“… his disciples… were surprised … But no one asked, …” 4:27 NIV

It is not a surprise that life is full of surprises. However, since Christ knows everything that can be known, we are sometimes surprised that following Him leads to surprises. His disciples were surprised when they returned and found Jesus speaking with the Samaritan woman. They did not expect to find their Rabbi associating with someone they considered unclean, but even with this reality they did not question him. John makes a point of telling us that none of them asked Jesus why He was doing the unexpected.

John doesn’t tell us why they didn’t ask, which leaves us to wonder at their motivations. Perhaps they did not ask because they cared enough about others that they did not want to embarrass or hurt the feelings of the Samaritan woman. Even though they considered her unclean, they may have cared enough not to want to make a hurtful point of that reality.

Perhaps they did not ask because they did not want to know the answer. Even after Jesus died and was resurrected, it took a vision for Peter to accept that Gentiles were not viewed as unclean by God (Acts 10). They may not have been ready to accept that God was going to require them to love Samaritans just as God loves them. The Jews that later crucified Jesus returned time and again in their accusations against Him to the point that He associated and ate with publicans and sinners. While following Jesus, all of His disciples would leave this point of view behind and would come to accept that all people, no matter what their race, religion, or politics were loved by God. No matter why, they did not ask, and it was good that they didn’t.

When God surprises us, we can take our questions to Jesus and our fellow Christians in private. God will surprise us; if He doesn’t, we are not following Him closely enough.