April , 2007
Where is Your Samaria?
“and He must needs go through Samaria.”
John 4:4
INTRODUCTION: The shortest route from Jerusalem to Galilee was on the high road straight through Samaria, but most people would take the longer way around in order to avoid the Samaritans. A strong rivalry and hatred existed between the Jews and the Samaritans, and the Jews felt that any contact with these people would defile them. They were very adamant about avoiding these people, and the Samaritans didn’t feel any better toward them either.
The focus of this scripture is normally on the woman at the well and the fact that she had such a bad reputation. I would like to focus today on something else in this Scripture. Look at verse 4.
Jesus made it His business to go though this town even though the Samaritans were a fringe segment of the Jewish world. John says in verse 4, “He must needs--or of necessity go through this town.” Most people would have written the Samaritans off. In their minds there were no “good” Samaritans in spite of the one who sought to help a man along the wayside who had been robbed and beaten. This Samaritan was probably thought of as the exception to the rule.
Why, then, did Jesus feel such a strong need to go through a town which everyone else avoided? Why was it necessary/ He knew how these people were. Why didn’t He pass them by and forget about them as everyone else did? It would have been the easier thing to do. But as the Savior of all humanity, Jesus felt He had to confront the smoldering suspicion and enmity between the Jews and Samaritans by ministering to his enemies.
When Jesus came to earth to live among people, He came not only to save the desirable people but also those who were on the fringe of society. This included the undesirable Samaritans, and His salvation reached into their town also. Jesus said, “It is necessary for me to pass through there too.” In another scripture in Mark 2:17 Jesus said, “They that are whole have no need of the physician but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous but the sinners to repentance.” Jesus came to save this segment of the population also and therefore was not going to bypass Samaria. In this Scripture Jesus was able to teach his disciples a lesson in cross-cultural communication. What does this say to us today? I came up with three things that I believe speak to us today.
1. Barriers Existed in Samaria--Because it was a priority for Him to go to this town. He met a person there who “just happened” to be at the well at an unusual time of day. Or was it just coincidence? She may have been shunned by others because of her character, but Jesus talked with her. In my research I found some other interesting information. She may have been shunned but there was another side to it too. You remember that Jesus told her to bring her husband, and she said, “I have no husband.” One of the reasons for this was that Jesus understood that in her culture women lacked authority to make substantive decisions on their own. Those were made by men, often tribally, within clans. In fact, it was unusual for a man, particularly a rabbi, to hold serious conversation with a woman in public as Jesus was doing. When Jesus asked her to bring her husband and at her reply when she said, “I have no husband,” Jesus said, “That’s right. You have had five husbands and the one you are living with now is not your husband.”
However, she was a person who had had connections with a lot of families in various clans. Those connections might have made her a “gatekeeper” or social organizer of the community. What this means is that she was a person who could unlock the village for Jesus because in many cultures which are more clannish, the intra-family relationships have a powerful bearing on how the message will be received. In Northern European American cultures there is a tendency to value individual choice more. Here there was more value on the collective cluster of people. So this woman probably had more influence actually than we realize. At any rate at this point numerous barriers existed which blocked the message from getting through. Even though she may have been the key person to unlock others’ hearts toward the gospel, these barriers had to be removed.
At first she may have been a little sarcastic when she said, “We Samaritans are the dirt under your feet until you want something, and then we are good enough!” Jesus paid no attention to her bitterness or her flippancy because He saw her need deep beneath the surface. Jesus did not start out by saying, “Hey woman, watch your mouth! You’re offending me. If you don’t get saved you are going straight to hell!” He didn’t get offended by how this woman acted or what she said.
Can we handle the barriers that people put up without “getting offended” by how they act or what they say? Many Christians can’t do this today. Many Christians do more damage than good by their reaction to sinners. There are some things that we don’t gain anything by making a big deal out of. Remember the song, “He looked beyond my fault and saw my need.” Sometimes we need to be blind to the cultural differences that people bring with them or to their language or to their sins. We are not the Savior--we must seek to get them beyond all of these barriers and to Jesus who is the Savior. I believe this is what Jesus did when talking to the woman at the well. He didn’t put her down in any way or tell her how bad she was. She knew how she was.
The gospel is for every person no matter what his/her race, social position, or past or present sins. We must be prepared to share the gospel but Jesus used wisdom and tact in doing it. He knew there were barriers to hearing what He had to say at first, and He started where the person was rather than where he wanted her to be.
2. Getting Past the Barriers and Getting People Refocused--he started talking about drawing water from the well and lifted her level of thinking to the spiritual living water. Jesus explained the significance of the living water in contrast to the ordinary water from this well. She didn’t get the point. We know this because her questions opened the window to her heart. It showed a person who was totally devoid of spiritual insight. She couldn’t see past the water from the well to the spiritual water. She had no idea as to what Jesus was talking about because she said in verse 15, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
She didn’t understand that Jesus was speaking of eternity. She was only hearing of the here and now.
Jesus was talking of salvation and she was hearing natural water.
Jesus was speaking of a new birth, and she was hearing convenience.
Jesus was not talking to the woman about something that would KEEP her alive. He was telling her of something that would MAKE her alive.
It was not to be merely given to refresh her, but it was given to regenerate her.
She completely missed the point. They were on two completely different wavelengths.
When you try to talk to someone in your Samarias and they just don’t get it, how do you feel? Do you just say, “They don’t want anything spiritual. Forget it!! I can’t get anything through to them.”
