THE SAMARITAN WOMAN

In the book of John 4 from verse 1, Jesus was passing through Samaria on the way to Galilee. He came to a town called Sychar near the well of Jacob where he met the Samaritan woman. Jesus asked her for a drink, the woman realised that she came from a marginalised group of Samaritans, and also noted that Jesus was a Jew. She reminded Jesus that the Jews have got no dealings with Samaritans
Jesus ignored her background and the differences between the Jews and the Samaritans. He started teaching her about the Living Waters and a true worship through her questions.

SAMARITANS 

Origins
The samaritans came as a result of intermarriages between the Jews left in Samaria and people from Cuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim whom the King  of Assyria brought from Babylon to settle in that area.(2Kings17v24). Samaria become empty when king of Assyria took its citizens to captive. He then brought other tribes to occupy the city and these foreigners intermarried with the Jews who we were not taken into captivity.

Samaritans and the native Jews
The Jews who never mixed with these foreigners and the ones who returned from Babylon did not accept the Samaritans as pure Jews and they had many differences. Samaritans were idol worshippers. The foreigners who came from Babylon did not only intermarry with the locals but they also brought with them their idols. The idolatry practice by the Samaritans was not pleasing to God and they believed they had lion attacks as a punishment. The king of Assyria sent them a priest (2Kings17v26-28) from the Jewish captives to teach them the laws of God. The samaritans retained their idol worship and only accepted five books of Moses. They then formed a religion comprising of Judaism and idolatry.
There were also tensions between these two types of Jews during the rebuilding of the temple. Therefore they differed in the places of worship. The pure Jews believed the place of worship was Jerusalem whilst the Samaritans believed it was Mount Gerizim.

LIVING WATERS 
Jesus started teaching the Samaritan woman about the Living Waters. He told her to realise the gift of God in front of her who can give her the living waters . The woman thought this was the same water as the one drawn from the Jacob's well, she asked if Jesus was greater than Jacob who provided that Well to her ancestors. Jesus did not straight away answer her question of greatness but he went on to describe the type of water he was offering, the type of water which when one drinks,he will never become thirsty again. This time the woman realised that this was not an ordinary water so she became interested with this water.
In accordance to John 7v38, this Living waters is the holy spirit which will be poured out to the believers.

when she showed an interest to the Living Waters, Jesus asked her to bring her husband, we may come up with different views on why this request came from Jesus. It is also noted that when Jesus told her that he knew about her previous husbands and the current one who was not her husband, she confessed that Jesus was a prophet and she went ahead to ask a more advanced question about the place of worship.
Among many of the duties of a prophet was to teach people about the laws of God, this woman now realised that she had meet a prophet and she wanted to learn more from him.

WORSHIP 

Jews
The Jews believed Jerusalem to be a place of worship because Solomon built a temple in Jerusalem. He however joined idol worship when he married many foreign wives, he joined them in their places of worship until he lost his Kingdom. (1 Kings 1:1-11).
Jerusalem is also believed to be a traditional place of worship by the Jews because it is where Abraham made an alter to sacrifice his son Isaac, Mount Moriah(2 chronicles v3:1)

Samaritans 
The samaritans as already mentioned accepted only the five books of Moses. They chose Mount Gerizim as their place of worship. This was in accordance to Deutronomy 11v29.

Jesus entrusted this Samaritan woman with the vital information about the true worship. He told her that the true worship was one done in spirit and truth.
The place of worship does not matter anymore and this was also prophesied in Malachi 1v11"My name will be great among all nations,from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place  incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among nations," says the Lord Almighty. 

We learn from the story of the Samaritan woman that Jesus' mission was for the salvation to reach Judea, Samaria and the other parts of the world. (Acts 1v8)

The story also teaches us that God can use anyone available to preach the gospel more especially these days where he said that the labourers are few.
He used the Samaritan woman who was despised because of her Origins and her marriage history. She took the message across and many people came to hear for themselves from Jesus.

We also learn that we can worship God anywhere including our bedrooms. We are no longer required to travel to any chosen place for our prayers to be heard. However we cannot stop gathering together to fellowship with other believers.