Lessons from Jesus’ trip through Samaria

S: John 4:1-42

O: This passage recounts how, when Jesus and His disciples set out from Judea to Galilee, He deliberately chose to travel through Samaria. This was unusual because of the deep-rooted enmity between Jews and Samaritans, which had existed since the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, about five centuries earlier. Due to these longstanding hostilities, Jews typically avoided Samaria when traveling between Judea and Galilee. They would often cross the Jordan River, bypassing Samaria by traveling along the eastern side, and then cross back over the Jordan to enter Galilee, avoiding any contact with Samaritans.

Given this historical prejudice, it’s likely that the disciples were surprised by Jesus’ decision to take this route. But, as the story unfolds, we see that Jesus had a very specific purpose in mind.

First, He encountered a Samaritan woman at the well, a woman with a morally questionable past, and changed her life. When she attempted to shift the conversation to theological disputes between Jews and Samaritans—specifically about whether the proper place of worship was Mount Gerizim (the Samaritan holy site) or Mount Zion in Jerusalem—Jesus didn’t allow the conversation to be derailed. Instead, He transcended the debate by saying, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming—and has now come—when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”

When His disciples returned, they were shocked to find Jesus speaking to a Samaritan woman, breaking both cultural taboos: Jewish-Samaritan enmity and gender biases. Yet, Jesus had a higher purpose. After the woman ran off to tell the people in her village about Him, Jesus used the moment to teach His disciples. He urged them to “open their eyes”, pointing out that the fields were ripe for harvest—meaning the Samaritans were ready to receive the Messiah. And indeed, many of them did. Through this encounter, a significant number of Samaritans came to believe in Him, demonstrating that God’s plan extended beyond the boundaries of Jewish prejudice and cultural barriers.

A: Like the Samaritan woman, we too must receive Jesus’ love and salvation, no matter how broken or imperfect our lives may be. Though she initially tried to shift the conversation from her personal sin to theological debates, Jesus gently refocused her attention on the heart of true worship: worshiping God in Spirit and in Truth.

Similarly, we, like the disciples, can often be blinded by our own prejudices. The very people groups we harbor biases against are also the ones Jesus loves and died for. Unfortunately, many Christians today display an unloving attitude of xenophobia, fueling prejudices against other ethnic groups or "illegal immigrants." But this is far from the calling of Jesus. Every foreign worker, every refugee, and every person—regardless of status or background—is made in the image of God and is deeply loved by Him.

P: Father,thank You for the lessons You teach us through the story of the Samaritan woman. Like her, I am often broken, sinful, and lost. Yet, Your love meets me right where I am, offering living water—salvation, healing, and transformation. Help us, Lord, to be open to Your love and grace, no matter how far I  wander.

So often, we, like the disciples, are blinded by prejudice. Open our eyes to see people the way You see them—not as outsiders, strangers, or those to be avoided, but as precious souls created in Your image and deeply loved by You. Tear down any prejudice in our hearts.

Lord, I lift up the marginalised, the foreign workers, the refugees, and all those who are often seen as “other” in our society. Remind us that You died for them just as You died for us. Give us the courage to extend love, kindness, and compassion to everyone, regardless of race, nationality, or background.

Teach us to worship You in Spirit and in Truth, setting aside distractions, divisions, and arguments that pull us away from the essence of true worship. Fill us with Your Spirit, that we might reflect Your heart of love, unity, and grace to the world around us.

Help us live out the lessons from this passage, that we might be instruments of Your peace and reconciliation in a divided world. Thank You for loving us without conditions, and help us to extend that same love to others.

In Jesus’ name, we pray,
Amen.

 

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Incidentally, I just read this article when I was reading the news earlier today:

Statistics and studies show rhetoric about immigrants and crime is often exaggerated or false. Let’s do our part to be part of the solution and not part of the problem.

This article is specifically debunking some of the falsehoods being said about “illegal immigrants” in USA, but the general idea also applies to us here in Malaysia where people often scapegoat “illegal immigrants” as well as legal “foreign workers.” These people are also made in the image of God.

What's behind recent false claims about immigrants and crime in the US?

More like Jesus, less like me.

S:  John 3:22-36

After this, Jesus and his disciples came into Judean territory, and there he spent time with them and was baptizing. John was also baptizing at Aenon near Salim because water was plentiful there, and people were coming to him and being baptized. (For John had not yet been thrown into prison.)

Now a dispute came about between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew concerning ceremonial washing. So they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you on the other side of the Jordan River, about whom you testified—see, he is baptizing, and everyone is flocking to him!”

John replied, “No one can receive anything unless it has been given to him from heaven. 28 You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but rather, ‘I have been sent before him.’ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands by and listens for him, rejoices greatly when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. This then is my joy, and it is complete. He must become more important while I become less important.”

