Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. And he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.
A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
Comment: The Pharisees were the strict, judgemental, self-righteous religious leaders. The other ‘denomination’, the Sadducees were strongly Jewish but mainly stressed the human side of things – they didn’t even support belief in an after-life. The first word in the passage, ‘now’, suggests to me that Jesus wanted to be in the eyes of the Pharisees. His message although based on the same Scriptures was, in emphasis, very different from theirs. His plan was to end up on the Cross and He wanted the people who would send Him there well informed!
Galilee was Jesus ‘home patch’, but the direct route from Jerusalem, where He had met Nicodemus, to Galilee went through Samaria. Samaritans were Jews who had turned aside from Judaism and were hated by the Jews and vice-versa. Usually Jews took a longer route around Samaria. Jesus at least on this occasion did not. If we had read on we would know that having walked a long way Jesus sat, it says wearied, at the local watering spot, ‘Jacob’s well’. Meanwhile the disciples went to the 24/7 in the nearby town of Sychar to fix up about their midday meal. I use the word ‘setup’ in the introduction because watering was most frequently done in the cool times of the day. Jesus wanted to meet the woman who came alone when others weren’t there. We will discover why she didn’t come with the others tomorrow.
But Jesus does the unexpected. He, a Jew, asks a favour of this Samaritan woman. This is so unusual that she comments.
Prayer: Thank You that You are One who seeks, even though we often don’t want to be found.
As I read it! 