It was clearly the best of times and the worst of times.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n In Jesus’ day the province of Samaria was the\u00a0ethnic no-man’s-land between Galilee to the north and Judea to the south.<\/p>\n Many travelling Jews preferred to bypass Samaria completely, because of\u00a0the Jew-Gentile amalgamation and mixed religious influences. \u00a0Among the Jews, the word Samaritan<\/em> was itself a curse and insult.<\/p>\n Jesus visited two Samaritan villages with his disciples-in-training.<\/em> One was the village\u00a0of Sychar where ancestor Jacob had once dug a well. Then later, Jesus approached\u00a0another Samaritan town (unnamed in the narrative) as he made his final\u00a0trip from Galilee to Jerusalem of Judea.<\/p>\n In Sychar Jesus was accepted and hosted for two days — clearly the best of times. The other case could hardly have been worse — the Samaritans refused to invite\u00a0Jesus into their town, hastening his trip to Jerusalem.<\/em><\/p>\n The\u00a0prevailing Samaritan-Jewish prejudices were\u00a0clearly on display in both towns. \u00a0“How are you a Jew talking to me a Samaritan?” asked the woman at the well outside of Sychar. \u00a0The other town viewed\u00a0Jesus as\u00a0an uninvited trespasser.<\/p>\n Each account has\u00a0a surprising outcome!<\/strong>\u00a0 In the case of Sychar, \u00a0Jesus shocks his disciples by accepting an invitation to enter the city, apparently delaying by\u00a0two days his journey north to Galilee . \u00a0<\/p>\n In the case of the unnamed town of rejection, Jesus surprised his disciples-in-training by rebuking, not the town, but rather the disciples<\/em> for their hateful attitudes.<\/p>\n The desire of James and John to “rain down fire” on the city was “Sodom and Gomorrah” language, and referenced the Old Testament account of the destruction of two wicked cities. \u00a0<\/p>\n Jesus made\u00a0clear that his mission was not to destroy, but to bring life. However, the two “sons of thunder” were slow learners. \u00a0Paradoxically, Jesus rebuked them for their manner of loyalty to him.<\/em> \u00a0“You don’t know of what Spirit you are!” This\u00a0challenge to his\u00a0disciples\u00a0is one which we might heed\u00a0carefully today.<\/em><\/p>\n Consider the best and worst cases of evangelism.<\/strong> \u00a0In first case,\u00a0Jesus<\/em> is in control. \u00a0He asks for permission to drink from the same water vessel as the Samaritan woman<\/em>. \u00a0He shocks her with his respect for her, and by extension, the Samaritan people. She trusts him with painful details of her personal life, somehow finding a sense of safety in his presence.<\/p>\n He tells her of the Father’s love for her, and her community.<\/em> \u00a0He shares some of his\u00a0most sublime insights about\u00a0worship and a God who seeks to bless his worshipers, regardless of location, regardless of personal history. \u00a0Unlike other Jews (his own disciples included) he was able to affirm the value of the Samaritan, just as<\/em> they were and where<\/em> they were.\u00a0<\/p>\n When she leaves her water jar at the well and goes back into the city, she is clearly experiencing the “living water bubbling up to life eternal” that Jesus promised her. She openly shares her encounter with the Teacher\u00a0who seemed to know everything she had ever done, yet could offer her such hope.<\/p>\n His disciples are still clueless, itching to leave this “God-forsaken land” for the people of greater value, people more like themselves.<\/em><\/p>\n Using the agricultural metaphor of impending harvest, Jesus basically said, “Not so fast, guys. Galilee can wait! Look toward the town you want to despise in the name of the Lord!<\/em>\u00a0 Don’t you see them coming out to us? \u00a0We’re not going anywhere. Just hold your questions and negative prejudices, and watch God work!”<\/p>\n We wonder about the manner in which they had entered the town earlier to purchase a little food. \u00a0Did they take joy in some degrading evaluation of those they believed to be godless people? \u00a0Did they make ethnic jokes about the moral shortcomings of “those people?” Did they self-congratulate as they quickly obtained something for Jesus to eat, ready to be free of\u00a0this clearly unworthy people?<\/p>\n Can you imagine their amazement when the citizens of Sychar came out, eager to meet Jesus for themselves and to invite him into their town, those\u00a0with whom Jesus would spend the next few days? \u00a0<\/p>\n Clearly\u00a0evangelism in its purest form.