The Gospel passage for this Sunday sees Jesus asking a Samaritan woman to give him some water from a nearby well (John 4:5-42). The encounter is startling because he is breaking two social conventions: a Jew would not be found dead speaking to a Samaritan and it was unheard of for a Rabbi to start a conversation with a random woman. Jesus is not only happy to do both but also to tease the woman in what he says. He tells her that if she knew who he actually was she would ask for a lot more from him than he had of her; she would want the living water that he had to offer rather than the water from the well that she had given him. A playful Jesus, prepared to tease people, breaks any stereotypes we may have of him as a po-faced Messiah. Play is frequently overlooked as an irrelevant part of people's social worlds (Malbon 1999:11). It is seen as an optional extra rather than an integral part of how we live our lives. Animals play to practise the skills they will need later on in life. Children play in order to experiment with different ways of being in their world. Adults play to exercise their imagination. If we have forgotten how to do so then we need to start practising.

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