What's So Bad About Samaritans?

The Samaritan Woman at the well who told Jesus if he knew who she was, he wouldn’t want her to draw water for him.  The parable of the Good Samaritan, like it’s an exception that any Samaritans would be good.  These stories make me wonder: what’s so bad about the Samaritans?

It’s a part of Biblical history, something that doesn’t exactly apply to us in today’s world, but if we want to fully understand the message Jesus is sharing, it helps to understand what was true at the time.

First let’s summarize the two Samaritan stories in question.  In Luke chapter 10 Jesus is being questioned by an expert in the law.  He tells the parable of the Good Samaritan as part of his answer.  Here we start in verse 30 (New International Version):

A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled came where the man was; and when he saw him, took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. “Look after him,” he said, “and when I return I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.”

Jesus used the parable as a learning experience for the official men questioning him.  Which one was a neighbor, Jesus asked. Even they had to admit that of the three, the Samaritan was the neighbor to the man.  He admonished them to go and do likewise.

To Jesus’ audience, the fact that a priest and a Levite, both of whom are strongly Jewish, walked past the Jewish man who had been beaten and left for dead without helping him (probably because the area was dangerous, and they were in fear of their own lives) but a Samaritan went way above the call of hospitality to help a total stranger was significant.  Jews and Samaritans hated each other.

Why? Here’s a quick history lesson:

In 722 BC (Before Christ) Assyrians conquered northern Israel and settled in after winning many battles. Inter-marriages between the Jews and the non-Jews who now made Israel their home occurred and in doing so, a new people group was formed called the Samaritans. They kept up with some of the prevalent Jewish/Israelite practices but also incorporated pagan practices in keeping with both sides of their heritage. They were considered by Jews to be impure for watering down and creating a diluted subset of their religion.  The Samaritans felt snubbed.

By the time Jesus walked the earth, there was a longstanding simmering hatred between the Jews and the Samaritans.  It went both ways.  Jesus didn’t go along with this long-held hatred.  He knew God’s message that he was sent to proclaim was for everyone, not just one chosen race.

So, back to the parable, when Jesus told it, it caused an upheaval of emotion to his listeners, to a level that we really don’t understand in our current day.  Think of your absolute worst enemy.  Someone you can’t stand and wish the worst level of luck on – then substitute that name or group of people in the parable.  That was Jesus’ message.

Imagine finding yourself in a very sketchy area of town, after dark, fearing for your life. All you want to do is get yourself to safety and close the door on the world behind you.  As you’re cautiously making your way, you happen upon THAT person or THAT group of people who you’ve long hated and wished ill upon, beaten up, mugged and bleeding into the street.  Wouldn’t your impulse be to sneer and think “you deserved that,” and keep moving?

But Jesus calls us to do the opposite.  Help the person.  Don’t just help him but go out of your way to make sure he’s safe and cared for, even risking physical harm to yourself along the way.

Sure, it’s a parable.  Did he mean it as it was presented, one person encountering another?  Or did he mean it on a more global level, that we’re called to help communities of the unfortunate, or countries of the unfortunate who are down on their luck and need our help?  That we need to put our hatred of them aside, that walking on by when help is so greatly needed is not acceptable in God’s kingdom?

I think he meant both.

So now that we better understand the general feelings of the people of the region toward Samaritans, let’s look at the other Bible story that involves Samaritans: the woman at the well.  In John chapter 4, Jesus led his disciples on a walk through Samaria. In a town called Sychar, an ancient well sat.  The very same well that Jacob from the Old Testament dug in Genesis chapter 33.  Yes, it’s that old!

Jesus sought out the well all alone after sending his disciples into town to buy food.  It was noon and he was hot and tired and thirsty.  When a Samaritan woman comes to draw water Jesus says to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (verse 7).  The woman is surprised and responds, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (verse 9).

She’s fully aware of the animosity between Jews and Samaritans.  She’d lived with that her entire life.  Can you imagine then, her amazement with Jesus’ response?

Here’s the Bible text starting with verse 10: Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?” … Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

The woman is interested, although probably confused. She asks Jesus for some of this water. Then Jesus shows her that he knows exactly who she is – that specific Samaritan woman who happened to meet him at the well. He takes this chance to tell her some of the details about her own life that have shamed her and made her an outcast in her own community.  Jesus knows these things! 

She jumps to the conclusion that he’s a prophet, but Jesus presses on and says in verse 22: “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 …”  The woman said, “I know that Messiah is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”  Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you – I am he.”

This interaction is so amazing to me. Jesus chose a woman … not just any woman, a Samaritan woman (and we know exactly what that means now) to share this amazing truth outside the Jewish race!  Jesus was mainly sent to proclaim the gospel to the Jews, but he chose this moment and this unremarkable woman who was down on her luck to spread the news to the Samaritans, who were hated by the Jews.

If there was any doubt that God’s messenger of love and forgiveness was including absolutely everyone on earth … this would eliminate that doubt.

Kenneth Ortiz wrote an article called The Woman at the Well: Its Significance and What We Can Learn.  In it, he says, “The encounter of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well was not a random meeting. It was planned by God and it depicts Jesus’ mercy and love for us. Desperate for a satisfying life and unending grace, the woman at the well is forever changed by Jesus’ love for her. She uses her story to tell others about the living water found in Jesus.

“Remember the parable of the good Samaritan? A man lies dying on the side of the road and the only person willing to help him was a Samaritan. Not the Jewish leader that passed by, not the priest, the Samaritan. The thing about this parable is that it was so shocking to the Jewish people that a Samaritan would be the good guy in the story. In the same way, this Samaritan woman was the last person any Jew would want to talk to. But Jesus, a Jewish man, did talk to her. It’s comforting that Jesus chooses to love the least lovable people, and He chooses to use the least likely characters.”

So true!  Throughout the Bible we see situation after situation when God/Jesus select the least likely people to help them with their cause. The sinners, the ones who have made mistakes, the betrayers, the deniers.  But guess what … he chose them anyway.

And doesn’t that give each one of us hope that God can use us in his story as well?

Let’s pray:  Dear Father, thank you for using the least likely people to advance your kingdom. Thank you for including everyone in your plan, not just the exclusive ones.  Help us to get over any prejudices or hatred we hold in our daily lives. Help us to be more like the Good Samaritan than those who passed by.  Amen.