The woman at the well

I really rather like the contrast in characters which John gives us in Chapters 3 and 4. In chapter 3 Nicodemus is creeping around at night, trying not to be seen whilst he is finding out more about Jesus. On the other hand we meet the woman at the well in the middle of the day, going openly about her business. She is not a person of great honour in the community and she is a Samaritan who the Jews would look down on any way....oh and she is a woman. So John takes us from the way that respectable people behave - sneaking around at night, to the way someone on the fringes behaves - getting on with their life openly.
This odd inversion of reality should probably remind us of some of the upside-downess for which Luke's Gospel is so famous - where the weak and poor and women suddenly have a door opened to them in no uncertain terms. John seems to be doing the same in a more subtle way.
The woman, in contrast to Nicodemus, is argumentative - she wants to understand what Jesus means, she wants to test what he is saying. This robust line is not condemned by John but he does note that by being allowed to ask the questions she finds herself convinced of who Jesus is and goes off to tell those who live around her that she has found the saviour of the world.
This story has layers of meaning but, perhaps, let us stick to the more obvious ones as they relate to our discipleship. First of all Jesus meets the woman where she is, in her everyday life - his interaction with her makes the ordinary extraordinary.
Secondly she is allowed to ask her questions, she is allowed to push back until she understands.
Thirdly she finds herself caught up in the story and runs to tell other people the good news.
Jesus did not make complicated demands of her, he did not ask her to come to a strange place - he could talk to her because he already knew where she was, he already knew her.
When we think about growing the church we often start with the premise that people should come to Church and sit down and listen and that is where they will find faith. In fact, the Gospels time and time again report that Jesus goes to people, meets them where they are, knows who they are and changes lives. Developing faith is about real life and real engagement, it is about the every day but it is also about allowing space for the difficult questions and the challenges which that real life presents to all of us.
We have the challenge of institution - people see God and Church as one and the same. Somehow the love of God has too often been tainted by memories of cold stone buildings and being told to be quiet. But Jesus does not tell the woman to be quiet, he listens to her,he offers love and acceptance in spite of who she has been......and that sort of message is not one we should give up on easily.