The gospel text for this Sunday is John 4. Jesus encounters the woman at the well.

One of the key thoughts this trip through this familiar passage is how Jesus breaks through barriers. The barriers I see in one area concerns us as believers. In reaching out to our world there are barriers that need busting. Jesus demonstrates amazing ability to bust through all kinds of barriers to reach someone who truly needs living water.

He breaks through the racial and gender barrier. This is a Samaritan, which Jews considered completely unworthy of a conversation. She is a woman, which makes it worse. How can a Jewish man be in this conversation at all?

Over the years I have established friendships with quite a few Muslims. They live in my city so I reach out. There are many I count as very dear friends. Right after 9/11 there were more than a few people who thought I had a death wish on me because I kept visiting my Muslim friends. I actually worked harder to meet with them after 9/11. We create barriers that keep us from reaching across to touch people with the love of our Lord.

Another area we need to recognize is the barrier of homosexuality. Without trying to create a huge debate, this is an area over the years the Spirit has worked on in me. I can remember several years ago studying Acts and coming to Acts 10 and asking the Lord to help me see what group in our culture is like Cornelius and the Gentiles. The Spirit broke my heart that day. “There are hundreds of Cornelius’ in the homosexual community crying out for me and I need some Peters to go see them.”

I readily confess I don’t have all the answers on that one, but it is a barrier we need to confess and ask the Spirit to help us break down.

We need to overcome our barrier of busyness. The disciples were busy getting food. Jesus stayed put. He saw the Father’s agenda and went with it. We get so caught up in our routines we miss people.

What are other barriers you might see that keep us from seeing our own Samaritan woman at the well?