John 4: 5-42

1. Jesus leads the woman along a wonderful journey towards a deeper, fuller human life. You can enter the story from the perspective of the woman. Recognize her resistance to growth, her complacency, her evasions, and her eventual acceptance, partial though it was, of Jesus. When have you made a similar journey in your relationship with God? With others? With your own self?

2. The woman is attracted by what Jesus is saying, but for a very human motive: the thought of having water in such a way that she did not have to come and draw it from the well. We too can be attracted to Jesus by very mixed motives, some of them matters of personal interest: belonging, community, security. What have been the motives attracting you to faith, prayer, religion, church? In what way have these been stepping stones to a deeper personal relationship with Jesus? Perhaps we can also see the same movement in the growth of some of our human relationships.

3. You can also enter the story with Jesus, the ideal leader, parent, teacher, or spiritual guide. Notice how he meets the woman where she is, needing her assistance, how he is patient with her, but also challenges her to grow to what she is capable of.