Did Jesus Cross The Line?

Political party, gender, nationality, past mistakes, the side of town you grew up on. We draw a lot of lines, and then we hide behind them. Did Jesus cross those lines? Yes. In John 4 He sat down at a well with a woman every social rule said He should avoid. He crossed the one divide that truly matters, the one between us and a holy God. That makes every other line we draw look artificial.

What lines did Jesus cross at the well?

Jesus crossed cultural, religious, and gender lines all at once. He was a Jewish man. She was a Samaritan woman. And it was the middle of the day, when no one else would be drawing water.

She also seems to have been an outsider in her own town. The text doesn't tell us why she'd had so many husbands, and it's wise not to read more into the story than is there. Whatever her circumstances, she went to the well when she knew she wouldn't be seen or judged.

Jesus didn't end up there by accident. He went on purpose, to meet her and to reveal that He is the Messiah.

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.)

John 4:9

Who actually drew the lines?

She did, not Jesus. He simply asked for a drink. She was the one who listed every reason the conversation shouldn't be happening.

We do the same thing. We often gravitate only to people who share our pain, our politics, or our background. Sometimes the lines are ones we build ourselves. More often, culture hands them to us: which party, which side, which group. On Beyond Sunday, Karen Carter, Calvary's Next Steps director, observed that culture tends to turn differences into a way to divide people.

Are differences between people bad?

No. Difference comes from God, and He calls it good. In Genesis, God separates light from darkness and land from sea, and He creates male and female. Those differences express His beauty and glory.

Differences were never meant to be barriers to relationship. They were meant to be reasons to worship. When we treat difference as a reason to celebrate, we end up worshiping together. When we treat it as a reason to separate, we start thinking like the world.

The first time people used difference to separate, they hid. After the fall, Adam and Eve noticed something about themselves and covered up. When God came looking for them, Adam answered:

I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.

Genesis 3:10

Fellowship turned into hiding. People have been hiding behind walls of difference ever since.

Does Jesus take sides?

Jesus doesn't take sides in our divisions; He calls everyone under His rule. Pastor Marty put it this way in his message: Jesus didn't come to take sides. He came to take over.

You can see what that looks like at Calvary, where more than 70 nations are represented. Pastor Marty calls it God's crayon box. Russians and Ukrainians worship God together in the same room. People from Asia, South America, and many countries in Africa sing in their own languages. The culture says that shouldn't work. But God isn't drawing lines and telling people to fix their group membership first.

There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Galatians 3:28

There is one real division in Scripture: between those who receive Christ and those who reject Him. But within the family of those who receive Him, the old categories don't define anyone anymore.

What is the only divide that really matters?

The divide that matters most runs between every one of us and a holy God. As host Pastor Sean Sloan put it, we are all far more like one another than any of us is like a holy God. That's true of the holiest person you know and the worst person you can imagine.

Jesus became the bridge between unholy people and a holy God. That's the greatest crossing of any division in history. Once that gap has been bridged, all the others start to look artificial.

How does that change the way you see yourself?

It gives you a secure identity. If you are in Christ, you are a child of God and a co-heir with Christ. Your identity isn't something you build by finding the right group. God already gave it to you.

Now if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.

Romans 8:17

If you're a child of the King, you walk through life with a different kind of confidence than someone who wonders whether they're accepted. The line of shame is gone.

How does it change the way you see others?

It removes your reasons to look down on anyone. If you know you're a sinner who needs a Savior, you aren't above the person who hasn't met Jesus yet. You need Him together.

The same goes for other believers. We share one Father, one Lord, and one baptism. So many of the lines between denominations and secondary views of Scripture lose their power to divide. That person is still your brother or sister.

What did Jesus say when she named the lines?

Jesus didn't argue about the lines. He pointed her to who He was.

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."

John 4:10

Living water is the life Jesus gives, which satisfies in a way no well can. She thought the lines meant she couldn't have this relationship. Jesus said the only thing missing was that she didn't see who was standing in front of her. If she had known, she would have asked.

James says it plainly: "You do not have because you do not ask God" (James 4:2). God has already crossed the line. The only barrier left is your perception. When you see Him rightly, you ask, and you receive refreshment, provision, strength, and rest. Seeing rightly also means seeing the person in front of you the way God does.

Common questions

Why was it unusual for Jesus to talk to the Samaritan woman?

Jews and Samaritans did not associate with each other, and a Jewish teacher speaking alone with a woman crossed social lines as well. She also seems to have been an outsider in her own town. Jesus spoke to her anyway and revealed that He is the Messiah.

What is living water in John 4?

Living water is the life Jesus gives, which satisfies in a way no well can. He told the woman that if she knew who He was, she would ask and He would give it to her.

Does the Bible say our differences are bad?

No. God created difference and called it good. Differences become a problem when we use them to separate and hide instead of bringing them back to God in worship.

What does "Jesus didn't come to take sides" mean?

It means Jesus doesn't join one human faction against another. He calls everyone under His authority and makes people from every background one family in Him.

Read the blog postJesus Crossed the Line: The Woman at the Well in John 4Jesus went out of His way to meet a Samaritan woman at a well at noon. Pastor Marty Sloan shows how Jesus crosses every line to reach you, and why the lines we draw limit our worship.Read the post