assurance that the Samaritan woman had the joy of knowing that whether or not she changed anything about her life Jesus was still going to love her and forgive her anyway.

You're listening to preaching Christ.

Preaching Christ is a sermon program composed of various pastors worldwide who are dedicated

to preaching Christ and him crucified for the forgiveness of our sins.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

So here's the scene. Jesus is sitting by the well and it's the hottest time of the day

a Samaritan woman comes to the well.

The woman came at high noon to fill up a great big jar with

water, heave that big old thing onto her shoulders and carry it back to the village.

Now she could have chosen any time of the day but she chooses she chooses the hottest hour to undertake hard physical labor.

Why?

She's making a great effort to avoid any contact with anyone else. She has a deep shame that won't go away. She can't even look her

neighbors in the eye and if she does she'll be met with disapproval and disgust.

She hates all of the nicknames that people keep coming up with.

So she has decided that heat, the great heat of the day was more bearable than the jokes that she had to put up with.

Now we have two people in the story, a man and a woman and you know

how the Middle East is today but even before Sharia laws and burkas, men and women in this part

of the world did not speak to each other unless some kind of a relationship had already

been established.

And not only that, this woman was a half-breed Samaritan and Jesus was a Jew.

Like Palestinians and Israelis, these people hated each other. So she assumed that this stranger would leave her alone. No such luck. Jesus will talk to anyone and Jesus asks her for water.

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