The Other Route, Pt 1

John 4:1-42

John 4:4, Jesus had to go through Samaria

It is a well known saying in any geometry class or in life, that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Yet, ask any human being with the ability to drive that is going a tough route, - if offered- would they take a seemingly shorter or alternate route that allow them to avoid a few bumps and bruises to get to their destinations, they would jump at the chance. Would you?

That’s exactly what the Pharisees did to not only avoid Samaria, but the Samaritans. They avoided the unclean, the mixed races, the ethnic or exotic looking, or anything else that made one “othered”. Doesn’t that sound familiar in 2026- the unhoused, the underserved, underprivileged, the poor, the brown, the black, the woman all avoided or othered. The path that is right with that of the Pharisees is the not the pathway of Jesus.

Jesus took the other route. The straight path.

Jesus did not avoid the unclean, the ethnically unclean. Jesus did not avoid the woman. He walked a 30 mile straight path that most all avoided.

With 6 words from John 4:4, Jesus changed everything for everyone- Jesus had to go through Samaria

Jesus’ path to Galilee, with a stop in Samaria teaches us a few things,

·      Do not avoid. In a world where shortcuts are rampant, take the long and narrow route. Who or what you are avoiding may be the very thing that needs you or needs to be dealt with.

·      Even the outcasts need Jesus.

·      Jesus had the longest recorded conversation with an outcast, in an outcasted place. The Samaritan Woman.

I am the Samaritan Woman. We are all the Samaritan Woman.

Thank you Jesus for taking the other route.