The one who comes from above is superior to all. The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly things. The one who comes from heaven is superior to all. He testifies about what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. 33 The one who has accepted his testimony has confirmed clearly that God is truthful. For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for he does not give the Spirit sparingly. The Father loves the Son and has placed all things under his authority. The one who believes in the Son has eternal life. The one who rejects the Son will not see life, but God’s wrath remains on him.

O: “He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less” is how the NLT put what John the Baptist said. This is the guy that Jesus called “the greatest” of all human beings! (Matthew 11:11 & Luke 7:28). Such a great man, the greatest man, a man Jesus holds up as an example as exemplary, yet, “He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.”

And “God gives the Spirit without limit,” and “anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life.”

A: If the guy Jesus called “the greatest” had to become less and less and let Jesus become greater and greater, how much more me?

I need to be more like Jesus. I need to be more intimate with God, so that I will flow more in His ways.

P: Lord, make me like You. Please make me like You. You are a servant, make me one, too. O Lord, I am willing, do what You must do to make me like You, Lord. Please make me like You.

Show me how to grow in intimacy with You. In Jesus' name, amen.

 

His Favourite Song Of All

John 3:1-21

Nicodemus, unlike the Pharisees that opposed Jesus, came to see Jesus as he was convinced that Jesus was a teacher sent from God because of his miracles. This prompted Jesus famous saying “You must be born again/from above!” (John 3:7.)

Another gem: “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” (John 13:14-15)

Which then leads right into that most famous of verses:

For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him.

- John 3:16,17

Indeed, God loved us so much that He sacrificed His only begotten Son for us! That's the inspiration for the song “Favourite song of all”.

Favorite Song Of All 
by Dan Dean (of Phillips, Craig and Dean.)

He loves to hear the wind sing
As it whistles through the pines on mountain peaks
And He loves to hear the raindrops
As they splash to the ground in a magic melody
He smiles in sweet approval
As the waves crash through the rocks in harmony
Creation joins in unity
To sing to Him majestic symphonies

But His favorite song of all
Is the song of the redeemed
When lost sinners now made clean
Lift their voices loud and strong
When those purchased by His blood
Lift to Him a song of love
There's nothing more He'd rather hear
Nor so pleasing to His ear
As His favorite song of all

And He loves to hear the angels
As they sing, "Holy, holy is the Lamb"
(Holy, holy, holy is the Lamb)
Heaven's choirs in harmony
Lift up praises to the great I Am
(Hallelujah, hallelujah)
But He lifts His hands for silence
When the weakest saved by grace begins to sing
And a million angels listen
As a newborn soul sings, "I've been redeemed!"

'Cause His favorite song of all
Is the song of the redeemed
When lost sinners now made clean
Lift their voices loud and strong
When those purchased by His blood
Lift to Him a song of love
There's nothing more He'd rather hear
Nor so pleasing to His ear
As His favorite song of all

It's not just melodies and harmonies
That catches His attention
It's not just clever lines and phrases
That causes Him to stop and listen
But when any heart set free
Washed and bought by Calvary
Begins to sing

That's His favorite song of all
It's the song of the redeemed
When lost sinners now made clean
Lift their voices loud and strong
When those purchased by His blood
Lift to Him a song of love
There's nothing more He'd rather hear
Nor so pleasing to His ear
As His favorite song of all

Now, I don't know if God really does shush all the other sounds of heaven when a newly saved person sings praise to Him, but I do know the Bible tells us “there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents” so even if the words of this song isn’t exactly correct, the sentiment is.

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Born again or born from above? The NET footnote explains:

The Greek word ἄνωθεν (anōthen) can mean both “again” and “from above,” giving rise to Nicodemus’ misunderstanding about a second physical birth (v. 4). tn The word ἄνωθεν (anōthen) has a double meaning, either “again” (in which case it is synonymous with παλίν [palin]) or “from above” (BDAG 92 s.v. ἄνωθεν). This is a favorite technique of the author of the Fourth Gospel, and it is lost in almost all translations at this point. John uses the word 5 times, in 3:3, 7; 3:31; 19:11 and 23. In the latter 3 cases the context makes clear that it means “from above.” Here (3:3, 7) it could mean either, but the primary meaning intended by Jesus is “from above.” Nicodemus apparently understood it the other way, which explains his reply, “How can a man be born when he is old? He can’t enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born, can he?” The author uses the technique of the “misunderstood question” often to bring out a particularly important point: Jesus says something which is misunderstood by the disciples or (as here) someone else, which then gives Jesus the opportunity to explain more fully and in more detail what he really meant.

