Seeing the Unseen

The Lost Art of Seeing Our Neighbors

     I live in a culturally diverse neighborhood. In fact, the people on either side of me are Spanish, while behind me is an African American neighborhood. Caucasians like me are interspersed throughout. You see, the tiny town in which I live (only called a “town” because it has its own tiny post office), is very old. While we are considered a satellite community, one of several, which surround a larger town, my little community was settled long before that larger town. The reason is that a very valuable resource could be found in abundance in the nearby river a century and a half ago. Over time, that resource became less important. As this part of Florida was drained of its vast swamplands, the rich soil and readily available grasslands made for a great place to grow citrus and raise cattle. The larger town was planted (a safer distance from the river which was, and still is, prone to flooding) and grew much larger and more modern than my little bump in the road community whose once-thriving industry was gone.

A fact you may find interesting: The home I live in belonged to one of the supervisors who ran that industry. The house is almost 125 years old! As anyone who has lived in Southern Florida for more than a month can tell you: you may own a house in Florida, but you always share it! In other words, a house this old has many residents. Some have 8 legs, some have 6, some have 4, and some have no legs at all! The good thing is the ones with no legs help greatly in controlling the populations of the multi-legged residents.

     As often happens, the land closer to the larger town became more valuable, and the land in my area became less so. Therefore, what you then have is a very small town with a diverse population: micro-communities of Black, Spanish, and white people. Each micro community tends to keep to themselves, even while living right next to each other. Looking at it on a global scale, we can see that those cultural differences became dividing lines—invisible borders—unto themselves, thus, a sad and nonsensical battle between races arose. Some of those battles are older than others; some are more valid than others; but the ones over nothing more than skin color are downright silly!

     There seems to be something within us as humans that looks at those who are different than us with fear or wariness, even though, very often, those differences are literally only skin deep. Add to that a language barrier, and you then have a multi-faceted border which requires more work to cross than most folks are willing to put forth. And rather than doing that work, we humans do another odd thing: we pretend that the “others” aren’t even there. In turn, that attitude leads many of one people to think of those “other” people as…well…less than people. Paraphrasing Jesus from Revelation 3:15-16, to be hot or cold is one thing, but to be lukewarm is much worse! In other words, loving them is good, hating them is not good, but to completely ignore them as if they didn’t exist is cruel!

     In the days of Jesus’ ministry, the Samaritans were seen as being less than human by the Judaeans. It would actually be better stated to say they didn’t see them at all in a very real sense. However, Jesus (as recorded in John 4:4-42) threw His decidedly Judaean disciples for a loop when He broke all the Cultural norms of those days and spoke to a Samaritan woman of ill repute at a well.

Who Were the Samaritans?

     Around 1,000BC, King Solomon died and his son, Rehoboam, took the throne of Israel. During his father’s reign, many of the people of northern Israel were used as laborers. There were good reasons for this, but that isn’t important now. The fact was that a lot was expected of them, but a new king on the throne brought them an opportunity to better their situation. It was a custom when a new king came to power, they were, more or less, obliged to grant requests to those who came and bowed to him. Therefore, a leader named Jeroboam asked King Rehoboam to lighten the load of his people. Rehoboam told him to come back in 3 days for his answer.

     Rehoboam foolishly ignored the advisors from his father’s reign, taking the advice of his young, spoiled friends instead. When Jeroboam came back, Rehoboam insulted him and told him, “If you think my father was heavy-handed, you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet!” (obviously paraphrased) The rift caused by this insult resulted in Israel being split apart; the Northern Kingdom of Israel consisting of 9 of the 12 tribes that made up the whole of Israel; and the Southern Kingdom of Judah consisting of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi (the priestly tribe).

     Starting right away, Jeroboam (who had run out all the Levites, opting for his own priests who were worshipers of pagan gods) did evil in the sight of God. Despite warnings by several prophets (Elijah, Elisha, Hosea, and Amos), the Kingdom of Israel, as they were now called, kept on with their idolatry, even sacrificing their children to those pagan gods, until God had enough. In 721BC, the Kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrians. Most of them were carried off to other lands, and the other people who Assyria had displaced from those lands were planted in the former land of the Israelites. However, the people who stayed intermarried with the people planted there (a big no-no according to the Law of Moses). As a result, Samaria, as it came to be called, was made up of a strange mixture of Jewish and Gentile ethno-religious beliefs.

Back to the Story

     The woman at the well was a Samaritan. As far as “no-no’s” go, for a Jewish Rabbi (which Jesus was considered) to be anywhere near a Samaritan was right up near the top of the no-no pile. For Him to have spoken to her was even higher on that pile. However, for Him to ask her for water and to carry on any lengthy conversation was absolutely insane!

     If you want to read the story for yourself, I cited it above, and I always recommend Bible reading. However, the point I’m making is that He saw her, He saw her as a person, He saw her as a person of worth, and He saw her as a person worthy of knowing that He—God in the flesh—loved her and cared about her. He didn’t ignore her sins. Rather, He addressed them head-on and got past them, freeing her of the bondage into which her sin kept her ensnared. That is a powerful lesson for us all. However, that isn’t my point today.

The Point

     Do you see your neighbors? Do you even know their names? In today’s world of digital connections, we can sometimes feel closer to people across an ocean than to the people across a fence. I am just as guilty of this as anyone! Let’s be real, it’s a lot easier to send an emoji and a virtual hug than to walk over to the fence and speak face-to-face. When you are physically there, you have to listen to them, respond to them, and make yourself vulnerable to them…all in real time! There’s no emotional investment in tapping a screen over a heart. But to actually put your arms around another person (someone who is probably as starved for personal interaction as you are!) requires us to think of others and get our minds off of ourselves.

     In John 13:45, Jesus said, “By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.” He didn’t say, “…if you 3 each other.” You can pretend that it means the same thing, but you know it doesn’t. Even a phone call, or face time is better than that. Technology is a wonderous thing, but it cannot help us to love each other better unless we become more creative in the ways we use it. You can use it to send a heartfelt email; one you spent some real time thinking about. You can use it to create a personalized gift that will truly mean something to that person. Or, there are even programs you can use to write a song, record your voice (which is digitally enhanced so you don’t sound like I do when I try and sing), and have ai design a song to fit your lyrics with your enhanced voice singing the song! That’s pretty cool, I think!

     The point is, even if it’s taking the time to make some brownies or cookies for a lonely widow or widower in your neighborhood, go and share the love of Jesus with other people. What you will gain is so much better than an emoji!

God Bless!