3rd Sunday of Lent – A
“Come and see someone who told me everything I ever did!”
Have you ever been so excited about figuring something out that has perplexed you or confused you so thoroughly, that when you did figure it out you ran off to tell someone close to you? This is what happened in the Gospel story we just heard. This is what happens when we open ourselves up and allow Go to find us – right where we are! No matter where we are.
Today, the 3rd Sunday of Lent, puts us right in the middle of this penitential season. The Church gives us a wonderful story to help us see what is lying ahead for us in the Easter Sacraments. In this story, we see how Jesus meets a woman, obviously in a situation that she is not proud of – she has no husband but is living with a man. What we witness in the story after this revelation is powerful to say the least.
Jesus, in his usual manner, chooses to disregard the law regarding the speaking to or being in the company of women and Samaritans. Jesus does this to prove a point. Jesus does this to show the woman that no matter what she has done or how many husbands she has had, she can still find unconditional love and acceptance in Him, the “life-giving water.” Jesus helps the woman arrive at an awareness of her needs, of her real thirst – to live in Christ Jesus, the “life-giving water.”
John uses the woman in this story as a symbol – a sign for us of what is to come. The Samaritans were foreigners; Jews did not associate with them because, they were outside the law. However, Jesus had something in mind when he asked the woman for a drink. Jesus was thirsting for the faith of the woman who had, up to this point, not believed in Him. The woman’s thirst was for the fulfillment of earthly needs: love, affection, intimacy, companionship, even acceptance. Jesus’ aim was to enable the woman to see that believing in Him would satisfy all these needs, and, be given everlasting life as well.
How many times have we found ourselves in that same place – doubting, feeling rejected or down on ourselves for our sins? We are the woman at the well.
For us, and our Elect, preparing for full initiation into our church at Easter; like the woman at the well, we too are on a journey, searching for meaning in life.
We are thirsting for that which will satisfy our needs, thirsting for that which will bring us happiness, success, and affection. Yes, this woman is a symbol of the Church (you and I) not yet made righteous but a church that will be made righteous through the suffering, death, and resurrection of Christ Jesus on Easter.
How many of us have, at one time or another, stopped by a symbolic well on our journey and found someone sitting there waiting to ask us for a drink. In giving that drink, how many of those people have accepted us where we were, at that moment, loved us, and helped us to look at ourselves, re-discover ourselves, and see the face of the Lord. How many times have we drank from the “dry well” of acceptance, love, and companionship, only to be thirsty again? How many times have we drank and been refreshed by the well-spring of God’s unconditional love in the Sacraments of Reconciliation and Eucharist?
This is what the season of Lent is all about. This is the time, to rediscover and renew us for who we are as children of God. We might ask ourselves this question: “WHAT AM I THIRSTING FOR?”
Then we must take this question to prayer and contemplate how it fits in our lives as children of God. Is this thirst leading me to a DRY WELL? Is this thirst leading me to self-destruction or a life in Christ? Is this thirst drawing me closer to my family, my faith community, and my God, or further away?
My brothers and sisters, we always have a choice – we can either continue drinking from the DRY-WELL, which gives no nourishment for life or, we can choose freely, like the Samaritan woman did, to trust our experiences of Jesus in our lives and be freely given the clean, fresh waters of Easter! This time of Lent is to guide us closer and closer to the well-spring of God’s unconditional love through Jesus. The more we reflect on what we are thirsting for in our lives, the more we can trust in the living waters of Jesus Christ, and then, we will be able to bring others to the same well to experience God’s gifts of unconditional love and life. Come and see someone who told us everything we ever did, and loved us in spite of ourselves!