Restoring Damaged People (3)

Why does the Bible say Jesus ‘needed to go through Samaria’? To restore and redeem a damaged woman who would introduce the Gospel to Samaria for the first time. Think about the situation Jesus faced; it was very hot and dusty, the journey was long, and He was walking. He knew He wouldn’t be welcome there because of a long-standing tribal animosity between Jews and Samaritans. Women in those days veiled their faces and were forbidden to speak to men outside their own famili. This woman was already the talk of the town because she’d been married five times.

So why did Jesus feel He ‘needed to go through Samaria’? Because He saw her as a diamond in the rough. He looked beyond her problem and saw her potential for His Kingdom. The Bible says, ‘Many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified.’ (John 4:39 NKJV) There’s an important lesson here. The schedule didn’t control Jesus; the will of Papa God and the needs of hurting people did. He was willing to go out of His way, overturn tradition, and break new ground to do it.

Notice what Jesus told His disciples afterwards: ‘Do you not say, “There are still four months and then comes the harvest?” Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.’ (John 4:35–36 NKJV)