We came to a Samaritan city called Sychar

Jesus came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.

A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink’. (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?’ (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink”, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?’ Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.’

Jesus said to her, ‘Go, call your husband, and come back.’ The woman answered him, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said to her,‘You are right in saying, “I have no husband”; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.’ The woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ). ‘When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.’ Jesus said to her,‘I am he, the one who is speaking to you.’

Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, ‘What do you want?’ or, ‘Why are you speaking with her?’ Then the woman left her water-jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, ‘Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?’ They left the city and were on their way to him.

Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, ‘He told me everything I have ever done.’ So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there for two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, ‘It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Saviour of the world.’

(From John 4)

Today we travelled to Samaria and our first stop was Nablus (also known as Neopolis, Sychar and Shechem) Our first stop was a Greek Orthodox Church and the site of Jacob's well where Jesus met the Samaritan woman. They were strict about photos but it is amazing what some people like Steve can manage (or sneak)! Leona lowered the bucket into the well which was very deep - about 70 feet. Winding the bucket of water up was more difficult than I would have thought. The water was clear, fresh and cool and we could drink it. The church itself was only finished relatively recently as it was another church that was destroyed by the Persians in the 7th century and gradually rebuilt from Crusader times. The Orthodox priest there at the moment has written many of the icons himself and he is gifted I would say. There is some sad history too. The Jewish people wanted to take over the site and attempted to on a couple of occasions. Finally a group came down with a rabbi and killed the priest. That was in 1987. No one was charged.

Jacob's well

Icon of the priest being killed

We briefly visited the archaeological site of ancient Shechem/Sychar in the centre of town. The ancient city sits in a valley between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. From there we walked through the city market to the Anglican parish and were hosted there for lunch.

The archaelogical site and Mount Ebal in the background

One of the many posters of the many Palestinians who have died during the occupation

Back to the bus and to Mount Gerizim where there are still Samaritans living. The Samaritans hold only to the first five books of the Bible. When the Northern Kingdom of Israel was captured by the Assyrians in the year 722 BC they effectively became separated from mainline Judaism. By the time of Jesus the Jews hated them, yet in the Gospels all the Samaritans are seen in a good light. We visited their village and we went into the synagogue there and the priest told us about the religion and practises of the Samaritans. They still have animal sacrifice. It used to be once a week but now a lamb is sacrificed by each family only at the Samaritan Passover. We saw the place where this occurs and were given the details. There are two main villages of Samaritans in Israel today and they now number around 750. Quite an increase from 150 about 50 years ago!

The Samaritan priest and a Torah scroll

The site of sacrifice...  the trench in the foreground extends quite a distance - the lambs are slaughtered and the blood runs into the poit where all the entrails are offered as a burnt offering. Some blood is sprinkled on the foreheads of the people and on the doors of their houses like the Passover story. The lambs are then eaten by the families.

Our final site was nearby Sebastia where Herod the Great had built a city. It was here that John the Baptist was beheaded.

The forum where Herod was enchanted by the dance and where he was asked for the Head of John the Baptist on a plate here and now

Where John was beheaded