Jesus said to His disciples, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
Samaria was not far from Jerusalem. The real obstacle was never the distance—it was the heart. To the Jews, Samaria was the closest place they least wanted to go.
Our Samaria today may be much closer than we realize. It may be a family member living under the same roof with whom we no longer speak. It may be someone in our own church from whom we have quietly closed our hearts. It may be a person whose political views differ from ours, or someone who wounded us years ago and whom we have decided is no longer worth talking to.
Before the Holy Spirit sends us to the ends of the earth, He first leads us toward our own Samaria.
More than thirty years ago, I attempted to merge Hanmaum Church, the congregation I had planted in Chicago, with Galilee Church, founded by Rev. Kyunghee Lee. At first, many members opposed the idea, but after much prayer and patient conversation, both congregations agreed to move forward.
Then, at the final stage, we could not resolve one seemingly small issue—how our names would appear in the church bulletin. That minor disagreement eventually caused the entire merger to collapse.
At the time, the chairman of our church board was one of my closest friends. We had known each other since our high school days as young immigrants, and he had never spoken harshly to me. But that day, he looked at me with frustration and said,
“If you can’t overcome a small disagreement with the pastor closest to you, how can you talk about working for the reunification of Korea? I’m embarrassed.”
His words stayed with me for many years.
Last year, I had the privilege of preaching at the first anniversary celebration of the merger between Galilee Church and Central United Methodist Church. Central Church had been pastored by Rev. Sungchan Kim, a pastor well known for his emphasis on the work of the Holy Spirit.
As I began the revival meeting, I smiled and said, “The churches devoted to the reunification movement couldn’t merge—but the churches shaped by the Holy Spirit did. Congratulations!”
As I spoke those words, the Lord reminded me of something I had learned through experience. The first wall the Holy Spirit tears down is not the wall between nations. It is the wall of my own pride. It is my certainty that I am right. It is the fortress built by judging others according to my own standards.
The ends of the earth may be far away, but Samaria is very close. And that is precisely why Samaria is often harder to reach than the ends of the earth.