Samaria

Jesus realized that the Pharisees became aware that He was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John. Although it was not Jesus who baptized the people, but rather His disciples. And so, Jesus decided to leave Judea and return to Galilee.

Now, when Jews traveled from Judea to Galilee, they typically took a roundabout path, heading east to the Jordan River valley, and then north toward the Sea of Galilee. Why take this path instead of traveling due north from Jerusalem to Galilee? Because the path was level and there was a ready supply of drinking water during the journey. But most importantly, the path avoided the region of Samaria. You see, the Samaritan heritage was a mixture of Jew and Gentile. And the Samaritans worshiped differently from the Jews. There were other distinctions between the two peoples. But these were the main points. And so, both communities considered the other to be unclean and untouchable.

Since Jesus and His disciples were already on the banks of the Jordan River, it seemed a certainty that they would take the traditional path up the Jordan River valley. But instead, Jesus told His disciples that they had to go northwest, over the rocky mountain range, because they had to go through Samaria.

About the sixth hour (by Roman time, 6 o'clock in the morning), Jesus and His disciples came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, which was near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. And Jacob's well was there. Jesus was weary from their journey and sat down by the well. And His disciples went into the town to buy food.

Now, the women normally came to the well in the evening to draw water for the next day. But there was one woman who came to draw water that morning.  And Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.”

The woman was surprised. And with some animosity, she replied. "You are a Jew. How can You ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?”

Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God and who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

Curious and with more respect, she said, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where then will You get this living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock?”

But Jesus clarified, gesturing to the well. “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.”

The woman asked Him, “Sir, give me this water so that I will not get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

Jesus told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

“I have no husband,” the woman replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are correct to say that you have no husband. In fact, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. You have spoken truthfully.”

With respect, but pointing out their differences, she observed, “Sir, I see that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place where one must worship is in Jerusalem.”

“Believe Me, woman,” Jesus replied, “a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. But a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such as these to worship Him. God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”

The woman continued the theological debate and proposed how to settle their differences. “I know that Messiah (Christ) is coming. When He comes, He will explain everything to us.”

Jesus answered, “I who speak to you am He.”

Just then His disciples returned with food and were surprised that He was speaking with a woman. But no one asked Him, “What do You want from her?” or “Why are You talking with her?”

Then the woman left her water jar, went back into the town, and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah (Christ)?” So, the people left the town and made their way to Jesus.

Meanwhile, the disciples urged Him, “Rabbi, eat something.”

But Jesus told them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”

So, the disciples asked one another, “Could someone have brought Him food?”

Jesus explained, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work. Do you not say, ‘There are still four months until the harvest’? I tell you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are ripe for harvest.

Already the reaper draws his wages and gathers a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may rejoice together. For in this case the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for; others have done the hard work, and now you have taken up their labor.”

Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in Jesus because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” So, when the Samaritans came to Him, they asked Him to stay with them, and He stayed two days.

And many more people believed because of His message. And they said to the woman, “We now believe not only because of your words; we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man truly is the Savior of the world.”

(See John 4:1-42)

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