On the return home, Jesus took the direct road rather than the normal route. In fact, John tells us that they “had to go through Samaria.” Why? The common practice was to go around Samaria. There was so much disdain for the Samaritans that religious Jews wouldn’t set foot on Samaritan soil. Thus, the Pharisees traveled around the hated country when going from Galilee to Judea. Therefore, when John says that going through Samaria was necessary, it wasn’t because it was unavoidable.

Why then was it necessary? Some would say it was God’s plan to reach the Samaritan woman and those of the village of Sychar, but that may have been a byproduct. More likely, it was necessary to avoid arrest on the main route to Galilee. Humanly speaking, it was a tactical retreat by Jesus. Divinely speaking, it was not yet time for his arrest.

A few days later, they apparently arrived back in Nazareth, or at least in Galilee. His fame from what he did at Passover in Judea beat him home because of the report of others who had been there. Sadly, it would but a few days until his home-town would reject him and bring him to say, “A prophet has no honor in his own country.