In John chapter 4, we will see that John’s disciples weren’t the only ones worried about Jesus’ popularity.
The Pharisees, the religious leaders and teachers at that time, wanted to keep their power and control over the people.
These guys got mad when Jesus cleared the temple and now it is getting even worse.
They weren’t happy that so many people were listening to Jesus. They were upset with Jesus!
Knowing this, Jesus left Judea and headed north for Galilee, passing through Samaria.
Refer to the Map of Palestine. See this area of Judea on the map? That’s where Jesus was. Galilee is up here. This area in between is Samaria. The people from this area are called Samaritans.
There is a problem here! Jesus’ decision to travel through Samaria is surprising because the Jews would not go that way.
Rather than going straight to Galilee the Jews would travel all the way around it because they disliked the Samaritan people so much.
The Samaritans were only half Jewish. Mixed race peoples. What a stupid reason to look down on someone!
We should look at the beauty in the ways that we are different!
Another way the Sam’s were different is that they had slightly different beliefs about God.
The Samaritan people had their own place of worship on Mount Gerizim (point this out on the Map of Palestine) instead of worshipping at the temple in Jerusalem where the Jews went.
These differences led to hatred between the two people groups, and they kept away from each other as much as possible.
But not Jesus! Jesus knows that we are all created equal by God. We all came from the same great, great, grandparents, Adam and Eve.
Jesus is going to show us that we can care for and be friends with anybody that is different.
Jesus chose to go through Samaria, the route to Galilee that the Jews would not take.
Even though they took the short route to Galilee Jesus and his disciples are tired, hungry and thirsty from the journey.
While they were in the area of the Sam people Jesus sat down by a well while his disciples went into the town to buy food.
So he was all alone when he took a break and rested at the well, EXCEPT there was a Samaritan woman who came to the well alone. She came alone because she was different!
Usually women came in a group for safety to get water from the well, but this woman was different.
She had lived a sinful life, so many people didn’t like her, she didn’t live by all the rules, so a lot of people would make fun of her.
What a great opportunity for Jesus to show us how to treat people that are different!
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