 Only begotten son or one and only son?  The NET footnote explains:

Although this word is often translated “only begotten,” such a translation is misleading, since in English it appears to express a metaphysical relationship. The word in Greek was used of an only child (a son [Luke 7:12; 9:38] or a daughter [Luke 8:42]). It was also used of something unique (only one of its kind) such as the mythological Phoenix (1 Clement 25:2). From here it passes easily to a description of Isaac (Heb 11:17 and Josephus, Ant. 1.13.1 [1.222]) who was not Abraham’s only son, but was one-of-a-kind because he was the child of the promise. Thus the word means “one-of-a-kind” and is reserved for Jesus in the Johannine literature of the NT. While all Christians are children of God (τέκνα θεοῦ, tekna theou), Jesus is God’s Son in a unique, one-of-a-kind sense. The word is used in this way in all its uses in the Gospel of John (1:14, 18; 3:16, 18).

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Given the NET's note about ἄνωθεν meaning both “again” and “from above”, I wondered, “Wait, Nico and Jesus would probably have been speaking in Aramaic and not Greek.” Not knowing Aramaic, I asked Venice AI, which replied:

However, it's worth considering that Jesus and Nicodemus would have been speaking in Aramaic, not Greek. The Gospel of John was originally written in Greek, but it's likely that the original sayings of Jesus were spoken in Aramaic. If we consider the Aramaic translation of the word, it's "min 'elyana" (מִן עַלְיָא). The word "alya" (עַלְיָא) can mean both "again" and "from above," so the ambiguity is present in both the original Aramaic and the Greek translation.

Therefore, it's plausible that Jesus' statement was misunderstood by Nicodemus due to the double meaning of the Aramaic word, not just because of the ambiguity in the Greek translation. The author of John likely used this "misunderstood question" technique to explore Jesus' deeper teachings on spiritual rebirth and the connection between heaven and earth.

Water to Wine, Cleansing the Temple

John 2 is very interesting - it has what appears to be Jesus' first miracle, instigated by Mary - turning the water to wine at the wedding in Cana, followed by overturning the tables of the merchants in the temple.

The synoptic Gospels also tell of the cleansing of the temple, but put this incident near the end, not long before the crucifixion - while John puts it very early. The synoptic Gospels don't mention the water into wine miracle.

It's interesting that Jesus had thought his time was not yet, but he gave in to Mary. What do we make of this? Did Mary see that it was time, when Jesus hadn't yet realised  it was time? Luke 2:52 points out that Jesus grew in wisdom - he wasn't born with the full-fledged wisdom of God even though he was God in the flesh.

And the cleansing of the temple? It's true that the people of the time didn't expect narratives to have a strict temporal sequencing, so it could be that this was the same cleansing of the temple from near the end of Jesus' ministry that John is relating here to set the tone for Jesus' ministry in opposition to the status quo. Or it could be a separate incident, though the similarity of the incident with the one near the end in the synoptic Gospels suggest otherwise.

Nobody is a hopeless case

Isaiah 19:18-25

At that time five cities in the land of Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. One will be called the City of the Sun. At that time there will be an altar for the Lord in the middle of the land of Egypt, as well as a sacred pillar dedicated to the Lord at its border. It will become a visual reminder in the land of Egypt of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. When they cry out to the Lord because of oppressors, he will send them a deliverer and defender who will rescue them. The Lord will reveal himself to the Egyptians, and they will acknowledge the Lord’s authority at that time. They will present sacrifices and offerings; they will make vows to the Lord and fulfill them. The Lord will strike Egypt, striking and then healing them. They will turn to the Lord, and he will listen to their prayers and heal them.

At that time there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will visit Egypt, and the Egyptians will visit Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. At that time Israel will be the third member of the group, along with Egypt and Assyria, and will be a recipient of blessing in the earth. The Lord of Heaven’s Armies will pronounce a blessing over the earth, saying, “Blessed be my people, Egypt, and the work of my hands, Assyria, and my special possession, Israel!”

At the time of writing of this passage, Egypt and Assyria were terrible enemies of the people of Yahweh. So this prophecy would have seemed incredible.

Similar to the moral of the Jonah story, this points out that nobody is a hopeless case. Today, the Egyptian Coptic Church, the Assyrian Church of the East, and the Chaldean Catholic Church are considered ancient established churches, having been established early in the history of Christianity. These churches are at least partial fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy.

Saul of Tarsus was a terrible persecutor of the faith. Yet he became one of the greatest apostles of Jesus. There are so many other examples of people who were enemies of Yahweh who then became His disciples.

Abiding in Christ

John 15:1-17

“I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. He takes away every branch that does not bear fruit in me. He prunes every branch that bears fruit so that it will bear more fruit. You are clean already because of the word that I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me—and I in him—bears much fruit because apart from me you can accomplish nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown out like a branch and dries up; and such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire and are burned up. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want, and it will be done for you. My Father is honored by this, that you bear much fruit and show that you are my disciples.

“Just as the Father has loved me, I have also loved you; remain in my love. If you obey my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be complete. My commandment is this—to love one another just as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this—that one lays down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves because the slave does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends because I have revealed to you everything I heard from my Father. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that remains, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. This I command you—to love one another.