As a little girl, I grew up in the late 60s. I attended 2 elementary schools. The first school I attended was for blacks only. Then the laws changed, and the government placed a law that said schools must be integrated. So before I knew it, I had to leave the only world that I had ever known, and I was bused off to the white’s only school that the government said I must attend. As long as I live I will never forget the greeting that we kids received on that early August morning. Our bus was greeted with people lining each side of the streets with signs filled with racial slurs.
As a child, I couldn’t understand why we were treated that way; it wasn’t until years later that I came to realize that we were treated in that manner because we were different. It brings to my mind the story of the Jews and the Samaritans; especially the story of the Samaritan woman in John Chapter 4:1-42, because she had a “triple whammy” in her life. She was treated unkindly because she was a woman and not just any woman but one with a tainted past, and she was despised by the Jews because she was a Samaritan; in today’s terms that means she was biracial. Some would say, she was indeed different.
If we were to be honest with ourselves; aren’t we all different? Or should I say aren’t we all different from Jesus. Let me ask you some questions. Were you born without sin? Are you holy? Could you die for the sins of the world? If you attempted to, would God accept your offering? I’m positive that He could not. Does it matter to you that Jesus is different from you? I did not think so.
It did not matter to Jesus what you looked like. Neither did He let your sins keep you away from Him. Although you were different from Jesus, He still died for you. Isn’t that good news?
Did you decline his finished works because you are Black, White, Asian or whatever your race, ethnicity or sex may be, just because He was Jewish? I did not think so. The same salvation that Jesus offered to His mother, Paul and Apollos, who all happened to be Jewish people, is offered to all people. Isn’t that freeing? The story of the Samaritan woman shows that everyone is equal in Christ.
My favorite part of the story about the Samaritan woman is when the men of Samaria get involved. Now I don’t want you to miss out on this morsel of truth. In verse 42, the men of Samaria say “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.” Did you get that? God revealed to these men who was different from Jesus; that He was the Savior of the world. Jesus came for the different, so that He could make a difference in our lives. That would be you, me and every sinner that has ever live. Now that Christ has made you different, go therefore and make a difference for Christ.
If you go against the grain, you get splinters, regardless of which neighborhood you're from, what your parents taught you, what schools you attended. But if you embrace the way God does things, there are wonderful payoffs, again without regard to where you are from or how you were brought up.... God pays no attention to what others say (or what you think) about you. He makes up his own mind. Romans 2:9-11 (The Message)
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