More than that the Pharisees had become aware that Jesus’ disciples were also baptizing, perhaps in greater number than had John the Baptizer. Jesus decides that it is a good time to leave Judea and head back to Galilee.
There was more one way back to Galilee, but the shortest way was through Samaria, lying between Judea and Galilee. However, Samaria was populated by a Jewish sect, known as Samaritans, with whom non-Samaritan Jews had significant differences. Not all Samaritans could trace their roots back to Abraham, as could non-Samaritan Jews. Also, Samaritans believed that the appropriate place of worship was not the Jerusalem Temple but in a different location, at Mt. Gerizim. The Jews had destroyed the Samaritan shrine there about 130 years before Jesus was born. Read more…