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Jesus' Intentional Outreach to Samaritans

While Jesus initially instructed his disciples to avoid Samaritan cities during their early ministry [3, 13], his own actions demonstrate a significant and intentional outreach to the Samaritans, challenging the prevailing animosity between Jews and Samaritans [4, 6].

The historical context reveals a deep-seated antagonism between Jews and Samaritans. Samaritans were considered by Jews to be "Gentiles by blood" who had adopted a mixed form of Judaism after the Assyrian captivity, worshipping the God of Israel but with their own admixtures [8, 11]. Josephus records quarrels between Jews and Samaritans, noting that Galileans traveling to Jerusalem for festivals often passed through Samaritan territory, leading to conflict [4]. The rulers of Jerusalem even intervened to prevent Jews from retaliating against Samaritans to avoid Roman intervention [6, 7].

Despite this historical tension, Jesus' ministry included direct engagement with Samaritans. The Gospel of John records Jesus' encounter with a Samaritan woman at Jacob's well in Sychar [5]. This interaction led to many Samaritans in that city believing in him [9, 11]. They asked him to stay, and he remained with them for two days, during which "many more believed because of His own Word" [2, 14]. These Samaritans declared, "Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard Him ourselves, and know that This is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world" [14]. This event highlights Jesus' personal ministry to Samaritans, leading to their faith in him as the Messiah [9].

The parable of the Good Samaritan, recorded in Luke, further illustrates Jesus' positive portrayal of a Samaritan. In this parable, a "certain Samaritan" shows compassion to a man who had been robbed and beaten, while a priest and a Levite pass by [1]. This narrative elevates a Samaritan as an example of neighborly love, directly contrasting with the typical Jewish perception of Samaritans [1].

While Jesus initially commanded his twelve disciples, "To the way of the nations go not away, and into a city of the Samaritans go not in" [3], this instruction appears to have been a temporary directive for their initial mission [12, 13]. John Gill suggests that this prohibition was specifically against entering Samaritan cities "in order to preach" [10]. This early restriction likely served to focus the disciples' initial efforts on the "lost sheep of the house of Israel" [13].

However, Jesus' post-resurrection commission explicitly included Samaria. In Acts 1:8, Jesus tells his disciples, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth" [5]. This command clearly indicates an intentional expansion of the gospel message to the Samaritans, reversing the earlier restriction and demonstrating their inclusion in God's redemptive plan. The book of Acts later records Philip preaching Christ in the city of Samaria, where many believed [5].

Thus, while there was an initial, temporary restriction on his disciples' outreach to Samaritans, Jesus himself engaged directly with them, and ultimately commanded that the gospel be preached in Samaria, indicating a clear and intentional inclusion of Samaritans in his ministry and the spread of the early church [5].

