A Thirsty Woman

The story of the woman at the well fascinates me. There's so much tension and so many secrets that the story seems so...human, so realistic. Her antagonism toward Jesus is thinly veiled at best. She doesn't like his kind and knows his kind don't like her kind and she just can't bring herself to speak civilly to him. Of all the things we learn about this unnamed woman, perhaps the most import lies in the fact that she's thirsty, and her thirst runs much deeper than the need for well water. She needs a long, cold drink from the well of God's grace, and thankfully Jesus remains undeterred by her most valiant attempts to avoid receiving his message of hope. But finally, seeping through the hardened ground that was her life, the spring of living water began to flow and she experienced pure, unfiltered grace.

So what do we learn from this fascinating story? So many of the facets of this story sparkle and beg to be explored. But this Sunday I want to look at two things in particular. One, using Jesus as our example, I want to explore what living out God's grace requires. Two, I want to explore the grace we see in the story, a grace that exposes and comforts all at the same time. What do you think? What strikes you about this story?