And he must needs pass through Samaria.
Between Judea and Galilee, John records one word about the route — a "must." Was it simply the shortest road? Or was something else drawing Him to a well in Samaria?
Two necessities on one road
The plain reading is a matter of maps: Samaria lay between Judea and Galilee. But the road also brought Him to one particular town. Commentators read a second reason behind the first.
The direct route to Galilee ran through the district of Samaria, so He "had to go" that way. That was a matter of geography. But there was also a necessity tied to the grace of God. It set Him on a road that brought Him to one particular city of Samaria, called Sychar.
Others push further. The shortest road was not the only road open to a Jewish traveller.
Why did He have to pass through Samaria? It is true that the direct route to Galilee ran through Samaria. But strict Jews took other routes, to avoid a people they despised. So the need was not a question of roads and countries. May we not say instead that the need was in the heart of God? Before the world was made, God had purposed blessing for a poor sinful woman in Samaria. To win that soul and gladden the heart of God, Jesus had to go through Samaria.
Commentators differ here. One writer takes the necessity as practical, while still allowing God's purpose behind it:
The "must" in chapter 4:4 is a practical one. The straight way was through Samaria, and the Jews usually went that way, though they did not stop in Samaria as they passed. I would not say He went on purpose to meet this woman — though it was God's purpose that He should.
Pushed out of Judea, and grace overflows
He did not leave Judea by choice. The same writer who calls the necessity practical still sees the move as an opening for something larger.
Now, in John 4, Jesus is driven away by the jealousy of the Jews. He begins His ministry outside that people, while still recognising their true place in God's dealings. He goes away into Galilee, but His road led Him past Samaria... Being weary, He sits down outside the town at the edge of the well — for He had to go that way. But this necessity gave occasion for the working of that divine grace which was in the fullness of His Person, and which overflowed the narrow limits of Judaism.
Rejection in one place did not shut down His work; it redirected it.
He went towards Galilee, and had to go through Samaria. There He met the woman and brought blessing to her soul, and that brought blessing to many others too. If some reject His grace, their unbelief does not dry up the channel — it diverts it, and others get it.
Standing where a Jew would not stand
Samaria was not neutral ground. Jews kept apart from Samaritans. One writer argues they were right to do so, which makes the Lord's place on that road all the more striking.
The Jews were acting in consistent righteousness when they refused all dealings with the Samaritans... They were to be God's witnesses against the world. They were the clean, kept separate from the unclean, as a testimony to the righteousness of God against a corrupted earth. But Jesus was now standing apart from Israel. He had left Judea, the place of righteousness, and stood in defiled Samaria as Son of God, the Saviour of sinners. He had already gone to Judea looking for righteousness, the proper fruit of that country, and had not found it. He is not going to look for it in Samaria either. Here He must act in another way altogether — in the way of grace only.
Love with its own compulsion
At the well two tired people meet. One writer sets their contrast side by side.
She too was weary, as her words soon show. She was alone, as He was alone — but that only makes the contrast greater. She was in the sin that leaves a person isolated, shamed and condemned; He was in the unique glory of His Person and of His search... They were at opposite extremes, on opposite paths, and yet they met. It was not by her will or her planning, and she did not know what lay ahead of her. On His side it was the love that carried its own necessity: "He had to pass through Samaria."
Summary
- Must (1). On the surface the word is geography: the straight road from Judea to Galilee ran through Samaria.
- Must (2). Writers see a second necessity too: grace steering Him to one town, one well, one woman. Commentators differ on how far to press this.
- Must, not merit. Samaria was the place Jews avoided. He came there not to look for righteousness, but "in the way of grace only."
- Must, redirected. Jealousy in Judea pushed Him out. Unbelief did not dry up the stream of blessing; it diverted it, and others received it.
- Must, and met. She came for water by her own will; He came by love's own necessity — and their opposite paths crossed at the well outside Sychar.