No Barriers

Scripture Reading: John 4:4–42

“So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.” –John 4:5

Today is my daughter Hannah’s birthday. When she was little, we used to tell her that all the Cinco de Mayo celebrations going on around Southern California were really just for her. As she grew up, she figured out that wasn’t actually true.

Of course, those celebrations are meaningful in their own right. Every culture has its own ways of celebrating—its own traditions and expressions of joy. And what’s good for us to remember is this: God loves people from every ethnicity. “For God so loved the world…” (John 3:16). Not just one group, not just one background, but the world.

God’s love isn’t limited to one group of people. It isn’t reserved for one culture or background. Scripture tells us that one day heaven will be filled with people “from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9). That’s the reach of his love. No barriers.

You see that clearly in John 4.

“So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar…”

That’s more than a travel detail. Most Jews would go out of their way to avoid Samaria. There was a long history of tension and division.

But Jesus didn’t go around.

He went through.

Verse 4 tells us he “had to pass through Samaria.” Not because there was no other route—but because there was a greater purpose. Jesus later says, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work” (John 4:34).

He had an appointment with a woman at a well.

While others kept their distance, Jesus moved toward. While others avoided, Jesus engaged.

That stands in contrast to another moment when the disciples, frustrated with a Samaritan village, wanted to call down fire from heaven. Their instinct was rejection. Jesus’s mission was redemption.

So he crossed the barrier.

Because there was a woman at a well who needed living water.

And that reminds us of something we can easily miss: the people we might be tempted to overlook are often the very people God is seeking.

God’s love crosses every barrier—cultural, social, personal. Even the quiet ones we build in our own hearts.

I was reminded of that years ago when we took Hannah to Disneyland for her seventh birthday. It happened to be the 50th celebration, and it was packed. Everywhere you looked—people.

That’s a small glimpse of heaven.

Not chaotic, but full. People from Samaria, from South America, from Southern California, from Somalia, from all over the world—gathered together because of the saving work of Christ.

So today is a birthday. And yes, it reminds me how much I love my daughter, but it also reminds me of how wide God’s love really is.

So who are the people you tend to go around, rather than toward?

Jesus didn’t go around. He went through.

And if we are walking with him, we should go to and not around.