Biblical Oneness: A Five-Day Devotional on RaceSample

Introduction: Jesus in Samaria

One of the most informative and poignant teachings from the Scripture regarding culture, truth, and oneness is the story of Jesus’ encounter with the woman of Samaria in John chapter 4. This story gives us two overriding principles that are needed to establish true spiritual oneness.

In 722 BC, the Jews living in the Northern Kingdom were taken captive by the Assyrians. An interracial exchange followed. Some Jews were deported to Assyria, and some Assyrians were imported into the Northern Kingdom. The Jews who remained did not entirely relinquish their true worship of God, despite the introduction of Assyrian cults. Intermarriage, however, destroyed the purity of the race, giving birth to a new ethnic group of people called Samaritans.

During the Persian period, the Jews were allowed to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and the walls. This attempt was resisted by the Samaritans, who were now a mixed race of Assyrians and Israelites and did not want to see the city of Jerusalem successfully rebuilt because of their racial hatred of the Jews (Neh. 2:19; 4:1; 6:1–6). The Jews, meanwhile, desired to maintain the purity of the Jewish race and thus would not allow the Samaritans to participate in the rebuilding process (Neh. 2:20; 6:14). A feud developed that continued into Christ’s day and served as the historical backdrop to the confrontation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman.

When Jesus traveled with His disciples through Samaria, He was not merely taking a shorter route. He was on a mission to meet needs that He knew existed there. It is important to note that Jesus was intentional about His route through Samaria. The fact that He entered Samaria made it clear that He was willing to go beyond His own culture to meet others’ needs. However, overcoming the cultural prejudice of the Samaritans was another issue. Jesus was willing to make the first move, but how could He get the Samaritans to give Him the chance to connect with them? The solution was to recognize common ground, which is the first principle for biblical oneness.