We have to use our imagination to picture this scene. Jesus was tired after his journey. He sat down by the well, thirsty, hungry, worn out. He was so thirsty that he skirted all social protocol and asked a Samaritan woman to give him a drink – Jewish men at that time just didn’t do that kind of thing. But Jesus’ thirst went much deeper. He was really thirsting to save her soul. But his tiredness doesn’t hold back his love for a lost sheep that crosses his path. The Samaritan woman came to the well at noon, the hottest hour of the hot, middle eastern day. The other women of the village would have come in the cooler hours of early morning and evening. This one was a social outcast, avoiding contact with her peers. Jesus notices this, seeing in her eyes the anxiety that comes from an unstable life, but he also sees a spark of sincerity – her rocky path through life had worn down any façade of selfrighteousness or self-delusion. Her wounded and suffering heart provides an opportunity for grace, and our Lord, forgetting about his own suffering, seizes it, changing her life forever. Jesus became one of us on purpose. He knew that because of original sin, we could no longer raise ourselves up to friendship with God, so he lowered himself down to our level instead. And this is exactly what he continues to do, every day, through the Church, the extension in time of his Incarnation. The Samaritan woman was so overcome with joy at encountering Christ, so eager to spread the news, that she left behind her empty water jar, the very reason she came to the well in the first place! Christ wants to make a real difference in our lives, to redeem us, to give us a fresh start.