...talk to Jesus...

“Therefore when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2 (although Jesus Himself was not baptizing, but His disciples were), 3 He left Judea and went away again into Galilee. 4 And He had to pass through Samaria. 5 So He came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph; 6 and Jacob’s well was there. So Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.   7 There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. 9 Therefore the Samaritan woman said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans)  John 4:1-9.

If you look at a map Palestine is 120 miles long, with Galilee to the north, Judea to the south, and in the center sits Samaria.   So when Jesus hears that the Pharisees were stirring up the pot about baptism He heads north from Judea to Galilee, and takes the quickest route straight through Samaria.   The challenge for Jesus going through Samaria is regarding a long-standing feud between the Jews and the Samaritans.   More than 700 years earlier the Assyrians invaded and took over Samaria, dragging with them different people and races from their previous conquests.   Some of the Jews began to intermarry with these different people, which was a serious Jewish crime, punishable by losing their right to be called Jews.     

A similar invasion took place much later in Jerusalem and the inhabitants were carried off to Babylon, but they never lost their identity and remained stubbornly Jewish.  These Jews returned from the Babylonian exile to Jerusalem eventually and rebuilt the Temple that had been destroyed.   When the Samaritans came and offered their help the Jews turned them away, and thus began a long, bitter feud between the Jews and the Samaritans.  

It was no small wonder, then, that the Samaritan woman was so astonished when Jesus, a Jew, spoke to her, a Samaritan.   Furthermore it was astonishing that Jesus spoke to her, a woman, for Rabbis were forbidden to speak to any women in public — and they were even forbidden to speak with their wives and daughters in public.   For a Rabbi to be seen speaking to a woman in public would destroy his reputation — yet Jesus spoke to her!   Here sat Jesus, the Son of God, tired and thirsty, speaking to a Samaritan woman who told Him her sad and sorry story.

Sitting at the well at the sixth hour meant that Jesus was there at 12 Noon, the hottest part of the day.  But Jesus was beginning to pull down the barriers that separated people from one another, and His disciples were begging to join Him.   Before they met Jesus they would never have considered going into a Samaritan town to buy food.   And being the moral outcast that she was, the woman snuck out to the well for water at a time in the day when no one would be there because of the heat.  Remember that John is writing to the Greeks who had no knowledge of the history between the Jews and the Samaritans, so John is keen to include the parenthetical comment: “(For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans)”  John 3:9.

The conversation must have taken longer than what is reported by John, for it was quite a hike to walk into the city, buy food, and return again — all on foot in the hottest time of the day.   The Samaritan woman undoubtedly opened up her heart to Jesus, a Jew!   But Jesus, tired physically from the long and hot journey, is never tired from helping people tired from the self-inflicted struggles of their lives.   At the well meet a sympathetic Jesus in this story who listens in such a way that even a Samaritan women would bare her soul to Him rather than run away from embarrassment.   And yet it seems the most natural thing in the world to talk with Jesus.

Dear friends, I invite you to talk to Jesus, even about the most private things in your life.  He listens and has great sympathy.  He wants to heal you and forgive You, so don’t hesitate.  Take time in quiet prayer today and come to the Lord.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.