23 Aug: Love Your Samaritan
Ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria. Acts 1:8
Scripture Reading: Acts 1:1–8
I ducked into a room before she saw me. I felt ashamed for hiding, but I just couldn’t face her—not then, and honestly, not ever if I could help it. Part of me wanted to tell her off and put her in her place. Looking back, though I’d been irritated by how she’d treated me, I probably annoyed her just as much, if not more.
The Jews and Samaritans had that same kind of mutual irritation. The Samaritans were a mixed people who worshiped their own gods, and in the eyes of the Jews that meant they’d polluted both the Jewish bloodline and the faith. They’d even set up a rival place of worship on Mount Gerizim (John 4:20). The dislike ran so deep that Jews would take the long way around rather than travel through Samaritan country.
Jesus showed a better way. He came bringing salvation for everyone—including Samaritans. So He walked straight into the heart of Samaria and offered living water to a sinful woman and, through her, to her whole town (John 4:4–42). His final words to the disciples were to do the same: start in Jerusalem, move through Samaria, and keep going to “the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Samaria wasn’t just the next stop on the map. It was the hardest part of the assignment. The disciples had to push past a lifetime of prejudice and learn to love people they had every reason to avoid.
Does Jesus matter more to us than the grudges we carry? There’s only one way to find out. Love your “Samaritan.”
By: Connor Sullivan
Go deeper on: Love Your Samaritan
Reflect & Pray
How can you begin to show love to those who aren’t very loving? When have you been loving to a difficult person and then found them softening?
Father, may the waves of Your love crash over me, producing a torrent that streams to others through me.