Exodus 17: 3-7
Rom 5: 1-2; 5-8
John 4: 5-42
What do you want most out of life? What would bring you the greatest happiness and fulfillment? If life could be less burdensome right now what would need to happen for you? I think most of us could quickly list a host of things: financial security, a nicer home in which to live, good health, a job, more peaceful relationship in marriage, a wonderful Bishop (we have one!), for us priests a great parish, adult children who attend Church more regularly or at all, and on the list would go. In a sense we “thirst” for much.
On this Third Sunday of Lent we hear of two thirsty people who engage in a conversation that quickly becomes more than small talk: Jesus and a nameless woman who comes to draw water from Jacob's well. This is the first in three Gospel passages that we have the option to hear every year on these Sunday’s during Lent. Next week water again appears. A blind man goes to wash in a pool at Jesus’ request and he can see. His darkness is taken away and he sees with new light. The fifth Sunday offers a marvelous moment in the life of Martha and Mary takes place when Jesus raises their brother Lazarus from the dead. These are stories of faith in Christ that are so fundamental to our Christian life. This Sunday is rich with meaning of Baptism, Eucharist and Faith.
The first reading from the Book of Exodus presents an irritable people in the desert with Moses: “Why did you ever make us leave Egypt? Was it just to have us die here of thirst with our children and our livestock?” (Ex 17: 3-4). I can imagine Moses slapped his forehead and said “Why me?” The people were so insistent that he even feared for his life!
He asks God what to do and God answers not with condemnation but with relief. Moses strikes a rock at God’s command and water gushes forth for the people. Although they complain, God still provides. Life giving water appears to sustain them (Baptism). In another passage God feeds them with manna from the skies (Eucharist). He forms them in the desert and calls them to put faith in him. What a God we have! God gives them more – his everlasting love and faithfulness; he saves them and offers Moses a way out.
In our Gospel, what does the woman thirst for? First, it is Jesus who asks the woman for a drink; a drink she rightly assumes will come from the well she stands before. But then, Jesus offers: “If you knew the gift of God . . . you would have asked him and he would have given you living water . . .” (Jn 4:10). Is this a further request or a sacramental encounter with Christ?
Now a process of going deeper begins. The woman sees that Jesus has more to offer than physical water. Her “thirst” pushes her further: “. . . where can you get this living water?” (Jn 4: 11). Jesus engages her further: “. . . you have had five husbands and the one you live with now is not your husband.” (Jn 4: 16). She wonders, “How would he know that? He must be a prophet.” Her whole life, good, bad and ugly, is laid out before her but she does not run or turn with embarrassment and Jesus does not condemn but longs for her conversion. She is impressed and wants to know who this man is.
Jesus speaks of true worship in spirit and truth (Jn 4: 21-24) and his wisdom and insight captures her: “I know the Messiah is coming, the one called the Christ . . .” (Jn 4: 25). And then the clincher. Jesus says without hesitation: “I am he, the one speaking with you.” (Jn 4: 26). He has probed not only her mind and natural curiosity but deep into her soul where her thirst for spiritual connection is parched. It brings to light the often quoted verse from St. Augustine: “. . . those who seek the Lord will praise him, for as they seek they find him . . . because you have made us and drawn us to yourself and our heart is unquiet until it rests in you.” (Confessions of St. Augustine: Book 1, Chapter 1). God comes to us; he longs for us; he thirsts for us.
We thirst for much in this life. Some things are obviously necessary such as food, water, shelter, education, decent housing, money to live on, safety, and leisure time. But we also find ourselves often wandering around in pursuit of less meaningful things. We make choices that are not appropriate for our Christian life. We pursue much that we think will satisfy but we still have a hunger for something more: meaning and purpose.
In the end, this beautiful story is about God’s thirst for us. Jesus original statement to the woman as she arrived by the well, “Give me a drink.” (Jn 4: 7), is an invitation to her but by association to everyone of us. I believe she is nameless so that we can place our name on her whether we be female or male. She is you and me. Jesus revealed the truth of her life, called her to see things differently on a spiritual level and to discover what only God can offer – “life giving water.”
Baptismal water has indelibly marked us as children of a God who longs for our life. What he asks of us is our faith, our trust, our love. What we receive in return is priceless – his life poured out for us: salvation.
The Eucharist is that food which sustains us in both this life and the life into eternity. As the Preface of this Sunday states: “. . . Christ had already prepared for her the gift of faith. In his thirst to receive her faith he awakened in her heart the fire of your love . . .”
Now read that sentence and put your own name in place of the word “her.”
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