Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction: History of Segregation

Usually when we speak of borders we typically imagine physical walls.

Walls that historically have been used to either keep people out, such as what the Trump Administration hopes to do for reasons of economics according to them.

Or in other cases, walls that have been used to keep people in: such as the Berlin Wall, a defining symbol of the Cold War, which not only physically, but ideologically, divided the families of Berlin from one another.

Walls have also been built because of fear, fear of violence and war such as in the case of Israel with the Palestinian Territories.

But the walls that we have built between countries, communities, and people groups have not aways been physical ones.

Place of

Yonkers

“In 1985, a federal judge ruled that the city of Yonkers, had [intentionally] segregated its citizens [for 40 years] by deliberately cramming [98% of] it’s public housing into one square mile.”

What this eventually did was have all of the minorities that lived below the poverty line (predominantly Black and Latino) concentrated in the southwest part of Yonkers, while all of the white, middle-class folks were in the east side of Yonkers.

In this case the mark of segregation was not defined by a wall, but by a road: the Saw Mill River Parkway.

But it was not only defined by a road, it was defined by the color of your skin; it was defined by financial inequality.

So to resolve this problem, the Judge ordered the city to integrate by building new housing for poor minority residents on the white, middle-class side of town.

Through this integration, the judge thought Yonkers would, “see the light.

To see that they had erred, that they had sinned, and that this remedy would really cure them if they could only see the light.”

However, the City of Yonkers was so upset with this decision that it “incited a three-year, angry, sometimes violent fight that made headlines around the country and brought Yonkers [who had a budget of $300 million a year] to the brink of bankruptcy before it was finally forced to comply,” according to the NYT.

And although the initial ruling was a little over 30 years ago it wasn’t until 10 years ago (2007) when they managed to settle the case.

Though this ruling was a little over 30 years ago it wasn’t until 2007 (10 years ago) when they managed to settle the case.

He ordered the city to integrate by building new housing for poor minority residents on the white, middle-class side of town

a three-year, angry, sometimes violent fight that made headlines around the country and brought Yonkers to the brink of bankruptcy before it was finally forced to comply.

Lisa Belkin, a reporter for the NYT wrote an op-ed about that time titled “The Painful Lessons of Yonkers Housing Crisis.”

It was her reflection of the situation.

After having accomplished the political outcome they were hoping for and integrating part of the minority community into the predominantly white community, she wonder if the Judge was right: that Yonkers would “see the light . . .

see that they had erred, that they had sinned.”

She says

Back then I thought I was watching an ending — “the trouble” was officially over, the city [of Yonkers] had lost, the houses were finally here.

I’d hoped it would offer a fresh start for the residents who had been chosen (literally out of a bingo drum) for the move . . .

It also felt like a turning point, a new chance for the city, maybe even the country, to see that integration could work, . . .

The lesson of Yonkers would be that proximity can make neighbors out of strangers and bridge racial gaps one street at a time.”

However, she concluded, “That didn’t happen.”

“The lesson of Yonkers would be that proximity can make neighbors out of strangers and bridge racial gaps one street at a time.”

(And although they managed to accomplish the political outcome they were hoping; they managed to integrate part of the minority community into the white community), she concluded, “That didn’t happen.”

“The lesson of Yonkers would be that proximity can make neighbors out of strangers and bridge racial gaps one street at a time.

That didn’t happen.”

“The fight that was meant to map a road out of racial separation instead further codified it.”

She essentially goes on explaining that the segregation that was once happening from a distance, was now happening from across the street.

The circumstances may have changed for many.

But the “change of address” she said, “didn’t solve all their problems.”

Couple of days ago I was in D.C. and I went to visit the Lincoln Memorial which is also the place MLK delivered his famous “I have a Dream” speech.

As I was standing between the symbols of the Civil War and of the Civil Rights Movement I realized that what had happened in Yonkers was deeply rooted in a long history

of racial divides and inequality

of barriers human beings have placed between themselves to feel superior to one another

of oppression and hate that has long marked human history since day immemorial

Prop: This is why it’s important for us to go into the passage that we are about to enter.

Because this is a subject that Jesus himself did not shy away from and neither should we.

And through his example we will learn what it means to live the Gospel of which we claim to be impacted by.

We will also learn that there is a fundamental problem within humans.

So long as it continues to be unaddressed, then no matter how many policies push forward in our societies, not matter how many addresses we change we will continue to be distracted with the fruits of the problem, never targeting the root of the problem.

Trans: Before we enter into the conversation, let’s make a couple of observations:

Body:

Radical Problem: Layers of Division–Judaea vs. Samaria

Judea and Samaria

When you study the history between Judea and Samaria you ask yourself why would Jesus feel like “he had to pass through Samaria.”?

Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains 71.34 δεῖ

had = δεῖ (dei): it must necessarily take place, often with the implication of inevitability.

δεῖa: to be that which must necessarily take place, often with the implication of inevitability

Very interesting when you study the

δεῖ (dei)

δεῖa: to be that which must necessarily take place, often with the implication of inevitability

To Jesus there was NO going to Galilee WITHOUT going through Samaria

No religious Jew would ever step into Samaria although it was a short cut to Galilee.

But the Jews preferred going through the long way to avoid going through Samaria

Political Divide: The reason goes back to time when the tribes of Israel were divided into two rival kingdoms—Israel in the north and Judah in the south.

when the tribes of Israel were divided into two rival kingdoms—Israel in the north and Judah in the south.

The two kingdoms were rivals for approx.

200 hundred years.

One capital in Jerusalem, Judea, the other capital in Samaria.

That’s 200 years of history rooted in war, murder, division, betrayal, unfaithfulness, distrust.

Crossing over to the other camp didn’t send the friendly signals to your boys back home.

There was a political divide that separated Samaria from the rest of the country.

The Samaritans were a people that had been conquered and taken captive.

But there were a few that were left behind and these few began to intermarry with the Canaanites.

This created more layers of division:

Religious Divide

The Jews in Samaria became syncretistic with the Canaanite Religion.

They mixed Judaism with various beliefs of the Canaanite religion.

Jeroboam’s reign was challenged when the Jews (in Samaria) continued to look to the temple of Jerusalem as their main sanctuary ().

To counter this, he erected two competing sanctuaries in Dan and Bethel, each with a statue of a golden calf ().

And they began to credit the golden calf for what Yaweh had actually done on their behalf.

Jeroboam’s reign was challenged when the people of Israel continued to look to the temple of Jerusalem as their main sanctuary ().

To counter this, he erected two competing sanctuaries in Dan and Bethel, each with a statue of a golden calf ().

Jews in Judea began to look at the Jews in Samaria as Political traitors and religious Heretics

Racial Divide

The Samaritans were a people that had been conquered and taken captive.

But there were a few that were left behind and these few began to intermarry.

The way the Jews began to mix Judaism with the Canaanite religion was because they were also intermarrying with them.

They were looked upon as impure.

No longer as truly Jewish.

The Jews in Judea therefore wanted nothing to do with the Samaritans

“Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel, 2 they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ houses and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria who brought us here.”

3 But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers’ houses in Israel said to them, “You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we alone will build to the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.”

“Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel, they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ houses and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria who brought us here.”

But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers’ houses in Israel said to them, “You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we alone will build to the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.”

Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build” (, ESV)

“Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria who brought us here.”

But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers’ houses in Israel said to them, “You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we alone will build to the Lord, the God of Israel.”

(, ESV)

4 Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build

Samaritans were considered Political traitors, religious heretics, now racially inferior.

Marginalized within the Marginalized: But Jesus having to come to Samaria is much more radical than we think