From: Bonnie Daniels
The disciples get back from shopping and are super weirded out to find Jesus visiting with a low-class Samaritan woman. [If I remember my history correctly, the Samaritans were a people of mixed race — part Jewish and part other countries — who had been forcibly transplanted into Samaria by the Assyrians when they conquered Israel. They followed their own version of Judaism that differed slightly from the Jewish religion. The Jews and Samaritans hated each other and carefully avoided contact.] The disciples are so scandalized that they are not even able to ask Jesus why he was speaking with the woman. Instead, they awkwardly pretend that nothing had happened and try to get Jesus to eat lunch. Jesus, however, sees an entirely different landscape than his disciples. He sees a woman hurting from a broken sexual history and parched for living water. He sees a town full of people ready to hear and just waiting for someone to speak life. He’s not interested in lunch because he is so focused on the unfinished work the Father has given him. “My food,” he explains, “is to do the will of Him who sent Me.” He invites the disciples to see as he sees and to join in the joy in his work. “Lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!” Jesus then spends two days teaching, bringing hope, and transforming the lives of the Samaritans who flock to hear him.
I love this passage because of the grace and transformation Jesus brings into the lives of both the Samaritans and the disciples. Rather than lambasting the disciples for their bigotry, Jesus invites them to see and participate in the joy of gathering “fruit for eternal life.” Rather than adhering to the norms of distrust and separation, Jesus seeks out the Samaritans and pours his soul into bringing them everlasting life.
I’m in Boston for law school, and while I may not have yet gotten to know the city very well, I am intimately acquainted with all the best study spots within a 2 mile radius of my apartment! When I’m not studying, I love running, biking, or otherwise enjoying the outdoors.