Walking Straight Into Samaria

As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him.
- Luke 9:51-52

Jewish leaders in the first century travelled AROUND Samaria when going from Galilee to Jerusalem. That’s because they accused the Samaritans of being half-breeds and thought they were religiously unenlightened. Of course, the Samaritans had a different story about their origins than the Jews told, but isn’t that often the case between people groups? The bottom line of it meant that the good religious people of the day wouldn’t dare cross into the Samaritan ‘hood because it was ‘on the wrong side of the tracks.’

Jesus, however, did not skirt Samaria. He did not skirt the intense race issues of the day. He stepped right into them. And he sent his disciples headlong into those conversations as well, as we saw in the verse today.

How willing are you to have earnest conversation around racial, ethnic, and cultural tensions? Would you be willing to pray for an opportunity today to engage thoughtfully around these issues? (If it gets to the end of the day and you haven’t had that opportunity, consider this great TED talk)

Lord grant us the grace to walk into Samaria and not around it today…