Water flows from a rock. God’s love is poured, like water, into our hearts. God comes to us as living water in the form of a stranger. Clearly we are expected to see this common theme running (flowing?) through all the lessons for this week. But many themes are at work in these passages. All of them speak of God’s life flowing through us when we are beyond our comfort zones — when we break with conventional behavior; when we speak with strangers; when we endure suffering; even when we question and quarrel with God.

The conversations in John 4:5-42 transgress all sorts of boundaries, as Holly Hearon is quick to point out. Jesus and the woman transgress the boundary between Jews and Samaritans – between social restraints on the interaction between men and women (note the disciples’ surprise that Jesus is talking with a woman in verse 27). The woman proves a worthy partner in theological dialogue with Jesus.

Helene Russell imagines the woman in contemporary terms wearing tight jeans, a blouse that reveals too much, hair ratted up, chewing and popping her gum or smoking a cigarette. We actually do not know that much of her private life. She may perceive herself as “limited,” in several ways, as Michael Miller suggests. There are a variety of plausible guesses about the meaning of her several relationships. But this conversation violates all sorts of “proper” behavior. Jesus’ own behavior must make the woman wonder about ulterior motives. But Charles Allen notes that, as Jesus begins to speak of living water, the conversation itself begins to “flow” and both Jesus and the woman find themselves “at home” with each other in a way that astonishes those who know them.

The woman, in effect, takes on the role of an apostle and returns to her own people proclaiming her delight and astonishment at having been at home with one who knew everything about her. Her people likewise find themselves at home with this stranger and realize that they have met, not just a stranger, but the savior of the world – of  Jews, Samaritans, and everybody else. Nobody is beyond God’s comfort zone.

	What are we looking for when we start talking with perfect strangers? Have you ever noticed such a conversation moving from the everyday to a much deeper interaction? Could this be God speaking to and through both of you?

According to Paul in Romans 5:1-11 when God’s love flows through our hearts, even our sufferings are transfigured. Our sufferings are not simply obstacles to sharing God’s glory, says Michael Miller. Instead they are another way of sharing it. Charles Allen sees a direct connection between our suffering and God’s self-giving love even for God’s enemies. We can be opened to grow in compassion.

Holly Hearon is struck by the sequence Paul outlines: suffering — endurance — character — hope. We don’t think much about character development except perhaps in films, or perhaps when we assume a character (as in drag or cross-dressing). But Paul is referring to character that has been tried or tested. We can laugh at “characters” lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender  people may put on, but in a sense this character is a response to the trials we are subjected to by society.

	When mutual, self-giving love flows in your heart, where does it come from? If friends and family have rejected you, what keeps you going? How has your pain opened you compassion for others’ pain?