Due to weather conditions, all in-person daytime and evening programs have been canceled across the church’s locations for Wednesday, except for the Recovery programs and Food Pantry at Overland Park. Decisions for Thursday daytime programs will correspond with local school district decisions and will be posted on the church’s website.
Scheduled programming has resumed for Thursday, February 13 at all Resurrection locations.
1 Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was making more disciples and baptizing more than John 2 (although Jesus’ disciples were baptizing, not Jesus himself). 3 Therefore, he left Judea and went back to Galilee.
4 Jesus had to go through Samaria. 5 He came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, which was near the land Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there. Jesus was tired from his journey, so he sat down at the well. It was about noon.
The story we’ll study this week began as Jesus went from Jerusalem in southern Israel to Galilee (the north). Between Judea and Galilee lay Samaria. Hatred and distrust between Samaritans and Judeans went back over 500 years, to Israel’s return from exile in Babylon (cf. Ezra 4:1-5). * Judeans saw Samaritans the way many Israelis today see Palestinians, and vice versa. Not Jesus. He went through Samaria by design (he “had to go”—verse 4) and reached Jacob’s well at noon.
Lord Jesus, you needed to rest. Often, I do, too, emotionally and spiritually as well as physically. I’m so thankful your steadfast love never rests but is always there to support me. Amen.
Emily Stirewalt serves as Resurrection's Silverlink Pastor specializing in pastoral care of elderly adults. She is an ordained Elder in the Missouri Annual Conference and has served since 2007. She is married to Randall, a special education teacher. They have two daughters, Elliott and Marlowe. Emily enjoys binge watching "Friends" or "Golden Girls."
As I read John’s story of the woman at the well, I found myself focusing on four specific words. “Jesus had to go…” Jesus did not have to go through Samaria. As we learned in worship on Sunday, there was less direct way from Judea to Samaria that people travelled in those days so they could avoid the generations of division between two different groups of people. So, what made Jesus feel like he HAD to go through Samaria? I believe it was a divine calling on his life, and he simply could not say no to God’s invitation.
My own call to ordained ministry in the United Methodist Church was a divine message from God. It was certainly not because I was sent to be the Savior like Jesus. But it was because God saw something in me that I could not see in myself. It was because I have light to offer the darkness in this world. It was an invitation I simply could not say no to–and believe me, unlike Jesus, I tried! I had a few excuses through the years and still find myself wondering if God picked the right person to do the ministry I do every day.
I wonder what divine calling God has placed on your life today. What invitation are you receiving? How will you respond? When God says go, will you?
* The strong feelings went both ways. Samaritans “preferred their own temple on Mount Gerizim, which had been built about 400 B.C. When this place of worship had been burned by the Jews in about 128 B.C., the relation between these two peoples deteriorated even further. Samaritans on occasion would even detain Jews traveling through their territory.” From Roger L. Frederickson, The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 27: John. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1985, p. 94. This map shows two alternate routes many Judeans used to avoid Samaria.
** Ibid.