1-3 Jesus realized that the Pharisees were keeping count of the baptisms that he and John performed (although his disciples, not Jesus, did the actual baptizing). They had posted the score that Jesus was ahead, turning him and John into rivals in the eyes of the people. So Jesus left the Judean countryside and went back to Galilee.

4-6 To get there, he had to pass through Samaria. He came into Sychar, a Samaritan village that bordered the field Jacob had given his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was still there. Jesus, worn out by the trip, sat down at the well. It was noon.

7-8 A woman, a Samaritan, came to draw water. Jesus said, “Would you give me a drink of water?” (His disciples had gone to the village to buy food for lunch.)

9 The Samaritan woman, taken aback, asked, “How come you, a Jew, are asking me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (Jews in those days wouldn’t be caught dead talking to Samaritans.) (The Message)

This has been characterised as ‘the story of the bad Samaritan.’

Technically speaking, Jesus did not have to go through Samaria on His homeward journey (4). He could have travelled another way. But this was a heavenly ”had”. His Father arranged His schedule, and He had written an appointment with this one lost woman into Jesus’ schedule. It was what we might call a ‘divine appointment’.

She was just one ‘lost’ woman, but she mattered to God. Furthermore, this work which started with one was to spread to many. What a stark contrast we see between John 3 and 4. In the third chapter Jesus encountered the religious and (presumably) morally upright Nicodemus; in chapter 4 He met an immoral woman. Both needed Him.

Are we prepared to do ‘whatever it takes’ to reach lost people? On this hot day in a Samaritan village, our Lord broke with convention in at least two ways: a.) He, a Jew, spoke to her, a Samaritan. According to social custom at that time such a thing was not to happen; b.) He, a man, spoke to her a woman. I found this comment in Bible Hub: ‘Respectable men, especially teachers, avoided public one-on-one dialogue with any woman not of their household. John deliberately notes the disciples “were amazed that He was talking with a woman” (John 4:27). Their silence underscores how entrenched the taboo was; yet Jesus honours her with the longest recorded private discourse in the Gospels.’ Jesus did not hold Himself tightly in some self-protective cocoon. We might say He lived life out on the edge. May we live out there with Him!

I have been listening to a recent interview with John Ortberg. Reflecting, early this morning, on something he said, I was reminded of his book about evangelism from several decades ago, bearing the great title, ‘If you want to walk on water, you’ve got to get out of the boat.’

PRAYER: Lord, please lead us in our daily interactions with people. Show us how to break down false barriers. Help us to be daring, and willing to take risks to reach the people for whom you died.