A Samaritan Reject Series

As is the case with all my messages, I am glad to provide my Power Point slides so you can use them as a help for your own.

The Salvation Army Herkimer, NY

John 4:4-9 4 (Jesus) had to go through Samaria on the way (to Galilee). 5 Eventually he came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime. 7 Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.” 8 He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food. 9 The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans.

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1996.

What Can I Learn From A Reject? (Part 1)

John 4:4-9

• Never feels good to be rejected

– “Lawrence” (a student in my HS)

• Sometimes people seem to need someone ‘under them’ to feel good about themselves!

• America was founded on equality, yet …

– Slavery

– Manzanar (WW2 Japanese-American Internment)

– Civil Rights

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• Superpowers (the BIG boys)

– replaced the citizens of conquered territories with settlers from other lands. The idea was to break down the societies in order to prevent their survivors from mobilizing a rebellion.

• Kublai Khan & others also did this

– created ethnic conflict

– In Israel, Assyria conquered Samaria (712 BC) … brought in colonists from ten different countries, including Babylon, Elam, and Syria to repopulate the region & ensure loyalty to the Assyrian king, Sargon II

– 20,000 of its survivors, mostly from the upper classes, were deported to Assyria

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• By 587 BC, the southern kingdom of Judah fell to the Babylonians

– people were also carried off

– in 536 BC, a remnant of Jews was permitted to return and rebuild Jerusalem.

– The people now living in the north - the Samaritans (mixed race) fought against them

• The full-blooded, monotheistic Jews in the south hated the mixed marriages and idolatrous worship of their northern cousins.

• The Samaritans refused to worship at the Temple in Jerusalem … they built their own on Mount Gerizim

– Legend has it …

• The Jews refused to worship anywhere but the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem

• Later (100 BC) the Samaritans dedicated their temple to Zeus (in desperation!)

• When Herod was appointed as leader, they ‘buddied up’ to him. He built up the area and they were his favorites.

– He even kept his mother & children there

– As you might imagine, this favoritism did not improve things for their relationship!

(I used a map showing various locations onscreen at this point)

By Jesus’ day, Jews traveling between Judea in the south and Galilee in the north avoided the direct route through Samaria. Instead, they would cross the Jordan River and travel along the east bank before re-crossing to get to their destination (added a whole day).

• How they acted

– Jews hated Samaritans

– Samaritans hated Jews

• Racial background?

– Jews = pure racial heritage

– Samaritans = ½ Jewish, rest ???

• Religious background?

– Jews = essentially the same as Moses

– Samaritans = made their own … fit them!

• Jesus was sitting by the well

• Spoke to her

• Surprised her!

– unusual

• Rabbi

– Speaking to a woman (ANY woman)

• Jew & Gentile

– Not too mention SAMARITAN!!

• When it came to people, Jesus was always breaking the rules.

– He touched lepers.

– He showed mercy & concern for a woman caught in adultery

– He allowed children to crawl on his lap

– He broke the rules when he ate in the home of Zacchaeus,

– Jesus broke the rules when he stopped on the way to heal a dying child to touch a woman with a flow of blood

– He talked to Greeks and went to the homes of Roman soldiers.

– He mingled with sinners.

– He broke all the rules of social custom in order to reach people and bring them into the kingdom.

• Played the “race card”

– Tried to distract with religious arguments

• If God loves us, why would He ….

• When she was convinced,

– Changed her whole life!

• & others v 40 “Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He told me everything I ever did!”

– Holy Bible, New Living Translation, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1996.

– Was she hard to find?

– Was she the only one?