This week’s gospel reading brings us face to face with Jesus in the most unexpected setting. What a powerful reading for International Women’s Day.

This passage reminds us that God’s kingdom lifts up voices that others may dismiss. It reminds us that women are not on the edges of the Gospel story, but often right at the centre of it, receiving, proclaiming, leading, and bearing witness to Christ.

For us today, this is both comfort and calling. It is comfort for any woman who has felt overlooked, judged, exhausted, or unheard. Jesus still meets people wherever they are in life. It is also a calling to the church and to our wider community, to be people who honour dignity, listen deeply, make room for all voices long silenced, and work for a world shaped more by justice, respect, and compassion.

On International Women’s Day, we give thanks for the faith, wisdom, leadership, courage, and care of women in our homes, church, workplaces, and communities. And we pray for those women and girls, in Australia and around the world, who still face violence daily, inequality, and exclusion.

The Samaritan woman at the well reminds us that one encounter with Jesus can change a life, and one life changed by Jesus can bless a whole community. May we receive the living water of Christ again, and may we become people who share it generously.

Blessings — Rev. Carmel Sheraton