The Samaritan Woman: God of the Outcast

Rabbi Jason

Yeshua-Jesus crossed over accepted religious and cultural boundaries of His day to meet needs—literally face-to-face. He had love and compassion for outcasts and misfits. The Bible tells us that Yeshua came to a Samaritan town called Shechem, the location of Jacob’s well. The encounter between the Samaritan woman and Yeshua took place at Jacob’s well (see John 4:1–42).

Both the Jews and Samaritans had failed to see each other as God saw them. Yeshua saw the value and worth in the woman at the well and in the Samaritans as a people. Learning to see people like Yeshua sees them is essential. It means not focusing on externals like race, gender, religion, or socioeconomic class but instead on the reality of God’s image in each person. Viewing people through the lens of Yeshua makes it worth taking the risk to cross over to reach those who are different from us.

Most Jewish travelers avoided Samaria like the plague. They did not want to interact with the Samaritans who lived there. Conflict had existed between them for many centuries before Yeshua was even born. Based on their divisive differences, you can imagine how astonishing it was for the Samaritan woman to have a Jew and holy man like Yeshua conversing with her about spiritual things.

Jesus declared to the woman that He is the source of living water. The Samaritan woman was thirsty and needed water. Yeshua, knowing God’s will for that day, went to the “other side.” He intentionally visited her, understood her needs, and offered her living water. Yeshua’s living water would wash away her past, cleanse her sins, and completely transform her. And the good news is, He is offering a drink of that same living water to us right now! And it’s free! The only requirement is you must be thirsty like the Samaritan woman was.

Kathie

We don’t know what the Samaritan woman’s name was, but we’ve all known women like her: soiled, abused, and ultimately discarded by way too many bad men in her life. She was an outcast among a people already considered outcasts by the Jews because they were of mixed blood. But she is the very person Jesus had on His mind and in His heart when He went to the well. He knew she would be there, and He had a personal message for her: “I see you and I know everything about the sins in your life. But I also see the beauty in you and the gifts inside of you that the world cannot see. Not yet.”

Meeting Jesus changed her life. We must all ask the Lord to show us the people we look down on, the ones we feel superior to. The dirty ones. The ones who smell like cigarettes, whisky, and sex. Because there but for the grace of God go every one of us. Will our hearts be open to seeing the beauty in them as Jesus did? Will we be willing to invest our time and our treasure in their hidden gifts and unfulfilled dreams?

Respond

Who are you uncomfortable approaching with God’s love and kindness? What is at the root of your discomfort?

What does it mean to see people as Yeshua-Jesus sees them?

How can you invest prayer, time, and treasure to open yourself to the beauty Jesus sees in others?