Christ and the Woman of Samaria, Rembrandt and student, c. 1655 (Met. Museum of Art, New York)
(The text of today’s Gospel, John 4:5–26, 39–42, can be found online).
The disciples were no doubt asking why they were in Samaria. Geographically Samaria is between Galilee to the north and Judea (Jerusalem) to the south. Obviously, it was easier to travel directly through it to get from Galilee to Judea but the Judeans (Jews of Judea and Galilee) and the Samaritans hated each other so much that it was a dangerous journey. This was a consequence of a centuries-old Assyrian colonization plan. After the death of King Solomon, the Kingdom of David split into the Kingdom of Israel in the North and Judea to the South. The Assyrians destroyed the Northern Kingdom in 722 BC. Their policy was to replace a significant percentage of native people with immigrants from other nations. They would intermarry and be more dependent on Assyria than the memory of what was there before. These foreigners adopted many Israelite customs but were never accepted by the Judeans (Jews) and there was always conflict between them. Although their religious practices were quite similar, the major issue was where sacrifice was to occur: for the Samaritans: Mt Gerizim; for the Jews: Mt Zion. To inflame things even further, the Jewish King John Hyrcanus destroyed the Samaritan temple in 129B C. So now the disciples find themselves in enemy territory in the heat of the day with no food. Continue reading “3rd Sunday of Lent – Fr. Smith’s Homily”
