An Excerpt from Glen Argan’s Jesus Christ: The Heart of Vatican II

The Light of the World

The dialogue between Jesus and the Samaritan woman by Jacob’s well is one of the longest conversations in the Gospels. The woman slowly comes to understand what Jesus means by “living water,” and so she wonders whether he may be the Messiah.

When she returns to her city, she tells the people, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done.” If indeed Jesus did describe everything in the woman’s life, the conversation must surely have lasted much longer than what’s recorded in John’s Gospel. Most of what Jesus told her appears to be missing. Read more