Samaritans

The Samaritans are a population of Israelite descent, living in the region of Samaria.

Origins

The Samaritans claim descent from the Northern Israelite tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh (two sons of Joseph) as well as from the Levites and some Benjaminites. According to Jewish sources, although worshipers of the same God, the Samaritans are a mixed population, as they mingled with foreign settlers when the Northern Kingdom was occupied by the Assyrians.

Some tension divided the Jews from the Samritans in post-exilic times. The major controversy was about the place of worship, since according to the Samaritans Mt Gerizim (not Jerusalem) is the place designated by God for sacrifices.

Jesus and the Samaritans

There are no references to the Samaritans in the earlier Christian tradition. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus specifically instructs the Twelve not to go to Samaria: "Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans" (Mt 10:5-6).

In Luke instead there are some positive references to the Samaritans. In Lk 17:11-19, it is said that of the "ten lepers" Jesus healed "on the way to Jerusalem," only one "turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan." Jesus openly praised the faith of "this foreigner." In the parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:25-37), a Samaritan is praised for his good deeds, as the ideal model of a person who loves his neighbors. In both occurrences, the assumption is that the Samaritan are foreigners, who belong to a separate religious group, even thought they are not assimilated to the Gentiles.

Apart form these occasional references, there is no evidence of a mission of Jesus in Samaria. According to the Acts of Apostles, some Samaritans joined the Jesus movement only after the death of Jesus. It was Philip the Evangelist who first went to Samaria and preached to the Samaritans and proclaimed the Messiah to them (Acts 8:5), then followed by Peter and John (8:14).

The Gospel of John is the only to relate an encounter between a Samaritan woman and Jesus in which she says that the mountain was the center of their worship. She poses the question to Jesus when she realizes that he is the Messiah. Jesus affirms the Jewish position, saying "You (that is, the Samaritans) worship what you do not know." The episode had strong theological implications, but hardly is an historical event.