<\/em><\/p>\n And then there was that other village.<\/strong> \u00a0It was near the end of Jesus’ ministry. Perhaps James and John were expecting a reception similar to Sychar. \u00a0Disgusted at the citizens’ refusal to give Jesus a hearing, they asked Jesus to call down fire and destruction on the city.<\/p>\n The narrative says that the Samaritans had been offended when they saw Jesus on his way toward Jerusalem. \u00a0Is it possible that they were tired of being nothing more than a shortcut between Jewish provinces? \u00a0Were they tired of being abused by those folk who always claimed the religious high-ground? Did they feel that this party of Jewish travelers was violating their sanctuary?\u00a0<\/p>\n Did James and John somehow think they could evangelize by imposing themselves and their Teacher upon them? Had they displayed\u00a0any<\/strong> of the traits that the woman from Sychar had seen in Jesus?<\/em><\/p>\n Jesus’ answer seems to be: \u00a0“You think they<\/em> are the problem? Do you think I came here to destroy? \u00a0Do you think your “scorched earth policy” is really going to bring the Kingdom of God to men? \u00a0Have I taught you nothing these three years?”<\/p>\n To Jesus, these Samaritans were no threat to him or his ministry. That honor was reserved for the Jewish religionists\u00a0<\/em>waiting in Jerusalem to deliver him up to Pilate.<\/p>\n Much of the evangelical world in the United States is busy promoting its own scorched earth policy of evangelism.<\/strong><\/em> \u00a0<\/p>\n After the terrible massacre of young Latino men in Orlando, Florida in June, 2016 came viral videos from white and Hispanic preachers expressing regret that more gay men were not killed.<\/p>\n The abortion debate seeks to impose its morality through legal means, with little concern about the women involved, nor for that matter about those carried to full-term. \u00a0<\/p>\n Heads of so-called Christian universities and organizations have fully endorsed a presidential candidate well known for his vile and racist comments, in exchange for a chance to control the Supreme court. \u00a0Many evangelical ministers throughout our country used their pulpits to justify the unthinkable, and are now invoking God’s name in their celebration of power.<\/em><\/p>\n Within our land is our own “spiritual Samaria”, in which men and women in crisis are needing the embrace of a loving Savior or one of his disciples. They are weary of being made the political shortcut to some sort of Christian Theocracy. What they often hear\u00a0in the message of the evangelical is\u00a0the destruction that comes from disciples who do not know of what spirit they themselves are.<\/em><\/p>\n Apparently James and John were unable to be Jesus to the unnamed Samaritan village.<\/em> That would come later, after they stood at the foot of the cross, seeing clearly what Jerusalem’s theocracy had achieved — as they heard\u00a0Jesus praying for the forgiveness of the ignorant religionists who put him there.<\/p>\n After the resurrection and according to Jesus’ plan, Jesus’ disciples would again enter Samaria, but with a message of love, understanding, forgiveness, hope and brotherhood.<\/p>\n Many\u00a0Samaritans would welcome them as they had welcomed Jesus, and ironically would offer\u00a0them refuge from the ongoing persecution that was\u00a0driving Jewish Christians from the synagogues.<\/p>\n Back in Jerusalem, James would be martyred for his determination to present the message of “living water bubbling up to life eternal.” \u00a0John would become the “disciple of love”,\u00a0and would later return to embrace\u00a0his new Samaritan family of believers.<\/p>\n For these disciples, their scorched-earth approach\u00a0to evangelism ended at the cross.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A lifetime student of the life of Jesus, Larry believes that Jesus’ interaction with a Samaritan woman and her community is the purest example of evangelism — sharing the good news message of love and hope across cultural boundaries. However, Jesus probably would not call himself an Evangelical. Larry explains why in this reflection on two Samaritan villages.<\/p>\n Continue reading →<\/span><\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3497,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christian-perspective","category-frontpage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}