Both in the Fourth Gospel and in the Synoptics, the sheer flexibility of Jesus leaps from the pages as he deals with a wide array of different people and their varied needs. No less startling (though more often ignored) is the manner in which Jesus commonly drives to the individual's greatest sin, hopelessness, guilt, despair, need. This should not be surprising; if he is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, inevitably he will deal with sin in those who express some interest in knowing and following him.
So says Don Carson commenting on John 4:16 as Jesus talks to the Samaritan woman at the well. Are we sometimes more comfortable discussing other topics or over-explaining that we fail to zone in on our greatest need, sin?
The woman at the well needed her sins dealt with more than the drink of water. Yet Jesus doesn't explain the water welling up to eternal life, he exposes her greatest thirst.
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