Jesus goes out of His way...
1.) It was custom for Jews to cross over the Jordan river and NOT pass through Samaria because the Jews and the Samaritans didn't really get along. John 4:4 says, "Now He (Jesus) had to go through Samaria." Perhaps the necessity lay in Jesus' mission rather than in geography?
2.) Jews and Samaritans didn't associate with one another. There was a lot of bad blood between the Jews and the Samaritans so Jesus' request to this woman was unheard of in those days.
3.) John 4:7 says, "Jesus said to her, 'Will you give me a drink?'" This was even more interesting because the Jews believed that they would become ceremonially unclean if they used a drinking vessel handled by a Samaritan, since they held that all Samaritans were ceremonially unclean.
4.) Jewish religious teachers rarely spoke with women in public.
You may be asking yourself at this point, "What is he getting at?" It just occurred to me how much Jesus was willing to go "out of His way" and against the cultural "norm" to share His love with anyone and everyone.
How often am I willing to go "out of my way" to tell others about Christ?
How far am I willing to go to tell others about Christ?
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Jesus broke down the barriers of racism, sexism, ethnicity, geography... all in one fell swoop! What also blesses me about this story is that, when Jesus 'told her about herself' (and not really in a 'nice' way), she could have been convicted, angry, even spat in His face. But she ran and told people that she had met the Messiah! How often do we minister to those that won't receive what we have to give because of these barriers, or because they don't want their 'issues' touched? This is a great post. Good job!
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