Jesus and the Samaritan Woman (Part 1)

Friday, December 20, 2013        

Jesus and the Samaritan Woman (Part 1)

John  4: 1-15

Samaria is a region of land between Jerusalem and the Sea of Galilee. The inhabitants believed they could trace their ancestry all the way back to Abraham, just as the Jews did. However, the Samaritans did not practice their religious faith in the same manner as the Jews, and since the Jews had returned to Israel from exile in Babylon several centuries before, there had been enmity between the Jews and Samaritans.

In this encounter in today’s passage, Jesus is ignoring many of the social customs, shared by the Jews and Samaritans, to make the point that God has opened his Kingdom to all people, everywhere. (Devout Jewish men did not have social interactions with women in a public setting, certainly not if they were alone, and most certainly not with a Samaritan.) However, while the invitation is delivered to people as they are, to accept the invitation and enter into the Kingdom of God, it is necessary to turn your life around and embrace the values of God’s Kingdom. As we continue reading about the Samaritan woman we will see her follow this pattern.

Jesus has a great sense of humor. While we have no certain information about Jesus’ actual physical appearance, I think we can be sure that he often had a twinkle in his eyes as he spoke. Sometimes his humor was expressed in ordinary conversations where he could be a master of the double entendre. We saw that in his conversation with Nathanael, and we can see it again here in Jesus’ conversation with the woman at the well.

We would do well to spend time processing though this conversation. One thing that stands out to me, is how the woman strained to take everything Jesus said literally, while his spiritual truths just sailed over her head. We will see that she shares this attribute with the disciples and just about every person who interacts with Jesus in this Gospel. Perhaps we too share this attribute.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.