With the recent news surrounding the shooting of Trayvon Martin and the subsequent acquittal of George Zimmerman, I think that it is appropriate to address the subject that this has become, one of racial prejudice. Even among those who purport to be Christians, the issue has polarized us to the point that we become openly inflammatory to those who disagree with our particular bent on the subject. We should realize is that this is not an issue that originated with slavery in America. Long before Africans were captured and sold into slavery in America there was prejudice against what were perceived to be “inferior” races of people. Even before the time of Christ, prejudice existed. It is during the time of Christ that I want to focus. If anyone can model how we as Christians are to deal with the issue of prejudice it is Jesus.
In the book of John, we read an account of Jesus and his disciples that has prejudicial overtones. Jesus and his disciples are traveling from Judea to Galilee. On the way, they stop at a town in the region of Samaria, where the disciples go to the town to buy some food. Jesus chooses to remain behind and wait for them rather than accompany them into town. It is there that he has a conversation with a woman from the town. As Jesus strikes up this conversation, she jumps right to the prejudicial point. In John 4:9 she says ” ‘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.)” We are not given any context for this statement that Jews do not associate with Samaritans. Just the statement. In order to get the proper context for what is happening here, we need to look at some text in the Old Testament, as well as some extra-biblical content.
Samaritans were people from the region of Samaria, which is in northern Israel. In 2 Kings 17, we read the account of the conquest of Northern Israel by the Assyrian King Shalmaneser. At that time, Israel was split into the northern and southern kingdoms, following the death of Solomon. The capital of the northern kingdom was Samaria. The king of Northern Israel had rebelled against the Assyrians and had tried to form an alliance with Egypt. When the King of Assyria found out about it, he attacked Samaria and captured it. In verse 6 we read that the Israelites who were living in Samaria were all deported to Assyria. Following this deportation, verse 24 tells us that Assyrians were sent to live in Samaria. These Assyrians came to live in what used to be Israel. They brought with them their pagan culture, which included poly theism, the worship of many gods. When the Judean exile ended, and the exiles began returning home, they intermarried with the Assyrians who were now living in Samaria to create both a mixed race and a mixed religious culture, mixing pagan religion with Judaism.
According to Samaritans, Mount Gerizim was the original Holy Place of the Israelites. The Samaritans claim that their temple on Mount Gerizim was the original sanctuary for the Jewish people before the exile. However, post-exile Israel made its capital in Jerusalem and built a temple there. This created a schism between the Samaritans and other Jews. As you are probably aware, the Jewish people take their religion very seriously. Because of this, both Jewish and Samaritan religious leaders taught that it was wrong to have any contact with the opposite group. Samaritans and Jews had a mutual hatred for each other based not only on racial prejudice but on religious prejudice as well.
If we’re going to look at how Jesus handled prejudice, we must look at things from a Jewish perspective since Jesus was Jewish. The Samaritan woman that Jesus met at the well that day had several strikes against her from a Jewish perspective. First of all, she was a Samaritan. Even though she was of a race that was hated by Jews, Jesus initiated a conversation with her. He not only initiated the conversation, he was offering her the same thing that he was offering the Jews. In Matthew 15, we read the account of a Canaanite woman who approached Jesus about her demon-posessed daughter. Jesus didn’t even answer this woman. Finally, after his disciples complained to him about her, his reply was “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel”. In other words, Jesus was telling her that his current mission only involved Israel. Yet here in John, we find Jesus having a spiritual conversation with a woman who was hated by Jews because of her paganized religion and racial mixture.
Second, she was a woman. That’s probably a little obvious, but needs to be stated. Women in the culture of the day were generally treated like property. Kind of like your car, which means that they were not necessarily mis-treated, they were just treated like property. For Jesus to initiate the conversation and ask for a drink was unusual. According to the culture, the woman should have been the one to offer the drink. Also, if Jesus had drunk from her cup or jar, he would have been ceremonially unclean, because she was a Samaritan. In verse 27 we find the disciples returning and being surprised that Jesus was having a conversation with a woman. Women who were not acquaintances were not typically involved in conversation with men. Especially considering this woman had a less than stellar reputation in her community. She was, according to Jewish law, an adulteress. That brings us to the third strike against her from a Jewish perspective.
According to Jewish law, she was not only an adulteress, she was a fornicator. When Jesus asked her to go get her husband, she replied that she didn’t have a husband. She left out the details, but Jesus knew anyway. He correctly told her that she had had five husbands and the man she was living with now was not her husband – a fact which could have gotten her stoned according to the law. Obviously, from a religious, as well as a cultural standpoint, Jesus should have had nothing to do with this woman. Yet he not only spoke to her, he was kind to her. She even tried to bait him into an argument based on their differences. If you look at how she worded her statement in verse 19, she was making a stand on her own prejudices. She said “Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain”. This was not a question, but a fact for her. THIS is the correct place to worship God. She goes on to say “But you Jews…” Have you ever heard that tone before? I’m a musician, so I’ve heard it like this: “This black stuff they call music nowadays….” or “That worship music you play is so white!” But Jesus wasn’t baited into a prejudicial argument. He clearly stated the fact that both views had their flaws. He said that the time was coming when neither side would be right.
How often are we willing to admit that our side may have its flaws? Can we admit that both Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman made mistakes that affected each of them differently, but both of them negatively? I’m reasonably certain that if he had it to do over again, George Zimmerman may not be so quick to follow young Trayvon through the neighborhood. I’m fairly certain that if he had it to do over again, Trayvon would have chosen another route home and/or may have walked away from a confrontation. Do our own racial prejudices affect how we do life? Certainly – for both African-Americans and Caucasians. We all carry around certain prejudices that we may have picked up from our parents, or developed because of the media or negative experiences with others. I attend a multi-cultural church. I’m aware of the balancing act that we have to purposely address to make sure that we are culturally sensitive to all of the different cultures represented at the church. Jesus had the same issues. He was raised by people who believed that the Samaritans were people to be hated because of their beliefs as well as their status as a mixed breed of people. He heard the stories as he was growing up of how the Samaritans had perverted the law of God. He was taught to look at these people as lesser human beings than other Jews. His culture taught him that women were inferior to men. His religious leaders and his own father taught him that adulterers were worthy of death. And yet he purposely hung out at a well outside a Samaritan town to talk to an adulteress Samaritan woman. Why? because Jesus saw beyond race, class, society, the media and all of the other factors that told him to classify this woman and he saw a person who needed what he had.
We are surrounded every day by things that attempt to get us to classify people. And we have something that they desperately need. Let’s look at others like Jesus did. We are told to view Trayvon Martin as a black teen who was the victim of a senseless crime and as true as that may be, we have to see beyond that. Trayvon Martin was a person who needed Jesus. George Zimmerman has become the poster boy for racial profiling to some. George Zimmerman is a person who needs Jesus. It’s not about our race, our religion, or our social class. It’s all about Jesus. When will we begin to see that we may have come to America on different ships, but we’re all in the same boat now?