«I will go before you and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron» (Isaiah 45:2).
JOHN 4:9 SAYS, » ‘How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?’ For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.» This passage might lead us to wonder, Why didn’t Jews have dealings with Samaritans?
The conflict between Jews and Samaritans dated back many years before Jesus’s encounter with the Samaritan woman. Jews regarded Samaritans as being racially impure. In turn, Samaritans only accepted the first five books written by Moses and did not respect the temple in Jerusalem. Shortly before the year AD 9, when Coponius was procurator of Judea, during the Feast of the Unleavened Bread, the priests decided to open the doors of the temple at midnight and certain Samaritans entered the sacred building and scattered human bones in it. From then on, they were forbidden to enter the temple.
In the apocryphal book Ecclesiasticus, there is a text that allows us to clearly see the discord between Jews and Samaritans: «There be two manner of nations which my heart abhorreth, and the third is no nation» (50:25). Do you know which nations those were? «They that sit upon the mountain of Samaria, and they that dwell among the Philistines, and that foolish people that dwell in Sichem» (50:26). Other sources state that eating bread with the Samaritans was similar to eating pork. The relationship between Jews and Samaritans was definitely one of mutual rebuff. Nevertheless, Jesus considered that «He needed to go through Samaria» (John 4:4).
Although there were three known roads from Jerusalem to Galilee, and two of them avoided having to go through Samaria, Jesus believed it was necessary to go into the city. Why? Because to Him there are no borders or enemies. He came «to save that which was lost» (Matthew 18:11). And if the Samaritans were lost, the Savior needed to visit them with the message of salvation. Jesus’s movement is not geographic, but salvific.
In a certain sense, we too, are «Samaritans»; God «needs» to come and transform our lives, or on the contrary, we’ll be lost. He promises, «l will go before you and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron» (Isaiah 45:2). No place or heart is too closed for God to open.
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Taken from: Devotional Readings for Adults 2023
“I AM WITH YOU”
From: J. VLADIMIR POLANCO
Collaborators: Lorina Maya & Angelica Cuate
