The Manhood of Jesus Christ.

My wife and I recently went to a couple's retreat to try to improve our marriage.  While there, I learned a very interesting definition of what a man needs to be a man:

1. a Challenge
2. An Adventure
3. A woman to die for.

I was reading this upcoming Sunday's readings, and it occurred to me that the Gospel reading, the encounter with the Samaritan Woman at the Well, is Jesus Christ's moment of becoming a man.

Bear with me.  Let's go through each of the above criteria:

1. A Challenge.  Jesus Christ was both man and God.  Which means the God side was continually, in his brain, having a dialog with the man side.  What a challenge for a first century Jew, raised in a tribal society- to enter Samaritan Territory, and sit at this well.
2. An Adventure.  Once he sat at the well, after the adventure of getting there at all (travel in those days for a poor man like Christ was on foot- slowly) the thirst kicked in.  All human adventure is linked to our needs; and the fulfillment of spiritual and physical need.  No less so did Christ experience this, which is when we come to number 3.
3. A Woman to Die For.  At first, this was just the fulfillment of his adventure- merely asking for water.  But it quickly, thanks to God knowledge seeping into Christ's finite human brain, became much, much more.   For this was no ordinary Samaritan woman.  She was adulterous (after all, we heard before this week how divorce is a form of adultery) having had five husbands and currently living with a boyfriend who is not her husband.  Given the times, much of this sin was likely due to mere attempts to survive after divorce; a woman did not live long on her own in such patriarchal societies.  But meeting this sinful woman, I believe, was the beginning- the beginning of what he knew he needed to do to redeem us all.  For we are all the woman at the well.