-To the Samaritan Next
2 Kings 17, John 4

"'If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.'"
--(John 4:10)

We live in a world of hostility. Crime, wars and terrorist attacks are part of daily life, particularly in the region where I live, the Middle East! But at the time of Christ, there was also a real enmity between the Jews and the Samaritans, a hostility that started back in the time of the Israelite kings. We see the depth of it in the response of John and James when they were willing to call fire to come down to destroy the Samaritan village that did not welcome Jesus.

Yet, Jesus initiates a conversation with a Samaritan woman, one whose reputation left much to be desired. And He spoke to her of living water as she drew physical water from Jacob's well. This Samaritan woman, just like Nicodemus in John 3, had no clue about the spiritual things of which Jesus was speaking. Both were thinking of literal, worldly things--going back to the womb and drawing water from a well.

Jesus came to the world of hostility to show His amazing love, to bring peace, and to quench our thirst with living water.
--
A new era has dawned, as even Samaritans are coming to faith and believing in the God and Messiah of Israel.

--Haven Today