To Make Progress You Must Break Barriers

John 4:27
Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”

Jesus is still at the well talking to the Samaritan woman. The disciples catch up with Jesus and they are surprised to see Him talking to a woman. Jews and Samaritans had tribal barriers between them. Jesus broke those barriers and spoke with the lady even though she wasn’t comfortable at the beginning. In order to reach that woman with the gospel, Jesus had to break the tribal barrier. To make progress you must break barriers!

The next barrier was the gender barrier. Jews had serious gender barriers. A respectable man was not supposed to be conversing with any woman in public. Disciples were almost accustomed to Jesus defying the tribal barrier, but on the gender barrier, they were in shock. Our text today tells us that they were surprised that Jesus their Master and Teacher who ideally shouldn’t be speaking to a woman in public, was actually doing that.

New Living Translation
Just then his disciples came back. They were shocked to find him talking to a woman, but none of them had the nerve to ask, “What do you want with her?” or “Why are you talking to her?”

A man could only speak to a woman publicly out of a dire necessity. Healing cases, raising the dead, etc were necessary moments of conversation. Our text today highlights gender bias. Disciples were supposed to ask Jesus some questions to clarify why He was talking to the woman, leave alone a Samaritan. They should have asked Him to state what He wants so that they stop this conversation by providing what was needed. They also had an option of confronting Him for letting them down in the public eye. They could ask Him to explain why He is talking to a woman in public. But the text today tells us that, no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”

In order to reach the Samaritan woman and consequently the people of her town, Jesus had to cross tribal and gender barriers. There are God-made barriers like the forbidden fruits and restrictions found in the law of God. There are man-made barriers that are uncountable, masquerading as culture, tradition, policies, guidelines, etc. The barriers we need to cross are man-made barriers. Barriers put in place by God should be respected and left intact. We should bear with God-made barriers. We should be ready to defy all man-made barriers that stand in our way of fulfilling God’s will. To make progress you must break barriers!

Jesus crossed barriers to reach this woman. The woman also crossed barriers to reach Jesus. She had to cross the tribal hostility barrier. She had to cross the shame barrier by going publicly announcing in her city that Jesus had exposed her secrets. To make progress you must break barriers!

Many people are kept away from Jesus because of barriers of pride. Barriers of self-trust instead of trusting and depending on God. Barriers of hatred for one another. Barriers of pleasure-seeking. To make progress you must break barriers!

Those who come to Jesus must break barriers. Barriers of thinking you know and accepting to be taught. Barriers of discovering that your long-time way of worship has been unbiblical and accepting to make relevant changes immediately. Barriers to even accepting baptism and living by faith. To make progress you must break barriers!

Jesus will break all possible barriers to reach us. He will break barriers are reach us through social media. He will break barriers and reach us at funerals, weddings, books, inside public transport, through dreams, etc. If Jesus breaks barriers to reach us, we too should break barriers to reach Him. To make progress you must break barriers!

The barrier between you and excellence is laziness, you must break that barrier. The barrier between you and sufficient funds is a budget, break that barrier. The barrier between you and the next big thing is fear of acting, break that barrier. Your barrier could be being too careful until nothing has ever been done. Your barrier could be a bad attitude towards others. Your barrier could be drug abuse. To make progress you must break barriers!

Breaking barriers is not a popular thing. Jesus almost lost the respect of His disciples because of the barriers He broke. Like Jesus march on in the name of God and break barriers that stand between you and excellence, Amen!

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