Lots of things going on, Father. I am grateful for Your guiding hand. May all of our plans find Your blessing. Amen.
Acts 8:4-25 (<<click here to read the passage)
One thing that grates me the wrong way when driving my bus is the “catty” behavior that seems to be a fairly regular occurrence. So and so wants to sit with so and so one day, then the next they are mad at that so and so and don’t want to sit with that so and so, so they want to sit with another so and so. It’s much more out there and in my face on my elementary route but I would be surprised that it doesn’t happen with my older kids too. They are maybe just a bit more subtle…or at least I don’t hear it.
Today’s passage involved a group of so and so’s that “pure” Jews absolutely despised. And the feeling was mutual. The group of people excluded from the “pure” Jews were called Samaritans.
First here’s a little history lesson for those who may not know how this animosity came to be.
The city of Samaria (in the region of Samaria) had been the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel in the days of the divided kingdom before it was conquered by Assyria in 722 B.C. During that war, the Assyrian king had taken many captives, leaving only the poorest people in the land and resettling it with foreigners. These foreigners had intermarried with the Jews who were left, and the mixed race became known as Samaritans. The Samaritans were considered half-breeds by the “pure” Jews in the southern kingdom of Judah…*
The Jews of the southern kingdom had remained “pure” but truth be told it wasn’t a piece of cake for them to accomplish either. They weren’t a whole lot better at keeping themselves separate from non-Jews in the area, but their leadership was able to keep them pointed in the right direction.
The point I’m trying to make is, there may have been a very substantial wall between them, but Jesus made a gaping hole in it (John 4) and encouraged His followers to follow suit (Acts 1:8). When Philip (by the way this isn’t the Apostle but one of the seven who were anointed to serve tables and distribute food) went to the city of Samaria and told the people there about the Messiah absolutely nothing was said about the wall separating the undesirable so and sos. Philip just did his thing and the people responded…they enthusiastically accepted God’s message! And there was great joy in that city!
You might say, “Well, sure there wasn’t any friction! Philip wasn’t a Jew; he was a Greek believer!” That is true but in the same passage the apostles sent Peter and John to check things out and when they prayed for these new believers to receive the Holy Spirit and laid their hands upon them, they received the Holy Spirit. And no mention of hesitancy is mentioned on the part of Peter or John either.
Lord Jesus, enable us to get past the whole so and so mentality. May not a single “wall” remain as we step boldly into the world as we proclaim the Good News concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ.
*Life Application Study Bible
Mar 8th, 2022, Tues, 6:56 pm
