The story of the woman at the well is an example of Jesus not only breaking cultural and religious mores to engage all kinds of people, but is an example of how Jesus tries to draw us from our often narrowly, temporal focus to the wider focus of the eternal. The eternal has the power to help re-define the narrowly focused areas of life that oppress, divide and exclude. The eternal also provides us with a hope that cannot be diminished no matter what life’s circumstances may be.