Living in the Image of God M07S05

An interaction between Jesus and a Samaritan woman illustrates how to hold a sustained, engaging, and fruitful conversation even with a person you are meeting for the first time. The bible account (John 4:1–26) starts with the two strangers meeting by Jacob’s well. Jesus was sitting by the well to rest from a tiring journey. The woman came to fetch water. We discuss their interaction to illustrate several points about holding a conversation toward understanding the art and practice of conversation.

We learn the following based on the conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman.

• Initiate a conversation with a simple subject likely to be familiar to either party.
• The other party (receiving party) has to respond to keep the conversation alive. A conversation works like a tennis game. Having received the ball in your court, you have to play it back to the other court to continue the game.
• Each response should address the previous contribution and add related information, generally increasing in complexity as the conversation proceeds.
• Be responsive and respectful, even if you have to steer the conversation away from a subject.
• However, be open to every subject in order to expand the conversation.