I don’t know much about her—not even why she happened to be at the well in the heat of the day. She wasn’t the type to get chummy or share a lot about her life. What I do see in John’s recall of the dialog between Jesus and this woman is her conversational skills. My gosh, the woman asked fabulous questions!
Allow me to paraphrase what John has recorded. She started with the obvious, “your people hate my people, why are you talking to me?” Notice what she did there? I’m pretty sure Jesus was aware of the history. Yet she got Him to continue the conversation and talk about living water. She keeps the questions coming, “All right sir, let’s talk about that, you are pretty unequipped to draw water from this well, so where are you going to get the living water you mention?” Was she daring Him to continue? I really wonder if the next part was push-back. It could sound that way. “Are you greater than our father Jacob?” Regardless of how she meant it, she was hooked now and his next mention of springs of eternal life caused her to ask where she might find that life. And all her defenses are down as she admits that she doesn’t have a husband. When Jesus confirms her marital details, she’s completely done in, she has this great man in front of her and she decides she’s going to ask the pressing spiritual questions of her day, like “where should I go to worship?” And when Jesus mentions spirit and truth, her own confession of faith spills out. “I know a Messiah is coming AND He will explain everything.” I have no idea if Jesus intended to speak with this woman about eternal life when he asked her for a drink. I’d like to think that the quality of her questions and the obvious engagement with His answers prompted Him to reveal Himself to her. And that’s something I would like to do a little better this year, engage in conversations with Jesus. Maybe ask better questions and listen pretty intently to His answers. JB
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AuthorLoving words written to increase hope. Archives
May 2020
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