The objective of this lesson: to stress God cares about people even when they do not care about each other.
So much animosity existed between devout Jews [Jews devoted to and practicing the Law] and Samaritans that devout Jews endured considerable inconvenience to avoid the territory that served as the Samaritan homeland. The most direct route from Galilee [a Jewish region] to Jerusalem [the Jewish holy city containing the Jewish temple] or vice versa was to take the route through Samaria. However, to avoid contact with Samaritans, devout Jews commonly descended down into the Jordan valley, circumvented the area Samaritans lived in, and ascended over 2000 feet in elevation in less than 20 miles to arrive in Jerusalem. In a time that often depended on walking, Jews lengthened the distance and increased the physical demands of the journey to avoid Samaritans! That is dedication to resentment!
Try to get your students to focus on the reality of the situation. Ask if those who run or those who walk are in your class. Let them explain the challenge of extending a journey and making it more difficult when you have to depend on your muscles and there are no motors. Stress what a challenge that would be.
To grasp a fuller appreciation of today's incident, consider the evidences found in the Misnah concerning the ill will that existed between Jews and Samaritans. (1) In many prayers offered in public by Jews, a certain number of qualified people had to be present for the prayer to be said. Berakoth 7:1 declares a Samaritan could not be included in the count to say the Common Grace, and Berakoth 8:1 restricted the saying of 'Amen' if a Samaritan said the Benediction. Shebiith 8:10 declared Jewish religion could not accept anything from a Samaritan he did not personally vow [thus things such as the temple tax could not be given by a Samaritan]. Ketuboth 3:1 includes Samaritan women in a list of women with whom a Jewish man could behave with sexual indecency and pay a fine, but not be killed (compare to Deuteronomy 22:22-27). Samaritan females were to be considered unclean from the cradle [Niddah 4:1]. The only two writs in which a Samaritan could serve as a witness to a Jewish action were the writ of divorce [very common] and the writ of emancipation [Gittin 1:5]. A Jew of documentable Jewish lineage was forbidden to marry a Samaritan [Kiddushin 4:3]. A devout Jew could not plough in a field containing a Jewish grave, but he could plough in a field containing a Samaritan grave [Oholoth 17:3]. One of the respected Jewish scholars even suggested that eating the bread of a Samaritan was like eating pork! (To the Jews, pork was unclean--see Leviticus 11.)
Use the condescending attitudes reflected in these statements to illustrate the resentment between the two groups. The relationship was extremely complex. It must allow some space for proselytizing [conversion] and commercial interaction. Do not spend your class time seeking to figure out "how it worked;" instead devote class time to the attitudes of resentment reflected.
It was not a one-sided resentment. Roshan Ha-Shanah 2:2 referred to a Samaritan practice of deliberately lighting fires on mountains to confuse communication of Jewish communities in declaring the beginning of their month. Jews followed a lunar calendar that required an official declaration of the first sighting of the moon. Samaritans sought to confuse the Jews in their calendar counting. Though Samaritans accepted and followed the Pentateuch (Genesis through Deuteronomy), they engaged in a debate with Jews concerning mount Gerizim being the appropriate place to worship God rather than the temple mount in Jerusalem (see Deuteronomy 12:1-14).
It is common for a group that is resented to seek some form of balance or justice by also resenting. The presentation should not be that first century Jews were mean and first century Samaritans were angels. It is more difficult to illustrate Samaritan attitudes because we do not have nearly as many Samaritan sources as Jewish sources. Most of what we have on Samaritan thought/attitudes is gleaned from Jewish statements.
Jesus left Jerusalem to return to Galilee. He did the unusual. He traveled through Samaria. He stopped at a well near the village of Sychar about noon. He was tired and hungry. His disciples went into Sychar to acquire food, and Jesus [in their absence] asked a Samaritan woman [who was alone] for a drink.
Jesus' weariness, thirst, and hunger address the reality of his humanity. His route of travel states he was not fearful of interaction with the Samaritans. They would not make him unclean. He would bring them freedom.
The entire circumstance was unusual! It takes little imagination to realize how started the woman was. "What does this Jewish man really want? Why would he speak to me?" Ordinarily a respectable Jewish man did not speak to any woman in public, and he surely would not require a woman to speak to him. For a Jewish man to ask a Samaritan for a drink, for a Jewish man to take water [or any food or drink] from a Samaritan and risk uncleanness, for a Jewish man to drink or eat from a Samaritan vessel was unusual to say the least! The woman must have been thoroughly confused!
