Before we get into the story here in John 4 and the conversation that you just heard Jesus with

the Samaritan woman, I just wanted you to see something unusual and beautiful here about Jesus.

In the last chapter, chapter 3, Jesus is ministering to a curious Pharisee, a teacher of the law, a ruler of the Jews, so he calls him, untouchable.

This is a guy from the highest, most intellectual, most religious stratosphere of society.

And yet Jesus reaches out to him, to invite him in, to answer his questions, to challenge his thinking, and to draw him into the kingdom.

And then here, just a few verses later, he's stopping to minister to a sexually promiscuous,

socially alienated Samaritan woman.

Untouchable.

And yet Jesus reaches out to her, engages her questions, and invites her to drink from his fountain of living water.

These two people couldn't be more different.

He's a Jew, a leader in society, steeped in scripture, rigorously observing the law.

He's a man, and he comes at night.

And we know his name, Nicodemus. She is a Samaritan and an outcast even in Samaria,

in and out of relationships with men, far less familiar with God's law. She's a woman,

and they meet in broad, scorching daylight.

And we don't even get her name.

These two people couldn't be more different, and I believe that's utterly intentional.

So what do I take from it? What do you take from it? Here's what I take from it.

It doesn't matter who you are this morning. It doesn't matter. Jesus has something to say to you

it doesn't matter if you're a politician

or a prostitute

a priest

...