Sources

  1. Luke “But a certain Samaritan, as he traveled, came where he was. When he saw him, he was moved with compassion, -- Luke 10:33”
  2. John “John 4:40 (NASB) — So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days.”
  3. Matthew “Matthew 10:5 (YLT) — These twelve did Jesus send forth, having given command to them, saying, `To the way of the nations go not away, and into a city of the Samaritans go not in,”
  4. Project Gutenberg “Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, CHAPTER 6, section 1: . How There Happened A Quarrel Between The Jews And The Samaritans; And How Claudius Put An End To Their Differences. 1. Now there arose a quarrel between the Samaritans and the Jews on the occasion following: It was the custom of the Galileans, when they came to the holy city at the festivals, to take their journeys through the country of the Samaritans; 11 and at this time there lay, in the road they took, a village that was called Ginea, which was situated in the limits of Samaria and the great plain, where certain persons the”
  5. Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Samaria, Modern — Situated between Judea and Galilee -- Lu 17:11; Joh 4:3,4. Had many cities -- Mt 10:5; Lu 9:52. Cities of, mentioned in scripture Samaria. -- Ac 8:5. Sychar. -- Joh 4:5. Antipatris. -- Ac 23:31. Christ preached in -- Joh 4:39-42. Christ at first forbade his disciples to visit -- Mt 10:5. Christ after his resurrection commanded the gospel to be preached in -- Ac 1:8. Inhabitants of Their true descent. -- 2Ki 17:24; Ezr 4:9,10. Boasted descent from Jacob. -- Joh 4:12. Professed to worship God. -- Ezr 4:2. Their religion mixed with idolatry. -- 2Ki 17:”
  6. Project Gutenberg “Flavius Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, CHAPTER 12, section 3: spoiled; he also seized upon a great number of those that followed Eleazar, and slew more of them. And as for the rest of the multitude of those that went so zealously to fight with the Samaritans, the rulers of Jerusalem ran out clothed with sackcloth, and having ashes on their head, and begged of them to go their ways, lest by their attempt to revenge themselves upon the Samaritans they should provoke the Romans to come against Jerusalem; to have compassion upon their country and temple, their children and their wives, and not br”
  7. Project Gutenberg “Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, CHAPTER 6, section 2: be the consequences of what they were doing; and would alter their minds, would cast away their weapons, and for the future be quiet, and return to their own homes. These persuasions of theirs prevailed upon them. So the people dispersed themselves, and the robbers went away again to their places of strength; and after this time all Judea was overrun with robberies. 2. But the principal of the Samaritans went to Ummidius Quadratus, the president of Syria, who at that time was at Tyre, and accused the Jews of setting their village”
  8. Matthew (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Matthew 10:5: THE TWELVE RECEIVE THEIR INSTRUCTIONS. (Mat. 10:5-42) These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not--The Samaritans were Gentiles by blood; but being the descendants of those whom the king of Assyria had transported from the East to supply the place of the ten tribes carried captive, they had adopted the religion of the Jews, though with admixtures of their own: and, as the nearest neighbors of the Jews, they occupied a place intermediate between them a”
  9. John (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on John 4:40: So when the Samaritans were come unto him,.... The Ethiopic version reads, all the Samaritans; they came to him at Jacob's well, upon the woman's solicitations, and the account she gave of this extraordinary person: and after they had conversed with him, and heard him themselves, they were taken with his divine discourses, and being thoroughly persuaded that he was the Messiah, they besought him that he would tarry with them; they were not like the Gergesenes, who besought him to depart out of their coasts as soon he was in them: but these men were delighted with his ”
  10. Luke (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Luke 9:49: And sent messengers before his face,.... Who very likely were his two disciples, James and John, since they so highly resented the ill treatment their master met with from the Samaritans: and they went; before him: and entered into a village of the Samaritans; or "city", as the Vulgate Latin, Persic, and Ethiopic versions read, and so one of Stephens's copies; which lay in the way from Galilee to Judea, where the disciples had been forbid to enter, that is, in order to preach, Mat 10:5 To make ready for him; to prepare a lodging, and proper food for him and his dis”
  11. John (Nonconformist/Puritan) “Matthew Henry on John 4:4: We have here an account of the good Christ did in Samaria, when he passed through that country in his way to Galilee. The Samaritans, both in blood and religion, were mongrel Jews, the posterity of those colonies which the king of Assyria planted there after the captivity of the ten tribes, with whom the poor of the land that were left behind, and many other Jews afterwards, incorporated themselves. They worshipped the God of Israel only, to whom they erected a temple on mount Gerizim, in competition with that at Jerusalem. There was great enmity between them and the”
  12. Matthew (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Matthew 10:5: These twelve Jesus sent forth,.... And no other but them, under the character of apostles. These had been with him a considerable time, to whom he had been gradually communicating spiritual knowledge; and by the benefit of private conference with him, and the observation they had made upon his doctrine and conduct, were greatly qualified for public usefulness: wherefore he gives them a commission, furnishes them with power and authority; and sends them forth from him by pairs, that they might be assisting to one another, and bear a joint testimony to the Gospel they ”
  13. Matthew (Nonconformist/Puritan) “Matthew Henry on Matthew 10:5: We have here the instructions that Christ gave to his disciples, when he gave them their commission. Whether this charge was given them in a continued discourse, or the several articles of it hinted to them at several times, is not material; in this he commanded them. Jacob's blessing his sons, is called his commanding them, and with these commands Christ commanded a blessing. Observe, I. The people to whom he sent them. These ambassadors are directed what places to go to. 1. Not to the Gentiles nor the Samaritans. They must not go into the way of the Gentiles, n”
  14. CCEL/NPNF (Eastern Orthodox) “John Chrysostom, Homilies on John & Hebrews: Homily XXXV. John iv. 40–43 “So when the Samaritans were come unto Him, they besought Him that He would tarry with them: and He abode there two days. And many more believed because of His own Word; and said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard Him ourselves, and know that This is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world. Now after two days He departed thence, and went into Galilee.” Nothing is worse than envy and malice, nothing more mischievous than vainglory; it is wont to mar ten thousand good things. So”
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