THE PATH OF LIGHT: JESUS AND SAMARIA

In our first blog, we explored our spiritual path in life and the light which illuminated our way on this path. Today, let’s revisit this subject and look at it from another perspective, one that may surprise as much as it will provide complete satisfaction for the soul.

My friend and most trusted idea advisor, Michael Canalé, was recently commenting on the light that spills out before us as we walk on life’s path. He said that when we are faithfully walking the road which God has directed, the light, as stated in our first blog, is a triangle and then expands to a half moon until, finally, this light is surrounding and fully illuminating our way. This thought brought to my mind a Biblical affirmation of this in Proverbs 4:18:

“The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter until the full light of day.”

What a visual image for our Christian walk! As the day follows the night, with such certainty do we want to be on that upright, godly and virtuous path, the one ultimately immersed in light, the one that provides peace for our souls.

Francis Shaeffer posed the question, “How Then Should We Live?” as we navigate our paths. Michael said that we should walk the same path as Jesus: “You want to follow God? Take His Son’s path!” No words in all of Scripture greater exemplify how that path of Jesus should be traveled than when, in John 4:4, it is written, speaking of Jesus, “Now he had to go through Samaria.” The King James Version states, “And he must needs go through Samaria.”

At the outset, it is critical to understanding this verse, to elucidate what is meant in stating that it was not just necessary that Jesus go through Samaria, it was imperative – imperative in HIS mind! There was no geographical necessity. Indeed, there were many routes Jesus and his disciples could have taken to arrive at their destination without going to or even near Samaria. It is further notable that, for a Jew, traveling in this area, the common practice would have been to go to great lengths to skirt around it and to avoid Samaria altogether. There was a deep theological rift between the Jews and the Samaritans, and no Jew would have been found anywhere near this region. And yet, Jesus’ path will always take him and us, as his followers, exactly to this very place. Why? Because he knew and we must learn that our mission in emulating him is to adopt his mindset, i.e., that we MUST always go through Samaria, the symbol for those who are marginalized and off path – those who either don’t know or are not following his teachings.

Jesus said that he will leave the 99, those who are living their lives in step with his precepts, and go in search of the one who has strayed from the path he has set before us. That day, it was one errant soul whom he knew he was going to find in Samaria and who was the reason he “must go there.” This particular person, who had strayed so far from the fold, was the Samaritan Woman, also known in Scriptural parlance as the woman at the well.

It was noon when he first met her and this is significant. Most women of that time would never have chosen to go to the well to draw water in the zenith of the day’s heat; the respectable women had long since gone to get their water to avoid being out in the oppressive temperatures at noon. Not so the Samaritan Woman, a person of ill repute in the local community. She would not have been welcome among other women and so, she went by herself in the heat of the day. It was at that time that she had the encounter with Jesus, one that would change everything in her life.

Jesus began their conversation by asking her for a drink of water. In doing this, he was breaking all the rules that his world had set up. He was not only alone with and talking to a woman, he was speaking to a Samaritan, something unthinkable for him to do. Over the course of the next few minutes, a number of momentous barriers were crossed. He told her about his “living water,” something that so satisfies spiritually that she would never thirst again, speaking of his ability to give her eternal life. Secondly, he told her about herself – that she had had, in contradiction of God’s law, five husbands and was now living out of wedlock with yet another man. She was amazed at his knowledge of her life circumstances and thought that Jesus was a prophet. (She would soon learn that this word is completely inadequate to describe Jesus’ true identity). This segued into a theological discussion in which Jesus frankly told her that her people, the Samaritans, “…worship, guessing in the dark,” (John 4:21 The Message) and also worship “…what you do not know.” (John 4:22 NIV).

Therefore, as a Samaritan, she was that one person for whom Jesus will always leave the 99. Her response was that she didn’t know about worship but that she was aware that “The Messiah is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” (John 4:25 NIV) The Message says, “When he arrives, we’ll get the whole story.” (John 4:25) It is then that one of the most extraordinary moments in all of Scripture takes place. Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you – I am he.” (John 4:26) To whom did Jesus just announce that he is the Son of God, the Messiah! – A woman living an unquestionably sinful life, a Samaritan and an outcast even among her own people! To Jesus, she was the one for whom he came to Samaria and like all the ones for whom he left Heaven and came to Earth – a person lost without his salvation! His words to her worked. She was saved and, racing back to her town, she became an evangelist for Jesus, bringing many to hear and see this Messiah. Drinking deeply by the well, they drank of the wellspring of the Messiah, following him immediately and with all their hearts!

Jesus was saying then and is saying today, that he and we must go through Samaria. If we want to know how to stay on the path on which we will experience the great outpouring of light, we need to plan our next association on his behalf to have one particular venue – Samaria. Having, like Jesus, left the 99, we too will encounter the one – waiting, like a woman at a well, thirsty for the living water of the Christ. He or she will thirst no more and, in the process, we also will be quenched and at peace. How well Jeremiah 6:16 puts it:

“This is what the LORD SAYS:
Stand at the crossroads and look;
Ask for the ancient paths,
Ask where the good way is and walk in it
And you will find rest for your souls.”

The ancient paths always lead us to Samaria. May our journeys there be our first thought as we stay so solidly in the light.