Today’s Reading: John 4:1-4

Then Jesus and his disciples left Jerusalem and went into the Judean countryside. Jesus spent some time with them there, baptizing people. — John 3:22

Jesus knew the Pharisees had heard that he was baptizing and making more disciples than John (though Jesus himself didn’t baptize them—his disciples did). So he left Judea and returned to Galilee.
He had to go through Samaria on the way. — John 4:1-4

It was time to leave Judea. In their gospel stories, Matthew and Mark tell us that John the Baptist had been arrested. Jesus knew it was not yet time for him to go head to head with the Pharisees, so he strategically led his disciples out of the Judean countryside back towards Galilee, where his ministry had begun.

On their way to Galilee, Jesus and his disciples had two options — they could take the long route around Samaria like many of the Jews did, or they could choose the short route through Samaria. Most Jews had strong feelings of prejudice against the Samaritan people because their ancestors had intermarried with the Assyrians. The northern kingdom’s capital of Samaria had fallen to the Assyrians, and most of the Jews had been led into captivity. Those Jews who remained in Samaria formed alliances with the foreigners by intermarrying with them. When the Jews returned from captivity, they rejected this new mixed race.

YOU ARE ON THE FASTEST ROUTE.

My husband and I do a lot of traveling with both of our jobs, and we have found Google Maps to be very helpful. This last weekend there was a multiple car pile up on the interstate, as well as a long stretch of construction. Google Maps alerted us to the upcoming delay and chose a different route for us, telling us we were now on the fastest route back to Kansas City.

The disciples may have thought they were simply taking a shortcut through Samaria, but Jesus had intentionally chosen this path in order to impact a woman and her entire village. Jesus did not see the color of their skin as a problem, nor did he judge them by the history of the generations before them. He saw them as sinners in need of a Savior, and he deliberately chose to show them the difference he could make in their lives. He did this by having one conversation with one woman who had experienced rejection over and over again.

Friends, it’s time for us to cross racial boundaries; it’s time for us to stop avoiding people who are different than we are. We must stop judging people by the actions of others and start seeing them through the eyes of Jesus. It is time for us to strategically position ourselves in the lives of other people so that God can use us however He wants to. Sometimes that means leaving where we are to go where He sends us; sometimes it means starting a conversation with someone who does not want to be talked to. Every time it means showing love to others; it means seeing beyond our differences and doing good for the sake of others. Let’s allow God to reroute us today.

Then Peter replied, “I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism. In every nation he accepts those who fear him and do what is right. This is the message of Good News for the people of Israel—that there is peace with God through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. You know what happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee, after John began preaching his message of baptism. And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.

“And we apostles are witnesses of all he did throughout Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a cross, but God raised him to life on the third day. Then God allowed him to appear, not to the general public, but to us whom God had chosen in advance to be his witnesses. We were those who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. And he ordered us to preach everywhere and to testify that Jesus is the one appointed by God to be the judge of all—the living and the dead. He is the one all the prophets testified about, saying that everyone who believes in him will have their sins forgiven through his name.” — Acts 10:34-43