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John 4:4-6  
Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

As Jesus’ popularity grew in Jerusalem the jury was split. Some wanted to make Him king by force; others wanted to kill Him. The cross would come, but not yet, so Jesus headed north from Jerusalem in Judea to His hometown of Nazareth in Galilee. In between Judea and Galilee was the area of Samaria.

When the Assyrians overthrew Israel in 722 BC, they took most of the Jews into captivity. They left behind the poor and the weak and populated the land with captives from other countries. After a time the Jews living in Samaria intermarried with foreigners and began worshiping the gods of other religions. They read only the first five books of the Bible and built their own temple. Because of this the Jews hated the Samaritans with a passion.

The direct route from Judea to Galilee went straight through Samaria and most of the time the Jews took the long way around to bypass the region. On this day, however, Jesus went straight through Samaria to meet a woman at a well. Think about the day you met Jesus. Where did He go to find you? 

Lord Jesus, thank You for going out of Your way to find me, meet me and call me to Yourself. In Your name I pray. Amen.