03.09. Through Samaria to Galilee

Through Samaria to Galilee

Jesus’ activity in Jerusalem had stirred people up and crowds began to follow him. So many were being baptized as his disciples that the religious leaders became concerned. They did not like this person among them and were jealous of the enthusiasm he was generating – and jealousy can produce unpredictable, even violent, behaviour. Though Jesus had recently shown he was not afraid of danger, he now decided it was better to leave Jerusalem and return north.¹

Because of the traditional hostility between Jews and Samaritans, many Jews, when travelling between Judea and Galilee, avoided the direct route through Samaria and detoured along the east bank of theJordan. But Jesus took the route through Samaria, and on the way saw many Samaritans respond to him. The opening came through a conversation with a woman near Shechem. She became convinced that here was a unique person, one who had divine knowledge and who could satisfy a human being’s deepest spiritual needs. With much excitement, she told the villagers of her discovery, and soon it seemed they all wanted to meet Jesus.² As he saw the villagers hurrying across the fields towards him, Jesus used the incident to teach his disciples the important lesson that one sows, but another reaps. The disciples were about to reap a harvest of fresh believers, even though they themselves had not sown the seed. This was a foretaste of a greater harvest they would reap, much of it from the seed sown by others, whether Old Testament preachers, John the Baptist, or Jesus himself.³

Only God, however, can create the produce that his workers reap, and he does this in response to faith in the hearers. The disciples saw this in the case of the Samaritans, and they saw it again a few days later when Jesus arrived back in Galilee. There, in response to the faith of a distressed government official, he healed the man’s son.

1. John 4:1-3

2. John 4:4-30 3. John 4:35-38; cf. 1 Corinthians 3:6 4. John 4:42; John 4:46-54

Road up to Shechem (modern Nablus) and Samaria