A great lesson in breaking down barriers between races, religions and cultures was set by the Savior as He traveled through Samaria.

In The Life of Christ, Frederic W. Farrar wrote that the Jews' hatred of and fastidiousness toward the Samaritans "could have no existence for [JesusT and were things rather to be discouraged than approved."Farrar, in writing of the incident in which Jesus asked a woman of Samaria for a drink of water at Jacob's well, noted: "The Lord was thirsty and fatigued, and having no means of reaching the cool water which glimmered deep below the well's mouth, He said to the woman, `Give me to drink.'

"Every one who has traveled in the East knows how glad and ready is the response to this request. . . . [A personT seems to feel a positive pleasure in having it in his power . . . to share with a thirsty traveler the priceless element. But so deadly was the hatred and rivalry between the Jews and Samaritans . . . that the request only elicited from the woman of Samaria an expression of surprise that it should have been made.

"Gently, and without a word of rebuke, our Lord tells her that had she known Him, and asked of Him, He would have given her living water. (See John 4:10.)"

A Church News Viewpoint of Jan. 31, 1987, stated that Jesus, at that well in Samaria, set the example for all to follow in bridging chasms of suspicion, fear and hatred:

" . . . Jesus faced the woman who had scorned Him. Forgetting His thirst, ignoring centuries of hatred and mistrust, He taught and loved. He did not temporize: `Ye worship ye know not what,' He told her. `We know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.' (John 4:22.)

"But who was right, or wrong, was to Him far less important than to teach that wherever God is worshipped, He is to be worshipped in spirit and truth.

"So to this common, ignorant, sinful Samaritan woman, of all people, He first revealed Himself, in plainness, to be the promised Messiah.

"With her and her people He spent two days, seeking to give to them the living water that springs up into eternal life.

"And many of these despised people believed and recorded their plain and simple testimony that this was the Christ, the Savior of the world.

"Can nations and races and individuals not learn from that divine example: That while we properly hold to convictions of who and what is right, there is a higher truth. It is that we are all brothers, that God loves us all. We are more alike in our longing for peace and safety and dignity than we are different.

"Jesus' treatment of the despised Samaritans with love and compassion opened the way for a rich harvest of souls who joined His followers in brotherhood in later years. Can we not follow Him?"

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(ADDITIONAL INFORMATION)

Articles on this page may be used in conjunction with the Gospel Doctrine course of study.

Information compiled by Gerry Avant

Sources: Jesus the Christ, by Elder James E. Talmage; and The Life of Christ, by Frederic W. Farrar.