Jesus knew the barriers were there--cultural, hatred, rejection, spiritual…but He didn’t give up and go on His way. He needed to do more. What did He do? For one thing, He spent more time explaining things. If she didn’t get it immediately, He retold it in another way, or gave more explanation, answered questions. It was not a one shot deal--take it or leave it. He was patient with her. He knew she didn’t understand. Sometimes I think Christians think they can present the gospel message once and then expect people to sign on the dotted line and then go their way. No, it is a process.
He taught her a new concept. The spiritual water would quench the inner thirst, and it would bubble up from within. Instead of it being like Jacob’s well, it was rather like an inner spring of water bubbling up. He started with the general and then focused in on her deep, personal need. He started talking with her about drawing water from the well and lifted her level of thinking to the spiritual living water. Jesus explained the significance of the living water in contrast to the ordinary water from this well. The spiritual water would quench the inner thirst and it would bubble up from within.
Jesus told her, “Everyone who drinks water from Jacob’s well will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the living water I give will never thirst.” He let her know that this living water satisfies better than
Gatorade
A glass of tea on a hot summer’s day
A cold beer
I think he explained it so well to her that she finally said, “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet.” The message was finally getting through to her.
Jesus is promising the woman a refreshing, satisfying artesian well--an Old Faithful type geyser--that will forevermore both bubble up from within her soul and flow out from her. Jesus therefore said, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him” (John 7:37-39).
Also Revelation 21:6 adds, “To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.” The source of Living Water will never run dry for the source of this eternal stream of refreshment is none other than the Holy Spirit of God Himself. Not only will it never run dry, it will also never cease to satisfy.
Psalm 107:9 promises that “He satisfies the thirsty…” The woman FINALLY got the point. He had been successful in refocusing her thinking away from the water from the well to the LIVING water that He could give.
What social, ethnic, or religious barriers have you overcome in Jesus Name? What aspects of Jesus’ conversation could you use as a model for your own discussions with searching friends? I think we can start where they are and with what they know and then move on from there to what is still foreign to them.
3. God Prepares Us for Our Samarias--Because Jesus was willing to go where others were not willing to go, He changed a person’s life forever and lifted her up to a new level. What does this say to us today?
It has been said that when we walk in difficult places, God sends the strength and nourishment to face what comes our way, not all at once, but day by day. (Sue Monk Kidd). This is true as we go into our Samarias. All of us at one time or another want to avoid going to certain people. They may be undesirable, disenfranchised people who are on the fringe of society. They may be obnoxious and abrasive. We may take the longer way around in order not to have to deal with them. “Let someone else do it. It is not my job,” we say. “Let George do it.” This may be true, but in some cases God is saying, “You’re George! You’re the one I have chosen to go through Samaria to take the good news.” When God lays a certain person on our heart to speak to, will we continue to take the long route around them? Will we avoid getting involved with people who are different from us or people we are uncomfortable being around?
Just where is your Samaria? I think our Samaria is any place or persons we would rather avoid and bypass. People you don’t like, don’t feel comfortable with, people who are different from you, people you don’t understand, people you consider offensive or abrasive… It is not the person from the radically different culture on the other side of the world that is hardest to love most of the time but the nearby neighbor or person whose skin color, language, rituals, values, ancestry, history, customs are different from our own. Sometimes Christians glibly say, “I love you with the love of the Lord,” but they don’t LIKE you. Think about why you would rather take the long way around some people. Jesus said, “I must needs go through Samaria.” Why are we going around it?
How does God prepare us for our Samaria?
I believe he brings people across our pathway in order that our views may be changed as we get to know a variety of people. He gives us these learning experiences which are often very frustrating and painful, but they prepare us for our Samarias. The stretch us and make us more willing to listen, to be more patient, and to be sensitive to the deep inner needs of people we would normally pass by in the course of a day. The Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans.
Are there people that you have no dealings with? Sometimes the person we just can’t stand will come across our path and just stick like super glue. And they stay until we can get used to them, can understand them, can feel comfortable around them. Then they somehow just go on their way. This is our learning experience. Praise God for these learning experiences which help to prepare us for our Samaria experiences.
We may find numerous ministry opportunities coming our way out in the marketplace. We may refuse to see their pain and their needs because we don’t know how to deal with it. We would rather take a longer route in order to avoid the tears and the hurts of others or the stigma of their lifestyle. There may be people we avoid because we don’t especially like them. Jesus said, “I must needs go through Samaria too,” for these were people He came to save also.
CONCLUSION: I believe God is calling Christians to stretch themselves to go through places where they would not ordinarily go in order to reach the lost and dying. We may face situations where we do not know what to say or do. We may fear running the risk of being rejected by people or fear not being able to handle the tasks we are called to do. We may not know how to handle their flippant responses. As we are willing to go to the Samarias of our communities and our world, we will find that we become prepared for the assignment and empowered by the Holy Spirit to do whatever it is that He has called us to do. We will find a new love shad abroad in our hearts for people and will not be so quick to say, “You offend me by your language, or your lifestyle.” Our willingness to go is the first step. Allow the Lord to set up the opportunities for you at the well. Although we have a wish to avoid the Samarias, let us have a willingness to go wherever God leads and directs so that the mission may be accomplished through us. In this scripture we find that God’s purpose was fulfilled in this Samaritan woman. How do we know this? Verses 28-29 says, “Then leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come…see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” After some time in His presence, she was anxious to leave her water pots and to become a Samaritan evangelist. This one who had been of poor reputation in the community, now rushes off to share the good news with others. Leaving her water pots shows her changed priorities--new priorities because she met Jesus. And vs. 39-42 says, Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony. Jesus stayed in Samaria for two whole days. The Lord’s extended stay in Samaria testifies to the face that he loved humanity in spite of their sinfulness.
Where is YOUR Samaria?
Let us pray:
