The encounters three women had with Jesus in the Gospel of John

Elaine Storkey unpacks the encounters three women had with Jesus in the Gospel of John, highlighting their vital roles in revealing who Jesus was to those around them

Study passages: John 4; 11; 20

Have you ever found it difficult to convince someone of who you are? It’s happened to me a few times when I’ve been travelling to give lectures and people have come to meet me at foreign airports. Once, in Cairo, after a long flight, I was relieved to see a man standing at arrivals with a sign bearing my name: ‘Dr Storkey’. I walked over to him immediately with my luggage, but he frowned and shook his head. It soon became clear that he was expecting a man. After quite a long time, and the persistent involvement of an airport official, he finally accepted, with some annoyance, that I was indeed the person he was waiting for. Even with my passport, it hadn’t been easy to challenge his assumptions and persuade him of my identity.