Sunday of the Samaritan Woman
Acts of the Holy Apostles 11:19-26,29-30; John 4:5-42

"Give Me a drink." - Jesus said to the Samaritan woman.

If someone asks for food, sometimes they may not be given it, but if a thirsty person were to ask for a drink of water, they would be given it everywhere. Only cruel godless people might not give water to imprisoned thirsty people in order to break their will.

It is strange in this Gospel story that Jesus, being a bodily Jew, asked a Samaritan woman to get a drink. The Jews considered the Samaritans racially and religiously so unworthy that the Jews treated them with contempt, and did not communicate with the Samaritans either spiritually or physically. It was "apartheid" worse than what was practised in South Africa.

Jews who were in some way related to the Samaritans were considered impure, sinful and had to undergo a rite of purification in order to be considered worthy Jews again. The Samaritans knew about this, so the Samaritan woman said to Jesus: "’How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?’ For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.” --as the evangelist John affirms.

The Samaritans were multiracial physically, as well as religiously and culturally. Geographically, the province of Samaria was located between Judea in the south and Galilee in the north. Thus, when the inhabitants of Galilee traveled to and from Jerusalem, the shortest route for them lay through Samaria. That is why Jesus Christ, together with his disciples, traveled through Samaria more than once.

In ancient times, from the 10th century before the birth of Christ, Samaria was the capital of the Kingdom of Israel, but in the 7th century--more precisely in the years 724-22 before the birth of Christ--the city of Samaria and the surrounding territory were conquered and occupied by the Assyrian king Shalmaneser V . (Later, in 331 BC, Samaria was conquered by Alexander the Great).

Shalmaneser V, having conquered Samaria, took many of its inhabitants into captivity and settled them in Babylon - this was the well-known, commemorated Babylonian captivity of the Israelites. In place of the Jews taken away into captivity, in Samaria, King Shalmaneser V settled people of other nationalities. Those resettled people over time mixed with the Israelites and formed a separate nation--the Samaritans--somewhat similar and somewhat different from the Jews. The Samaritans, like the Jews, recognized the Law given through Moses, but in their faith, as well as in various customs, in general in culture, there were borrowings from the cultures of other peoples who were settled here. It must also be borne in mind that the Samaritans of the Bible confessed only the books of Moses, and the writings of other Old Testament prophets and authors were not accepted.

Samaritans were generally despised by the Jews more than peoples of other pagan religions. The Jews, obviously, were annoyed by the fact that the Samaritans were somewhat similar to them in faith and race, but not like them, and that they did not want to renounce their own faith, to accept the Jewish faith.

(There is something similar, as in the relationship between Soviet and Chinese communists: both of them recognize the same ideology of Marxism, but both of them differ in their cultural foundations, national aspirations and interests. Both of them prefer to have good relations with capitalist countries, with American, Japanese or European capitalists, millionaires, but they harbor hatred among themselves, passionately quoting Marx and Lenin; both consider themselves to be true communists, and others to be renegades, traitors, etc.)

But let us return to the Gospel story. Jesus Christ, by asking the Samaritan woman for water, thus rejected the racial and religious prejudices of the Jews towards the Samaritans. Instead of general Jewish contempt, He showed trust, understanding and love to the Samaritans.

Typically, Christ set the Samaritans as an example for the Jews in many cases. Thus, in the parable of the Good Samaritan, Christ showed the Samaritans as more sincere confessors of God than the Jewish high priests and zealots of the Law. And the Lord, through Apostle Paul testified:

"For not the hearers of the Law are righteous before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified." (Romans 2:13)

Consequently, when the Samaritans fulfill and observe the will of God more in their lives, when they are more merciful, then they can be closer to believing Jews than the scribes and Pharisees, who cared only about the formal performance of rituals.

From the current Gospel story, we see that Christ not only broke racial, national and religious prejudices, but also broke prejudices against sinners, showing them understanding and trust.

He did not approve of the sinful actions of the Samaritan woman, who "had five husbands", and the one with whom she lived then was not her married husband (John 4:18). Yet, Christ did not despise her, did not reject her, but spoke to her, clarified the truth about the One God, clarified that "God is a spirit", and those who bow must bow in spirit and in truth" (Jn. 4:24).

So Christ, in conversation with a sinful woman, defined one of the main truths of our faith. With that Christ showed great trust and understanding towards sinners, made us understand that we should not reject them but, rather, guide them, enlighten them so that they too can be saved.

Enlightened and convinced by the word of Christ, the Samaritan woman abandoned all her daily life affairs and informed her fellow residents about the coming of Christ to them. "And they came out of the city, and came to Him." (Jn. 4:30) The benevolent attitude of Jesus Christ to the sinful woman caused a great spiritual change not only for that woman, but also for many Samaritan residents who came en masse to listen to Christ's gospel preaching.

As a result, the Samaritans asked Jesus to "stay with them. And He stayed there for two days. Much more they believed because of His word. And they said to the woman: ‘We do not believe because of your word, because we ourselves have heard and know that He is indeed the Savior of the world.’" (Jn. 4:40-42)

Thus, Jesus Christ's breaking of racial and spiritual prejudices led to people's knowledge of God's truth and their salvation.

The current account from the Acts of the Apostles shows that His disciples-apostles, after receiving the Holy Spirit, followed Christ the Savior and preached the Gospel of salvation to other, non-Jewish peoples. And it is not in a Jewish city, but, rather, "in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians." (Acts of the Holy Apostles 11.26)

And, thus, although the Lord began his preaching among the Israelites, among the "lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matthew 15:24), he also transferred it to other peoples, first of all, to the Samaritan people.

Persecution by the Jewish elders of the Church of Christ in Israel prompted the disciples of Christ to preach the Gospel among other peoples, where it strengthened and won in the fight against paganism. It won with Christ. As Christ "overcame the world" (Jn. 16.88), so the followers of Christ, the Church of Christ, overcame the world with Christ, the "Savior of the world" of it. (Jn. 4:42)

Amen.

Very Rev. Fr. Taras Slavchenko

Taras Slavchenko was born on March 8, 1918 in Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk region in Ukraine. After graduating from school and the Pedagogical College, he entered the language and literature faculty of the Scientific Pedagogical Institute. Having successfully completed it in 1938, he served as a teacher in a secondary school.

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