Samaria – John 4:1-6

Wikipedia notes of Samaria:  “The name “Samaria” is derived from the ancient city of Samaria, the second capital of the northern Kingdom of Israel. The name likely began being used for the entire kingdom not long after the town of Samaria had become Israel’s capital, but it is first documented after its conquest by Sargon II of Assyria, who turned the kingdom into the province of Samerina.  Samaria was revived as an administrative term in 1967, when the West Bank was defined by Israeli officials as the Judea and Samaria Area….The Palestinian Authority and the international community do not recognize the term “Samaria”; in modern times, the territory is generally known as part of the West Bank.”

Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was making and baptizing more disciples than John (though Jesus himself did not baptize but his disciples did), he left Judea and returned to Galilee.

It was necessary for him to pass through Samaria.  So he came to the town of Samaria called Sychar near the field Jacob gave to his son Joseph.  The well of Jacob was there.  Jesus, being wearied from his journey, sat down by the well.  It was close to the sixth hour.  (John 4:1-6)

Jesus wants no unnecessary interaction with the Pharisees, though he has just had powerful interaction with Nicodemus, and knowing how they have bothered John the Baptist, his new popularity will draw them and he needs to minister in Galilee, so he withdraws from Judea.  He was no doubt listening to the direction of the Holy Spirit as to what he should do.

The straight shot north from Judea to Galilee takes one through Samaria where the Jews living there had largely intermarried with Gentiles stemming from the Assyrian invasion 700 years earlier in which the Assyrians relocated peoples they had conquered into Israel.  The strictest Jews would purposely go east of the Jordan River and then north to avoid Samaria, but Jesus “had” to go through Samaria.  He did not seek to avoid those who were “sick” but came to seek and to save them.  And the Samaritans were “sick” as well.  They had altered the worship of Yahweh, building their own temple on Mt. Gerizim and using their own version of the Pentateuch (Moses’ books).  There had been violence between them and the Jews perpetrated by both sides.

The well here was perhaps dug by Jacob, or at least had become his with purchase, and the area was gifted to his son Joseph.  It was a pertinent place to stop since it was noon (Jewish time was calculated from sunrise, so the sixth hour from 6am would be noon) and the travelers were hot and tired and in need of water and food.  Jesus is fully human and so he had tired from walking and was in need of rest.  But he was not only attending his own needs.  He was prepared to have a powerful interaction with a Samaritan woman.

We should be sensitive to God’s direction in our lives.  We never know who He is going to bring across our paths so we may give witness to them of what Jesus has done for us.

Discussion Questions

1. Can you think of a time when it seemed God’s Spirit was directing you to follow a course you had not planned on?
2. Why didn’t Jesus take the opportunity to interact with the Pharisees?  They were “sick” too, weren’t they?
3. Why do you think Jesus didn’t do the actual baptizing but left it to his disciples?
4. Who would you rather not cross paths with?  Who are you prejudicially certain you would rather avoid?
5. Wouldn’t you think the Samaritans would be just as obstinate to deal with as the Pharisees?
6. How do you sense the Spirit’s direction in your life?