Though this encounter was of no problem to Jesus, it placed the woman in crisis. This was an unusual person and an unusual situation to begin a mission outreach. Jesus' approach was most unusual. He used a felt need to convey an eternal truth.
When she voiced her confusion, [paraphrased] Jesus responded, "If you had any idea of who spoke to you, you would ask me for living water."
Jesus knew she had no idea of the significance of this encounter. Though she was clueless and quite flawed, he did not reject her as being unworthy of his blessing. He saw opportunity, not problems. He focused on now and not on "what if."
Now she is even more confused. He had no water, or he would not have asked her for a drink. He had nothing to use to draw water from the well. Who was he? Thus she asked, "Are you greater than Jacob who dug this well?" He responded, "If you drink water from this well, you will be thirsty again. However, my living water destroys thirst forever. It replaces physical life with eternal life."
At first he and she were focused on and talking about entirely different concerns. Jesus saw opportunity in her confusion.
Immediately what Jesus said was relevant! What a wonderful thought--no need ever to come to this well again and draw water! Thus she responded, "Let me have this water to eliminate my physical thirst permanently!"
Instead of shaking his head and walking away because she did not "get it", he patiently changed her view.
Ah, but there was a catch! Jesus said, "Go get your husband." She said, "I do not have one." Jesus said, "You answer correctly. You had five husbands, and you are not married to the man you now live with."
Jesus began to discuss a matter that made her most uncomfortable. However, he did not do so to embarrass her or belittle her. In fact, he commended her for her honesty. Instead of her discouraging him, he encouraged her.
Suddenly she was uncomfortable--this man she never met previously knew too much about her. Change the subject! Get the "spotlight" on a subject that causes every devout Jew to react. Talk about the correct site of worship! That is what she attempted to do.
Proximity to Jesus cuts through our layers of pretense as if those layers were not there. If we are to be close to Jesus, we must be honest with Jesus. We can neither fool nor deceive him.
Jesus responded, "You do not know what you are talking about. Soon this discussion of geography in worshipping God will be mute. Soon it will be only a matter of what is inside the worshipper, not where the worshipper is. God will be worshipped for Who He is, not where the worshipper is."
We do not get hung up on geographical sites of worship as did they. Yet, sometimes we become more concerned about "place" than we do about objective or substance. To walk with Jesus requires we spend less time reacting and more time learning [by thinking and understanding].
Then the woman made a startling statement, a statement never attributed to a Jew: "We know the Messiah [Christ--two languages, each meaning 'anointed one'] comes and will tell us everything." Jesus quite simply responded, "I am the Christ right here right now."
The words "Messiah" [Hebrew] and "Christ" [Greek] mean the same thing. This divorcee who was living with a man to whom she was not married [an unacceptable situation in a Samaritan community] said something no Jew outside the twelve saw or said. She not only knew the Christ was coming, but she was willing to believe [rather than be embarrassed] when she encountered him.
Two things are insightful! When the disciples returned and saw Jesus speaking to this woman, they were thoroughly confused. This just was not done by any respectable Jewish man!"
Jesus often did [and does] the unexpected. The attitude of one who sought the woman's best interest and the attitude of a seducer are radically different!
After Jesus stayed in the village of Sychar for two days [by invitation], the Samaritan men said, "Now we believe due to what we hear, not as a result of your [the woman's] report" (John 4:41, 42).
Testimony about Jesus is good. Interaction with Jesus is wonderful!
For Thought and Discussion:
This will be as individual as the person who presents the information. The thought shared should be based on information in the first three paragraphs.
The woman only considered the benefits of not drawing and carrying physical water. Jesus' focus was on living for something more important and lasting than physical need. Too often our expectations and requests focus on physical benefits. Jesus' focus is on our eternal benefits.
Jesus' actions and words were not the actions and words of a typical Jewish man.
The response to this question will be as individual as the person responding. Observation: the situation posed no problem for Jesus. The concern of others did not make his concern inappropriate.
The response to this will be as individual as the person. Use this question not to endorse testimony, but to laud interaction.
Link to Student Guide
Lesson 12