John 4:1 Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. And he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.
Although the road through Samaria was the shortest route from Jerusalem to Galilee, pious Jews often avoided it. They did so because there was a deep distrust and dislike between many of the Jewish people and the Samaritans. When the Babylonians conquered the southern kingdom of Judah, they took almost all the population captive, exiling them to the Babylonian Empire. All they left behind were the lowest classes of society, because they didn’t want these lowly regarded people in Babylonia. These ones left behind intermarried with other non-Jewish peoples who slowly came into the region, and the Samaritans emerged as an ethnic and religious group. Because the Samaritans had a historical connection to the people of Israel, their faith was a combination of commands and rituals from the Law of Moses, put together with various superstitions. Most of the Jews in Jesus’ time despised the Samaritans, disliking them even more than Gentiles – because they were, religiously speaking, “half-breeds” who had an eclectic, mongrel faith. The Samaritans built their own temple to Yahweh on Mount Gerizim, but the Jews burned it around 128 B.C. This obviously made relations between the Jews and the Samaritans even worse. “Their route from Jerusalem to Galilee lay through the region beyond the Jordan. This was considerably longer, but it avoided contact with the Samaritans. Those who were not so strict went through Samaria.” (Morris) It says that Jesus needed to go through Samaria. The need wasn’t because of travel arrangements or practical necessities, but because there were people there who needed to hear Him. (enduring Word)
The road to our heart, mind, and soul is the road that Jesus traveled. The road to our salvation and redemption is one that Jesus traveled. He chose this road and chose to come and meet us. He actually chooses to follow this road right up to the door of our heart. Revelation 3:20 “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone should hear My voice and open the door, then I will come into him and will dine with him, and he with Me.” Jesus was not lost when He came to the door of your heart. He purposefully came there seeking you. Not anyone else. Do you ever wonder how long he will stand there waiting? At some point will He absolutely know the door is locked and will not open for Him? It is not as though we say “Go Away”, but rather we just don’t answer the knock at the door. If the knock is loud we may even run deeper into ourselves to get away from being able to hear it. Imagine the sight of Jesus, the Son of God, standing at your door and calling out for you to open it and you saying nothing or maybe you say go away. Hebrews 3:15 “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts”. Jesus chose to come to the door of your heart and asked you to open it to Him. Do not reject this offer of eternal life through Him.
