<p>4:27 <i>And upon this scene came his disciples, and they marvelled that he was speaking with a woman. Yet no one said: What are you seeking? Or, Why do you speak with her?</i>-<i>Seek</i> for response in people. As the disciples came upon the Lord talking to the woman by the well, it looked as if He were <i>seeking</i> something (Jn. 4:27). But they didn&rsquo;t ask what- for it was obvious. His body language reflected how He was <i>seeking</i> her salvation. He seeks the lost until He finds them, even now (Mt. 18:12; Lk. 15:8); as He looked up into the branches of the sycamore tree seeking Zacchaeus, He was epitomising how He came (and comes) to seek and save <i>all</i> the lost (Lk. 19:5,10). Our preaching to others isn&rsquo;t a cold-hearted witness, or a theological debate; it is a <i>seeking</i> of glory to the Father; we exhort one another, <i>considering</i> how we may provoke to love (Heb. 10:24).</p><p>The Rabbis taught that a man should not salute a woman in a public place. For Jesus to talk to the Samaritan woman at the well (Jn.4) was therefore an indication of his studied disregard of local tradition concerning women when it clashed with spiritual principles. The incident was &ldquo;a strange innovation on Rabbinic custom and dignity&rdquo;. The Talmud taught: &ldquo;Six things are a disgrace to a disciple of the wise: He should not&hellip;converse with a woman in the street&rdquo; (Babylonian Talmud: Berakoth &ldquo;Benedictions&rdquo; 43b). A woman could only be alone with two men, never with one, and this was within a town; outside a town, she had to be in the presence of three men (Babylonian Talmud: Kiddushin &ldquo;Betrothals&rdquo; 81a). But the Lord spoke to her alone. A woman could even be divorced for speaking to a man. &ldquo;What conduct transgresses Jewish custom? If she&hellip;speaks with any man&rdquo; (Mishnah: Ketuboth &ldquo;Marriage Deeds&rdquo; 7:6). There can be no doubt that the Lord didn&rsquo;t accept the prevailing view of women. The Lord's conversations with Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman are recorded in an intentional parallel in John 3 and 4. The man doesn't get it, he fails to perceive the double entendre in the Lord's words, and struggles with their deeper meaning. The Samaritan woman gets it straight away, and even responds to the Lord with the same kind of language.</p>