1Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
4Now he had to go through Samaria. 5So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
7When 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.)
9The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.a ) (John 4)
Thoughts: Samaria was the shortest way from Jerusalem to Galilee. But most went 30 miles out of their way. The Samaritans were people from what is now present day Iraq who were transplanted to Judea by the Assyrians. They sought to worship the Lord along with their own foreign gods. It is a little bit like the people who combine African animism with catholicism to come up with voodoo. These Samaritans were seen as people who corrupted the truth. Jesus stopped in mid day- when most people stayed away from the outside because of the heat. But the Samaritan woman went there when she thought no one else would be there because of the shame of her sin. But Jesus spoke to her and reached out to her.
Prayer: Lord, help me to go out of my way to reach out to others.
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