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The Lord be with you.

A reading from the Holy Gospel has written to us by John.

This is one of the longer Gospels of the Church here on this third Sunday of Lent.

So I'm going to ask you to sit and be much more comfortable.

Because instead of reading at first and then commenting, I'll try to insert my comments right in the reading.

Let me say beforehand that the entire passage that's usually called the woman at the well

all builds up to the final verse. He is the Savior of the world. And what we're going to see in this really

brilliantly put together theological statement, we have Jesus teaching all the ways that religion

and the search for God limits itself and one prejudice after another is going to be called into question.

He's moving us toward the universalization of the search for God.

And yet the human temptation is always to pull it into our group, our tribe, our

denomination, our nationality, everybody does it. but John 4 tells us not to do that. So let's start.

Jesus came to a town of Samaria called Seacock. Now, Samaria is right in the middle of Israel and they so hate one another Jews and Samaritans that the Jews normally will not walk through.

And in fact Jesus says in Matthew's gospel do not even visit Samaritan towns.

He reveals his cultural bias at that point, but here in

John's Gospel that's where he goes himself. Jacob's well was there. I was able to visit that well many years ago.

It's one of the few places where you know the exact spot. Wells don't move. So, Jacob's well can still be visited and you know Jesus

stood right there. Jesus tired from the journey, sat down there at the well.

It was about noon.

So it sounds like a very concrete remembrance.

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