John starts off this weekend's story by telling us that Jesus "had to" go through Samaria. But he didn't—at least, not geographically. Humanly speaking, there was no had to about it. The Jews avoided that route like the plague. The only reason for saying that Jesus had to go to Samaria was because a necessary encounter awaited him en route. It is, in other words, John's way of telling us that this encounter with the woman at the well was no chance encounter. It took place by divine appointment.
Series Introduction
The encounter was with a Samaritan woman at a public well. The woman was shocked that Jesus spoke to her. The reason for surprise was that Jesus was trampling on two deeply embedded social conventions of his day: 1) He was ignoring the hatred that had kept Jews and Samaritans isolated from one another for four centuries. 2) He was ignoring the social rules that said a Middle-Eastern man should not have a discussion with any woman in public. Some rabbis even held that it was improper for a husband to speak to his wife in public. To think of a Jewish man speaking in public with a Samaritan woman known to be an immoral lady was scandalous.
One of my former students at Trinity, Samuel Ngewa of Kenya, applied this story to the contemporary African church in the Africa Bible Commentary:
What would have happened had Jesus been like his disciples and refused to talk to this woman? Or if he had asked the opinion of the people in the community, who probably would have said, "Stay away from that evil woman"? Because Jesus treated this stigmatized woman as someone of worth, the entire city of Sychar came to him. Who knows what potential could be found among the many women Africa dismisses today? Maybe they are the very instruments Jesus will use to bring Africa to him. And how many 'women of evil ways' are dismissed, leaving them at the mercy of pleasure-seeking men who are their only source of income? Many of them are doomed to die from AIDS. To be a disciple, we must value people as Jesus did.
To God's glory alone,
Dr. Greg Waybright
Senior Pastor