John 4:4-6

"But He needed to go through Samaria. So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour" John 4:4-6

As I was reading this very familiar story, I began to think about the various details or elements in that place. I discovered five major details or elements, that fit very nicely in a five-day series.

Jesus went through Samaria, the land of the Samaritans. These folk happen to be the first detail or element of the story. Samaritans were a half-breed people. When Israel was exiled, the Babylonian king took the best of the citizens of Israel to Babylon. The majority of the remainder, he scattered to the four winds. This was his way of mixing the vast knowledge and wonderful customs of his expansive domain. The best were reserved for the enrichment of the
government. He always left a few, mostly of the peasant class, who knew the land to train the newcomers with whom the king would be repopulating the captured area. It is these remaining Jews who intermarried with the implants. They kept some of the Jewish customs and adopted others from various lands. In so doing, they became a superstitious lot, and were rejected by pure blood Jews as scum.

It is into this land and to these people that Jesus went. He didn't have to. It was customary for Jews to cross the Jordan River and bypass Samaria all together. But we all know that Jesus was different.

I rather suspect that we all have elements of our society that we would rather bypass. It may be a section of town we will not go through. It could be business that we deem "below our class." (I know people who will only shop City Super because Welcome is too common for their taste. And God forbid that they should ever enter the doors of PriceMart) There may even be people in the Church who we would rather not associate with. They may be people from the outreach to the homeless and "down and out" crowd. They do have a particular odor about them. Or it could be the folk who live in the "lower class" part of town, on the wrong side of the tracks. We much prefer to keep company with those of similar means and thoughts as ours, better yet, we greatly desire to hang with the pastor and the elders.

Now would be a good time to follow Jesus' example and walk right down the center of the wrong" crowd and shake a few hands, spread a little joy, and share in their discomfort. Who
knows, God may be calling you to alleviate some of those problems with the funds He has blessed you with. Go ahead, shake up the masses and step down a notch or two! Amen and Amen.