Daily Devotion, October 5, 2020

 

Devotion: Read John 4:7-15.

The Jewish people of Jesus’ time thought they had good reason to not associate with Samaritans (see verse 9). Many years earlier when the Assyrians conquered the northern tribes and took the leaders and many of the people away into exile, they brought other conquered people into the vacated central land of Israel. Turning from their customs and teachings, the Jewish people remaining there intermarried with these foreigners. When the exiles returned home, they despised their brothers and sisters in Samaria who had not kept their race and customs pure. The refusal to associate with Samaritans was so strong that Jewish persons traveling north and south between Judea and Galilee would travel east, cross the Jordan River, go north or south, and then travel back west to their destination.

Not Jesus! Traveling on this occasion north from Judea to Galilee, Jesus went directly through Samaria; and in this story, he associated with a Samaritan woman with a no-good reputation! Jesus offered her the living water of the Good News of Christ. In a time when Jesus was not telling others that he was the Christ, he clearly announced it to this Samaritan woman. Who are the Samaritans we avoid whom Jesus would have us associate with today? Personal Worship Option: Please pray with me, “Lord, help me not to judge others. Help me to associate with all people in order to build relationships of trust and understanding, especially those people whom others judge. Give me the grace to live in such a way before them that they will listen when I share the Good News of your Son. Amen.”