didn’t speak to a woman alone
    A religious leader didn’t engage someone with her reputation
    Jesus crosses every line at once.
    Why?
    Because the gospel is not bound by culture — it confronts culture with love.
    Jesus doesn’t ignore truth, but He never withholds grace.
    He doesn’t compromise holiness, but He refuses to let prejudice stand in the way of redemption.
    Here’s the uncomfortable implication for us:
    If Jesus crossed cultural lines to reach people,
    the Church cannot use culture as an excuse to stay comfortable.
    We don’t get to say, “That’s just how things are.”
    We don’t get to say, “That’s not my background.”
    We don’t get to say, “Someone else will reach them.”
    Love steps across lines.
    Grace walks into uncomfortable spaces.
    And the Church is called to follow Jesus — not around barriers, but through them.
    Look at verse 7 again.
    John 4:7–18 NIV
    7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” 11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” 13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” 16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” 17 “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

    Jesus Crosses Social Barriers

    This woman comes to the well with more than an empty jar — she comes carrying the weight of her story.
    She is a woman in a male-dominated society, where her voice carried little value and her presence was often overlooked.
    She arrives alone at noon, the hottest part of the day — not because it was convenient, but because it was safer.
    No stares. No whispers. No reminders of what everyone thought they knew about her.
    Her past was complicated.
    Her relationships were broken.
    And by every social and religious standard of the day, she was labeled unworthy.
    And yet — Jesus meets her there.
    He does not shame her.
    He does not avoid her.
    He does not reduce her to her failures.
    Jesus engages her.
    He listens to her questions.
    He invites her into a real conversation.
    And then, with incredible compassion, He speaks truth wrapped in grace.
    Jesus shows us something powerful here.
    People are not projects to be fixed — they are souls to be loved.
    Brokenness is not disqualifying — it is often the very place God begins His work.
    Grace meets us exactly where we are — but it loves us too much to leave us there.
    Notice the order:
    Jesus offers relationship before correction,
    presence before preaching,
    love before life change.
    That’s the gospel.
    Here’s the Big Truth we can’t miss:
    Jesus doesn’t wait for people to clean up before He reaches out.
    If He did, none of us would qualify.
    He meets us at our wells — tired, exposed, and empt—and He offers living water that changes everything.
    Keep reading. Look at verse 19.
    John 4:19–26 NIV
    19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” 25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

    Jesus Crosses Spiritual Barriers

    What begins as a simple conversation about water quickly becomes something much deeper.
    At first, she’s thinking about the practical —
    “Give me this water so I don’t have to keep coming here.”
    But Jesus gently redirects the conversation.
    It moves from water to worship.
    From a physical need to a spiritual hunger she didn’t yet know how to name.
    Then it shifts from location to heart.
    She asks, “Is worship supposed to happen here or there?”
    Jesus responds, “The Father is not looking for a place — He’s looking for people whose hearts are open and true.”
    And then it moves from religion to relationship.
    This is no longer about systems, traditions, or arguments.
    It’s about knowing God — and being known by Him.
    And in that sacred moment, Jesus does something astonishing.
    He reveals Himself plainly.
    “I who speak to you am He.”
    This is not vague.
    This is not hidden.
    This is Jesus openly declaring, “I am the Messiah.”
    And here’s what makes this moment so powerful:
    This is one of the clearest self-revelations of Jesus in all the Gospels —
    and He doesn’t give it to a religious leader, a scholar, or a respected insider.
    He gives it to a woman.
    A Samaritan.
    An outcast.
    Someone society overlooked and dismissed.
    Why?
    Because God reveals Himself to humble hearts, not impressive résumés.
    She wasn’t polished.
    She wasn’t powerful.
    She wasn’t proud.
    She was open.
    And that’s still how God works.
    He’s not looking for people who have it all together —
    He’s looking for people who are willing to listen, to respond, and to believe.
    Revelation doesn’t come through credentials.
    It comes through humility.
    And when a heart is open, Jesus is never hesitant to say,
    “I am here. I am who you’ve been looking for.”
    Let’s finish this story.
    John 4:28–30 NIV
    28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
    John 4:39–42 NIV
    39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers. 42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”

    Jesus Crosses the Barrier of Sin

    At the end of the story, something small but powerful happens.
    The woman leaves her water jar.
    The very reason she came to the well…
    The thing she planned her day around…
    The burden she carried in the heat of the sun…
    She leaves it behind.
    Why?
    Because when you encounter Jesus, the things you thought you needed suddenly lose their grip — you’ve found something greater.
    She doesn’t leave empty.
    She leaves changed.
    And in that moment, she becomes three things.
    First, she becomes a witness.
    She doesn’t have theology figured out.
    She doesn’t have her past cleaned up.
    She simply says, “Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did.”
    Second, she becomes a bridge.
    The people who wouldn’t listen to Jesus yet will listen to her.
    She stands between a rejected Savior and a skeptical town — and she connects them.
    Third, she becomes a messenger.
    The very place she avoided…
    The people who whispered about her…
    That’s exactly where she runs back to.
    And Scripture says the town comes to Jesus because she went back to them.
    That’s how the gospel spreads.
    Jesus didn’t pull her out of her community —
    He sent her right back into it.
    And here’s the Big Truth that brings this home:
    When Jesus crosses your barrier, He often sends you back across it to reach others.
    He meets you in your pain — then sends you to people who know that pain.
    He heals your wounds — then uses your story to heal someone else.
    He redeems your past — then turns it into a testimony.
    God doesn’t waste barriers.
    He turns them into bridges.
    And the place you thought disqualified you
    may be the very place God wants to use you.
    So now the question becomes personal.
    What barriers is God asking you to cross?
    Not theoretical ones.
    Not the ones we like to talk about.
    The real ones.
    It may be a cultural barrier you’ve learned to avoid.
    A racial barrier shaped by history or hurt.
    A generational divide that feels uncomfortable.
    A political tension that makes conversation feel risky.
    A personal wound you’ve protected for a long time.
    Or simply the fear of an awkward conversation you’d rather not have.
    And here’s the question we can’t dodge:
    Who is on the other side of the barrier God is asking you to cross?
    Because this series isn’t about fixing the world.
    It’s about following Jesus one step at a time.
    And Jesus is not asking us to do something He hasn’t already done.
    He crossed from heaven to earth to reach us.
    From holiness into our sin to redeem us.
    From life into death to save us.
    From the grave into victory so we could live.
    Every barrier we face pales in comparison to the one He crossed for us.
    So don’t think about building a bridge for everyone.
    Just be obedient with the one God puts in front of you.
    Next week, we’ll see that because Jesus crossed the greatest divide,
    He now calls us to live as His ambassadors — His bridge.
    Until then, let this truth stay with us:
    Jesus crossed every barrier to reach us.
    The question isn’t can we build bridges —
    it’s whether we’re willing to follow Him across them.
    Let’s pray.

      • John 4:4–9NIV2011

      • John 4:7–18NIV2011

      • John 4:19–26NIV2011

      • John 4:28–30NIV2011

      • John 4:39–42NIV2011

      • Deuteronomy 16:17NLT

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