One reason the Gospel of John is so challenging for me is that it seems almost too crowded. Like an over-furnished parlor, everything in it is interesting, that you have to spend hours in it to discover it all.

Today's reading from John is typical of what I mean. Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. Tired from a day's journey, Jesus asks for a drink. She says, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria," since Jews never deal with Samaritans?

The main point of this rather lengthy conversation seems to be Jesus can give "living water." Whoever drinks this living water will never again thirst, but will have a "spring of water gushing up to eternal life." And, therefore, Jesus is revealed again in the Gospel of John as the Son of God, the Savior of the world.

But just glance at all the other stuff in this story:

There is what we call today the "woman's issue." In those days men did not deal with women, indeed rarely spoke even to their own wives in public.

And there is the "racial problem." That's what we call it today. In those days it was called the "Samaritan problem."

And there is the apparent supernatural, psychic knowledge. Jesus made people know they were known when they were in his presence. Here was a woman with quite a past; five husbands, and the man with whom she was living, as Jesus said, was not even her husband. She marveled at Jesus' power.

And there, stuffed into this story is the debate about the only true place to worship God. Should it be at the Jerusalem temple or at the mountain shrine in Samaria?

And then there is that mysterious food that sustained Jesus. "My food," he said, "is to do the will of him who sent me."

And then the reference to the fields "ripe for harvesting." God's work with people is not to be postponed. The fields are ready now!

>And there is in this story the conversion of many Samaritans. Their belief happened first on the word of the woman, and then on their personal experience after Jesus had stayed with them for two days.

Do you see what I mean? That story is a crowded room! What's a preacher to do?

We know that St. John's Gospel is not a biography of Jesus. It is a meditative reflection on the meaning of Jesus' life and on the Christian Church's life in those early days when Jesus was no longer physically present.

What is there in that crowded room of scripture that is a reflection on the meaning of life for us here, now, today?

Let me offer a general observation about the Gospel of John. John uses ordinary events of every-day life to describe how people meet God and how their lives are changed by that meeting. There are no voices from heaven in the Gospel of John. There are no angels. There are no mysterious mystical experiences like the transfiguration. Instead, Jesus uses every-day stuff, common events to help people meet God.

Like a wedding party at Cava. Did you ever meet God at a crowded wedding reception? Why not? Was God not present, or were you just not paying attention?

Or like a late-night conversation with a middle-aged man named Nicodemus about the meaning of life. When the phone rings at night, or when a friend says, "Can I talk to you a minute?" Does it occur to you that you might be about to meet God or to help someone else meet God? Why not? Is God not present, or are you just not paying attention?

Or like being around someone with a physical handicap or an illness, as Jesus frequently was. Have you ever met God in a new way in a hospital room or a nursing home or in a wheelchair? If not, why not? Is God not present, or are you just not paying attention?

Or like the death of a close friend, which Lazarus was to Jesus. Have you ever rediscovered God at a funeral? If not, why not? Is God present?

Or like today's story, that chance meeting between a tough lady and a weary thirsty Jesus. Every day stuff. Common experiences. Routine events.

I like that about the Gospel of John. Most of my life is every day stuff. So if Jesus can re-introduce me to God or use me to re-introduce someone else to God and re-awaken my faith during some every day circumstance, I like that.

Maybe a good question to ask then is this: Are there some every day things in my life and in your life that make connections with the every day things in this story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well?

For instance, are you ever thirsty for more than you get in bottles or cans or fountains? Does some of that "living water" Jesus talked about ever sound appealing? Could there really be some refreshment from God that is like a "spring of water gushing up to eternal life?" Are there any connections there with your life?

Another for instance. Do you sometimes experience unfairness or condescension because you are a woman? Are you listened to politely at the office and then ignored? Are you expected to be a person you did not truly choose to be? Does even your church sometimes echo the sentiments of the disciples who came back from the convenience store and wondered, "Why is Jesus speaking with a woman?" They were more astonished that Jesus was breaking the sex barrier than that he was breaking racial/Samaritan barrier. Are there any connections there with your life? If so, take heart! The one revealed to be the Word of the living God treats you not just politely but takes you externally seriously.

Another for instance. This Samaritan woman was indeed a person with a past. She had been married five times and now was living with a sixth man she was not married to.

Have you ever failed at so many relationships that you think you are cursed? The Samaritan woman discovered that Jesus knew all about her and still valued her. I would have to discover that Jesus knows all about me, not just my spiritual thirst but the most personal and intimate matters of my living and working and loving. Are there any connections for you? Is there anything in your past that is so shameful that you think it prevents God from accepting you? If so, talk to the Samaritan woman and ask how Jesus treated her.

One more for instance. The woman indeed was a Samaritan. Jesus indeed was a Jew. Hundreds of years of separation and prejudice, hundreds of years of disagreeing about God and where and how to worship God. Hundreds of years of being enemies were being challenged in that conversation at the well. God was reaching out, building a bridge, opening a door, breathing some hope - and all in one "chance" conversation between Jesus and a Samaritan.

Are there any connections there with life today? Might it be time for you and me to listen afresh for God in a new conversation between ourselves and those who are racially different from us? The most important reason for different races to talk to each other is that God is present when we talk.

A couple of times I have referred to the meeting between Jesus and the Samaritan woman as a "chance" meeting. Maybe I was wrong. If the Gospel of John is onto the truth, maybe every time we go to the well for whatever it is we think we are thirsty for, the Christ himself is waiting there to offer us living water.

The season of lent might be the best time to learn to look for him at all the watering places we go to in a day. Are those ordinary, every day circumstances of our living?

AMEN