That poor country,as we have told you before,enjoyed (or rather failed to enjoy)a very unfortunate and quite undeserved reputation as a hotbed of godless-ness.
Centuries before it had been a part of the old kingdom of Israel.After the fall of that country,the inhabitants had been driven away to Assyria and their deserted farms had been handed over to settlers from Mesopotamia and from Asia Minor.Together with the few remaining Jews,these immigrants had formed a new race which was known as the Samaritans.
In the eyes of the true Jews,a man who dwelled within this land was something too despicable for words.Those terrible expressions which we so unthinkingly and insultingly bestow upon the strangers within our gate—“wop”and “kike”and “hunky”—are no more offensive than “Samaritan”when used by a hardened Pharisee to describe a citizen from Shechem or Shiloh.
As a result,whenever a Jew was obliged to travel to Damascus or to Caesarea Philippi,he passed through Samaria as fast as his donkey could carry him and associated no more with the natives than was absolutely necessary.
The friends of Jesus,good conservative followers of the strict Mosaic laws,fully shared the common prejudice against the “dirty Samaritans.”
They had to learn their lesson.
Not only did Jesus tarry by the way,but he actually spoke in a very friendly fashion to several Samaritans,and once he even sat down by the side of a well to explain his ideas to a woman who belonged to the despised race.
But when the disciples came near and listened to the conversation,they discovered that the words of their teacher were better understood by this “Samaritan”than they had been by those excellent Judaeans who prided themselves so arrogantly upon their piety and their zeal for the law.
This was the first time that they were taught the principle of a common brotherhood.It was also the beginning of Jesus’career as the prophet of a new faith.
The methods which he used were quite unusual.
Sometimes he told his disciples stories.
But he rarely preached to them.A word and a hint were enough to give meaning to his hidden thoughts.
For in this,as in all other matters,Jesus was a born teacher.And because he was a great teacher,he understood the heart of man and he was able to help many who lacked the strength to help themselves.
Ever since the beginning of time there have been people who were able to exercise great influence upon those who are stricken with certain forms of illness.They could not heal broken bones and they were not able to stop an epidemic by a nod of the head.But as all the world now knows,imagination has a great deal to do with sickness.If we think that we have a pain,we actually feel that pain.If some one can only convince us that we were wrong in our amateur diagnosis,the pain will disappear immediately.
This gift has often been bestowed upon simple and kindly people who can gain the confidence of their patients and who can cure them although they are utterly ignorant of the principles of medicine.