A SERMON from ROYAL POINCIANA CHAPEL Palm Beach, Florida Thomas W. Kirkman DD minister THE MEETING BY THE WELL NO DETOUR Text: "It was necessary for him to take the road that led through Samaria." (John 4:4 William Barclay's translation) Although you may have forgotten most of your high school geometry, I am sure that most of you remember one axiom. This axiom is practiced even by people who have not heard of Euclid. Few people will quarrel with the fact that a straight line is the shortest distance between two points. A line drawn from Jerusalem to northern Israel would go through Samaria. In 1972 Ruth and I were driving through Israel. Samaria had been a part of Jordan and was occupied by Israel after the Six Day War. Samaria is largely Arab. As we entered Samaria. we were greeted with this sign: "WARNING! DANGER! You are entering Samaria. You travel at your own risk. Do not leave the main road. Do not travel at night. The nation of Israel cannot be responsible for your safety." Hoping that we did not look Jewish, Ruth and I drove through Samaria. Today -- in these days of the intifadeh -- few Jews travel through Samaria. As it was in 1972 and as it is now. so it was in the days of Jesus; Jews did not go through Samaria. To go from Jerusalem to Galilee took three days of travel, if you went THROUGH Samaria. If you went AROUND Samaria, two additional days of walking would be required. The Jews and the Samaritans got along as well as the Jews and the Arabs do today. Although a straight line is the shortest distance between two points, Jews in Jesus' day did not go through Samaria. If you do not understand the relationship between Jews and Samaritans, it may seem hard to understand our text, "It was necessary for Jesus to take the road that led through Samaria." It certainly was not necessary for geographical reasons. Most Jews took the longer route. If Jesus had been like His contemporaries, He would not have gone through Samaria. The reason that it was necessary for Jesus to go through Samaria is to be found in the very nature and character of Jesus. Read the four gospels, and you will discover that Jesus never ran away from a problem. He did not avoid life's difficulties. In fact, on another occasion He indicated that problems are actually Opportunities. I believe that in life today, we have our Samarias. I believe that we have to learn to go through them, rather than to run from them. Much of the unhappiness in life and many of the sorrows of life come from trying to avoid Samaria -- trying to avoid unpleasant realities. The failure to go through Samaria is often an attempt to escape from reality. Reality catches up with us when we least expect it. This morning I will suggest three reasons why people did not go through Samaria. I. TAKING THE EASY WAY First, I have observed that many people refuse to go through Samaria because it is the easy thing to do. The Jews of the first century found it easier to travel the extra days than to face the hostility of the Samaritans. It was easier for them to be with their own people than to have to deal with Samaritan ways. I have seen people take the easy way with tragic results. A father once told me that he never confronted any of his children, "I don't argue with them. I don't correct them -- that just makes them angry. I don't like fighting in the family. I figure that they will learn for themselves when they grow up." This man was avoiding the Samaria of being a father. He was refusing to act out the role of a father to his children. He avoided dealing with the problems of his children. He pretended that he did not have a parent's responsibility. The results were tragic for him and for his children. The children got older, but they did not grow up. They did not learn the right lessons for themselves. The battles that he could have won when they were children, he lost when they were adults. All of you have known a wife who refused to face the fact that her husband was an alcoholic. Because she did not go through her Samaria, she never forced him to get help. Often, when we seek to avoid the direct solution of a problem, we find that we create greater problems. When we face the problem, we can have the joy of working out a solution. When Jesus went through Samaria, it was a meaningful time for Him and for the woman who came to the well. We shall speak of this in a later sermon. II. BOUND BY CUSTOM Many Jews did not go through Samaria because they wanted to avoid people they did not like. Other Jews did not go through Samaria because it was the CUSTOM not to go through Samaria. The idea of going through Samaria never occurred to them. No Jew went through Samaria so it was an idea that no one even considered. Custom and tradition are often a means of avoiding what is new and needed. In one of the early churches which I served as an assistant minister, the congregation used the same call to worship, the same invocation, and the same unison prayer every Sunday. In my judgment, the people had used these prayers so long that they had lost all meaning. When I asked why they continued to use these same prayers, I was told, "We have used these prayers for fifty years!" In the name of tradition and custom, they had allowed a part of the worship service to become meaningless. The Jewish people of Jesus' day were traditionalists to a fault. Once the pattern was set it did not change. Because it was the custom never to go through Samaria, the average Jew never got to meet and know any Samaritans. That physical separation fed the hostility between the Jews and the Samaritans. Jesus, however, was not bound by tradition and custom. If the quickest way from Jerusalem to Galilee was through Samaria, that was the way Jesus went. III. PERPETUATING ANCIENT PREJUDICES Many people make detours because they want to escape problems. Others are bound by tradition. Finally, many people take detours because of ancient prejudices. This was the reason why many Jews made a detour around Samaria. The Jews of Jesus' day looked upon the Samaritans as an inferior people. It is said that the white people of South Africa look upon the blacks as inferior; just so did the Jews look upon the Samaritans. The Samaritans were the result of intermarriage between Jews and non-Jews. They were hated because of the "pollution" of Jewish blood. In order to avoid contact with these people, most Jews walked an extra two days when they went from Jerusalem to Galilee. Christ did not share the prejudices of His contemporaries. When He went from Judea to Galilee, "it was necessary for him to take the road that led through Samaria." It may be that some of you are saying, "You are making a very big case out of a very small incident." I would be forced to agree with you, if this were not the pattern of Jesus' life. The character of Jesus is clearly seen in the last week of His life. His friends did not want Him to go to Jerusalem. They predicted that the rulers would seek to take His life. Jesus knew this for Himself. The Scripture tells us: "From that time on Jesus began to say plainly to his disciples, 'I must go to Jerusalem and suffer much from the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law. I will be put to death, but three days later I will be raised to life.'" (Matthew 16:21 Good News Bible) Jesus did not attempt to detour from the cross. In the garden of Gethsemane, He prayed, "Father, if you will, take this cup of suffering away from me. Not my will, however, but your will be done." (Luke 22:42 Good News Bible) Christ never detoured from the realities of life. When He traveled to Galilee, "it was necessary for him to take the road that led through Samaria." May we learn from our Lord not to take detours because it seems the easy way, or because we are bound by tradition, or -- worse still -- because we are the captives of prejudice. With God's help, let us face life, and when necessary, go unafraid through Samaria. THOMAS W. KIRKMAN DD THE ROYAL POINCIANA CHAPEL PALM BEACH, FLORIDA June 3, 1990