Sorry this is late - having trouble with my browser.
The first thing I noticed in this reading was that I identified with the woman at the well. She came to the well at noon, the hottest time of the day ... I read somewhere once that it would be odd for someone to go to the well at noon unless they wanted to avoid others. Was she avoiding others because she had been so often married and was now living with someone not her husbanf? I know the feeling of not fitting in, of wanting to avoid others.
Jesus asks her for a drink, offers her a drink, which is somewhat odd, given the social taboo of talking to a woman ... At that moment his disciples returned, and were amazed that he was talking with a woman, but still no one said, "What are you looking for?" or "Why are you talking with her?" ... And she puts him off ... doesn't he know she's not worthy, that it's inappropriate, that it's all too complicated? But he shows her he knows exactly who/what she is, yet still asks, offers. Jesus takes/accepts people as he finds them, snubs no one.
The next thing I noticed was when Jesus tells the woman ... You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. ...This seems to echo what he told Nicodemus earlier ... a new way of being with God is replacing the old way.
I'm intrigued by ... 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor. ... I don't really understand what this means.
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