Jesus Speaks to Women: The New Samaritans

3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.

4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph.6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) John 4: 4-8

Moving on through the Gospel according to John, after the wedding in Cana, we see another famous and very significant encounter between Jesus and a woman:  The Samaritan woman at the well.  There is such richness in this text, that I don't even know where to start.  I guess, I will just start at the beginning, right?

3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. 4 Now he had to go through Samaria.  It seems like a simple statement about Jesus' travels' itinerary.  No big deal, or is it?  Apparently, at the time, the quickest and simplest way to go from Judea to Galilee was, indeed, through Samaria, the region in the middle.  However, things were way more complicated than that.  As we see in every reference book, including the one I'm using:  Jon Courson's Application Commentary, when a good Jew wanted to go from Judea to Galilee, he would never go through Samaria.  Good Jews would detour and go around, through a region called Perea on the other side of the jordan River instead.  Why? Because there was such tension between the Samaritans and the Jews, that Jews uttered the word "Samaritan" only as a curse word.

Why did Jews despise Samaritans so much? Well, centuries earlier, the Assyrians invaded Israel from the north and carried the majority of the people from the 10 northern tribes into captivity.  The Assyrians then sent some of their people to Israel, where they intermarried with the Jews not taken into captivity.  The marriages that took place between the Assyrians and the Jews produced the Samaritans: half-breeds in the eyes of the Jews. Later, they were barred from the temple, so they built their own.  They still believed in the Pentateuch, the first five books of Moses, but with modifications. (Historical background taken from Jon Courson's Commentary) 

In other words, Jews detested Samaritans.

Then, why did Jesus choose to go through that land, when it was a big NO, NO?

Well, for one thing, Jesus is God; therefore, His ways are not our ways - His are higher, more complex and unpredictable.  Then, as we will see when we continue to read the rest of the story, He had a Divine appointment in Samaria.  This encounter is another example of how Jesus is for all...including the least of us, today: the new Samaritans.

He had to go through Samaria, the same way He had to go through Calvary: not because it was the choice route, but because it was the designed route, the only way that would lead to salvation for mankind.  He did it for you and for me.  So today, in a time, land and culture far removed from the original events, we could be contemplating the beauty of His plan and the perfection of His ways, even when we don't fully understand.  

May the Holy Spirit keep our eyes and minds open to His message of love, salvation, forgiveness and acceptance.  Amen!