Christ Church Daily Devotion May 22 2024

Jesus crosses geographical, cultural, and gender lines to welcome everyone into his kingdom. He goes through Samaria, speaks to a Samaritan, and even a Samaritan woman. He sets an example for us to welcome others, regardless of traditions or customs. Welcome to Christ Church's Daily Devotion for May 22nd 2024. Today we will be reading from John chapter 4 verses 4 through 9 and verse 27. Now he had to go through Samaria so he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon when a Samaritan woman came to draw water. Jesus said to her, Will you give me a drink? His disciples had gone into town to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink? For Jews do not associate with Samaritans. Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, What do you want? or Why are you talking with her? This week's devotionals are focusing on Jesus crossing lines that separated people in order to welcome them into his kingdom. These verses remind us of the lines Jesus crossed to let it be known that everyone was welcomed into his kingdom. The first line which he crossed was simply geographical. The Pharisees were disgruntled and in verse 3 we are told that Jesus leaves Judea and starts back to Galilee. The shortest route between Judea and Galilee is to go through Samaria. But most Jewish people of Jesus' day would have gone west along the Mediterranean Sea or east of Jerusalem and to catch the Jordan River and head north to the Sea of Galilee to avoid the area of Samaria. Dr. Grail R. O'Day in the New Interpreter's Bible writes that the breach between the Jews and Samaritans can be traced to the Assyrian occupation of northern Palestine from 721 BC. So this enmity between these two groups of people had been going on for centuries. Therefore when a Jewish person was passing through the area he definitely wouldn't have spoken to a Samaritan. So the second line which Jesus crossed was to speak to the Samaritan. And the third line which Jesus crossed is that he was speaking to a Samaritan woman. He might have spoken to a Samaritan man but not a Samaritan woman. Both the Samaritan woman in verse 9 and the disciples in verse 27 were surprised about this. Most biblical scholars believe that this was Jesus' own initiative to open the eyes of the disciples to see that he had been sent not only for his own people but for all the people of the world. His message of God's grace and forgiveness was not just for a few but for Jerusalem and in all of Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth as we read in Acts chapter 1 verse 8. Jesus was setting the example that all are welcomed into the kingdom into God's kingdom. Your personal worship option today following in Jesus' example what traditions, customs, or dividing lines between people might we have to cross to welcome others into God's kingdom?