As we read Acts 8:5-8,14-17, we may recall that in other Biblical stories, the Samaritans, although disliked by the Jewish people, were given as examples. Jesus told of the Good Samaritan, who cared for the injured man when others walked on by. And it was a Samaritan woman who accepted him as the Messiah and ran to tell the others, who then came to the well to greet him. And, in today’s story, the Samaritans accepted the words of Phillip.
Who, or what group of people might we turn away from, due to historic or cultural antagonisms? These stories may well suggest our error in doing so.