Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me all that I ever did." So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of your words that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world."
John 4:39–42 (RSV)
Human beings love to divide themselves into groups. We do it so quickly that we barely notice that we have done it. We take the worst traits within ourselves and lay it on 'them'; the others we have determined are not like us. We are the good, decent folk, they are, well, you know what they are like! Fear drives us, as does ignorance. They have committed the crime of not being us.
The Samaritans who were coming to see Jesus were going against the grain. Decades of mistrust and fear had taught them that no Jew could be trusted. All the Jews knew in their hearts that God could not love these Samaritan heretics. They refused to worship in Jerusalem. They would not sacrifice in the Temple.
Jesus ignored it all as He asked the Samaritan woman for a drink. She tried to retreat into her fortress of prejudice and hate. Jesus broke down those walls by the simple act of treating her as a human being. True, she was a flawed and broken person, but none of that would stand before the Lord.
"I am He," Jesus revealed to her hope of the Messiah. Her ministry of evangelism began at that moment. She told everyone in the village about the man who 'told her everything she ever did, could this be the Messiah?'
The spiritual hunger brought them all to Jesus. They heard His words, their heart aglow with faith and hope. All the barriers so deftly crafted by generations of mistrust fell into dust as they knew this was the Savior of the world. Of the world, not just Jerusalem, not Galilee or Samaria, Jesus is the Savior of the world.
We have heard of all the barriers, misperceptions, prejudices, anger, and hate that stand between us this past year. Those flames have been stoked by a near-constant stream of images and reports of the gaps between us. Suspicious eyes gaze at everyone who is not us, and we affirm the right in us and the wrong in 'them'.
If this is all we allow ourselves to see, then the long nightmare of violence and hate will never end. Jesus does not see us in this light. He sees us all in the light of the Father's love. Jesus' love for even our enemies will pin Him to the cross. His love will go down into death and hell for us. The love of the Father will raise Him from the tomb.
All Jesus sees when He beholds anyone is a beloved child of God for whom He suffered, died, and was raised. May He heal our eyes that we may see in the other only a precious child of God. May distinctions fade as the love of the Father flows over all.