Mar 14, 2020

3rd Sunday in Lent: "Give me some water"




"Give me some water to drink"

John 4: 5 - 42


Our obsession for clean filtered water is a multi-million dollar business today.  We see shelves of bottled water in grocery stores, we hear of water filters that eliminate nasty particles and dirt from your drinking water, as we feel that for whatever reason the water from the tap, despite what we are told, is simply not clean enough to drink. The marketing of bottled water for general use at home has made quite a market. We must not forget how many in other parts of the world are burdened with questionable water to drink and bather. Yet, our readings this Sunday remind us there is a deeper thirst we are really all looking to satisfy.

In the first reading from Exodus, despite the complaining of the people, Moses strikes the rock as God told him and clean, fresh water appeared to satisfy the thirst of an ungrateful people.  Yet, in that case, like the Gospel, simple water became a moment of renewed faith in God’s care for them.

Further, on this third Sunday of Lent, we hear of water both from a well, hardly unfiltered yet much cleaner and safe than water from the Dead Sea for example and of a kind of strange “living water” that Jesus offers. On a cultural level this is a shocking and complex story rich with both theological and historical elements.

Simply put, though,  Jesus a Jew and a man, engages in conversation, in public, with a Samaritan woman who comes from a sect of Judaism that considers Jews in Jerusalem to be heretics and mortal enemies. There would be no reason, and quite risky, for Jesus in his position to ask this woman for anything and better for him to simply remain silent, maybe turn his back, or to walk away. So, it’s clear his intent is more than mere pleasantries.

Also, she comes alone in the heat of mid-day.  That would have been unheard of since women would travel in groups, in the cool of the early morning or the evening, to engage in conversation and to draw drinking water for their day.  So, there must have been some reason why she was shunned from the group of other local women and forced to travel alone to this well in the hot sunshine. This remains one of the most dramatic scenes in the Gospels. 

Despite all of that, Jesus strikes up a simple conversation with her as he requests a drink of water. As the conversation goes deeper, we hear both theological and historical references that are interesting but not so much the heart of this passage.

In this dramatic scene, we hear words of hope from the mouth of Jesus to this woman: "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst;  the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." Since water is essential for life, Jesus offers to the woman a call to look deeper beyond the literal use of water to the sign of the new life he offers to her.

Jesus finally asks her, "Go call your husband and come back." The woman answered and said to him, "I do not have a husband." Jesus answered her, “You are right in saying, 'I do not have a husband.' For you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband.” So shunned among the other women of the area due to what may have appeared a promiscuous lifestyle, Jesus does not belabor that issue nor do anything that would call her to public shame.   Rather, in their dialogue, Jesus holds up a mirror of her life to the woman.  He reveals what he knows and shows it to her. That powerful and compassionate move on our Lord’s part is a door to deeper understanding and conversion.

God offers us “water” that will never end – union with him through forgiveness and eternal life.  It’s clear, however the woman doesn’t understand the deeper symbolism of Jesus’ words fully but she does perceive that this man she speaks with is unlike any other man she had ever encountered.  Jesus offers something that touches her on a level where our common human thirst for God is satisfied. The woman reflects: "I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Christ; when he comes, he will tell us everything." Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one speaking with you." Wouldn’t you have loved to see the expression on her face as he spoke those words?  - Confusion?  Joy?  Wonder?  Relief?  Maybe all of the above.  The process of conversion unfolds gradually as God reveals himself to us. 

In that true “come to Jesus” moment, the woman found her need satisfied in Christ; his living water, the presence of the Holy Spirit, would become a “spring of water welling up to eternal life.” She then becomes a disciple on mission to others and brings them to see and understand. 

Was the woman at the well a kind of Samaritan apostle as she invited others, as Andrew did with his brother Simon, to meet the Lord?  It seems such in this beautiful story. Come and see who I discovered. 

At this time in Lent, along with our Elect preparing for baptism, confirmation, and the Holy Eucharist, we are invited to see the change in this woman.  She is us and despite the complicated historical and theological discussion between Jesus and her at the well, what really does matter for all of us is a personal encounter with Christ. In Jesus, God’s love is revealed and this woman is now invited to seek the water that will satisfy her thirst. To find that in Christ, we meet the source of Spirit and Truth implanted in us in the waters of baptism and nurtured as cooperate with the grace of God in our Christian and sacramental journey.     

In our Catholic life, our Sacraments are not just empty rituals or meaningless words.  The rituals are rather simple yet in that simplicity, such as the Anointing of the Sick, Reconciliation  even Baptism or the Marriage Rite itself, we find the living presence of Jesus and through them we experience an encounter with him most especially in the Eucharist where he becomes food for us.

The unnamed woman came to draw simple water from a well as she had done for a long time.  She never imagined that this Jewish man who reached out in respect for her dignity would forever change her life and that same moment is meant for all of us. 

There is one final question, though.  Did she ever give Jesus that drink of water or did he satisfy her thirst instead?  How about your thirst?

 For when he asked the Samaritan woman for water to drink,
he had already created the gift of faith within her
and so ardently did he thirst for her faith, 
that he kindled in her the fire of divine love. 

(Preface of Sunday)


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