2. The Jews had “no dealings with the Samaritans” (John 4:9) and usually avoided Samaria when traveling. Yet Jesus deliberately went through Samaria. How does Colossians 3:25 and 2 Nephi 26:33 together with this of the Samaritan woman, help you understand how the Lord will judge people?
I have always been intrigued and touched by the story about the Samaritan woman at the well with the Savior in John 4 but wanted to understand better why the Samaritans and Jews didn’t interact with each other.
As I studied John 4:1-42 more in depth with the help of the institute manual, especially the part about “Why Did the Jews Feel So Much Antipathy Towards the Samaritans?” I understood better the character of the Lord and why the Samaritan woman was so shocked that Jesus, a Jew, would not only talk to her but ask her for some water.
What I learned:
1. The Samaritans according to the Bible Dictionary was “partly Israelite and partly gentile”. The gentile part of Samaritans was created when the king of Assyria and Babylonia placed what the Bible Dictionary called “foreign colonists” there. Since Samaritans were part gentile and considered even worse than gentiles, Jews considered them “unclean” and avoided them at all costs. In fact Talmage in “Jesus the Christ” says, “To the orthodox Jew of the time a Samaritan was more unclean than a Gentile of any other nationality.”
The Samaritan woman understood this fact that the Jews didn’t like the Samaritans and in John 4: 9 even expresses this when she says to Jesus, “How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.”
2. I also realized when reading John 4: 25 that the Samaritan woman knew about the prophecy of Jesus coming but didn’t realize who she was talking to. In John 4:25 she says to Jesus, “I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.” Then Jesus lovingly says in John 4:27 “I that speak unto thee am he.”
Now the Samaritan woman had a choice to make, does she ask him more questions or believe him and proclaim it to the city. Luckily, she must have felt the Spirit because in John 4: 28-29 “The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men
“Come, see a man, which told me all things the ever I did: is not this the Christ?”
Just like the Samaritan woman had a choice to make, we all have a choice to make when we realize that Jesus Christ really is the promised Savior. We can either take the knowledge and change or we can choose not to follow him. If we choose to follow him then it will only be natural for us, like the Samaritan woman, to share that good message with others around us.
3. Then the true character of Jesus Christ as EVERYONE’s SAVIOR shone through in John 4: 40, “So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him the he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days.” When it says “come unto him” I was wondering if that meant physically gathering at his feet or if it could also mean they came to him with open ears and hearts to learn from him? If so, do I always “come to him”, not just physically but also spiritually with open ears and heart?
Even though the Samaritans were hated by other Jews and considered unclean, Jesus understood the he was to be the Savior to all, not just the Jews or righteous people. I learned this again when I read Colossians 3:25 where it says, “…there is no respect of persons”. This is explained even better in 2 Nephi 26:33 where it says, “…he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him [even unclean Samaritans]…and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile.”
When I saw the word “heathen” in this verse I decided to study deeper and see what it was really talking about. I used the reference of Alma 26:37 for the word “heathen” and this is what it says, “Now my bretheren [and sisters], we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth.” What peace these words brought to me because according to these words are we not all heathen or as Elder Holland’s talk “Are We Not All Beggars?” (Mosiah 4:19).
We might feel that there are some “Samaritans” in our day but the truth is we all need the Savior because none of us are perfect. Luckily, the Savior truly loves everyone, yes even you and me, and died so everyone could come unto him and, like he told the Samaritan woman, drink of the living water he gives to all so freely.
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