Once, when Jesus brought his disciples into Samaritan territory, he challenged their age-old prejudice. He told them, “Open your eyes,” so they would be able to see a great spiritual harvest among these loathed people. Later, when framing the socio-geographical extent of their mission, he included Samaria along with Jerusalem, Judea, and the ends of the earth.
Everything about their history and their theology had predisposed them to see Samaritans in a certain light. Eventually, they learned to love these marginalized people and anyone else to whom they were blinded, including tax collectors and sinners of all sorts.
Are we modern followers of Jesus any less stubborn when we can’t or won’t value people from other cultures? Alejandro Mandes refers today’s Samaritans as “Samericans.” They don’t look or talk like we do. They have different customs than ours, and they live in neighborhoods we don’t choose to visit. Jesus adamantly challenges us to seeothers as divinely loved image bearers and to “open our eyes” to anyone we judge as unworthy of our consideration and love.
[This is an excerpt from my book: Missional, Merciful, Worshipful Christians and Their Churches. You can get it for free or for anything you want to give. The proceeds all go to YWAM San Francisco… HERE’S HOW YOU GET IT.]
barney wiget 