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John 4:4 "He had to pass through Samaria."

 

Jesus was leaving Judea for Galilee. Most Jews would have gone around Samaria when making this trip, it was the acceptable thing to do. John tells us, though, that Jesus "had" to pass through Samaria. I think the "had" here is not because there was not another way to Galilee, one that most Jews would have taken, even though it was a much longer path. Rather, it was because Jesus had to have the encounter He will have with the Samaritan woman at the well.

 

Jesus came to reconcile all people to God. It was His mission. Therefore, He had to make Himself known to the Samaritans. This was the time and place He knew was right to do so, the time and place He would meet the perfect person to hear Him and spread His Word.

 

On our journeys, we will sometimes be faced with going the way everyone else does, or choosing to go a way that seems like it might cause us distress. We are not Jesus, so we do not know when we have to choose the latter path, but God will let us know, through discernment, if we let Him. When we feel His call to take the unconventional path, that's when we know we have to do it. We should be excited about that, it means we we are going to meet someone, encounter something, or learn a lesson we need to meet, encounter, or learn.

 

The unconventional path, the path through Samaria, is often the path to the Kingdom of God. All we have to do is walk it in His will, with open hearts and minds.