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In
the story of the Samaritan women, Jesus intentionally makes a trip through Samaria. Normally Samaria is a place Jews in those
times avoided. They were ‘inferior’ culturally and in their understanding of God. The Gospel writer John
is very clear on this; Jesus had to or needed to or wanted to go through Samaria. Even now, Jesus is making this trip into
our lives. People around us may reject us, we may have discouraging experience with the society we live in but Jesus is making
a special effort to relate with us. But the question is, are we willing to follow him? It is not easy. Mark 8:34 says “Whoever
wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me”. Historians tell us that during
Jesus days thousands of people were crucified. Jesus is saying if anyone wishes to follow him they should be like one of those.
Now I imagine this is not a very popular statement, deny, take-up the cross, follow- in
simple terms it says , following me needs a heroic effort, moment by moment, even when the work is difficult and the future
seems bleak. It is far more than praying a prayer at the altar. It is about a radical commitment to leave the old life behind to follow Jesus into a new and very different life and a different direction. One thing we can be sure, there will be persecution, because of our faith. But there is also one promise by Jesus we could hold on to “I will never leave you nor forsake you”. Even amidst the struggles of our lives we will experience the peace and tranquility that passes all knowledge and that we would be encouraged till the very end. If
Jesus is calling you today and saying child we need to go through Samaria- I don’t know what Samaria’s of your
life may be, it may be some prejudices you had against someone, a wound that never was healed, something that happened in
your life that needs forgiveness and reconciliation- accept that invitation. Friends, even though this
journey may seem uncomfortable to us, even though we have to tie our prejudices to a pole, we know that the outcome will always
be rewarding. Like in this story a whole village was turned to Christ. Centuries of hatred between two communities were healed
and there was unexplainable Joy experienced. First come to Jesus…then walk with him to Samaria…
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