Why did Jesus have to pass through Samaria in John 4 which the Jews used to avoid?
We read in John 4:3-4 that Jesus “left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee. And He must needs go through Samaria.” If we look at the maps in the back of our Bibles, we see that Judaea was a region in southern Israel, Samaria was in central Israel, and Galilee was in northern Israel. Since the Jews despised the Samaritans, they often traveled east of the Jordan River to avoid Samaria while traveling between Judaea and Galilee. The Jews wanted nothing to do with the Samaritans because they had mixed Jewish and Gentile blood and centered their worship at Mount Gerizim instead of Jerusalem.
The Lord Jesus needed to pass through Samaria because there were needy souls who needed a Savior. He spoke to a Samaritan woman at a well in John 4:13-14. The Lord Jesus said in these verses, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life” (NASB). After the Lord told her in verse 18 that she had had five husbands, she was convinced that He was the Messiah. As we read in verses 28-29, “The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?”
Many souls were blessed that day. As we read in verses 39-42, “And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on Him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did. So when the Samaritans were come unto Him, they besought Him that He would tarry with them: and He abode there two days. And many more believed because of His own word; And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard Him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”
There is an important lesson for us in this story. Many people are despised because of how they look, talk, act, dress, or even how they smell. Instead of avoiding them and only sharing the gospel with people like ourselves, we should reach out to these precious souls. Very possibly the Lord will bless these efforts with a bountiful harvest of souls saved for all eternity. People desperately need the Lord and we have the privilege of sharing the good news of salvation with them. Let us do this today! (206.5) (DJ)