3rd Sunday of Lent- Baptism and New Life

From Fr Johnson’s Homily for this weekend.

Today’s readings are centered on Baptism and new life. Living water represents God’s Spirit which comes to us in Baptism, penetrating every aspect of our lives and satisfying our spiritual thirst. Today’s Gospel passage challenges us to remain thirsty for the living water which only God can give.

The first reading describes how God provided water to the ungrateful complainers of Israel. In the second reading, Saint Paul asserts that, as the Savior of mankind, Jesus poured the living water of the gift of his Holy Spirit into our hearts.  In the Gospel, an unclean Samaritan woman is given an opportunity to receive the living water.  Jesus  awakened in the woman at the well, a thirst for the wholeness and integrity which she had lost. Jesus is the Source of the Living Water.

There is a thirst in every human being.  This thirst could be physical or spiritual. Often it is both, as in the case of the unnamed Samaritan woman, who met Jesus by Jacob’s well. Physically, she is thirsty, thirsting for water, and that brings her to the well day after day. But spiritually she is also thirsty. An inner thirst drives her from one man to another and she can find no satisfaction. By the time she meets Jesus she is in her sixth marriage, and yet she lied to Jesus by saying that “I have no husband,” indicating that she is  looking for the seventh.

Numbers are often significant in biblical interpretation. According to the biblical symbolism of numbers, six is a   number representing imperfection. The woman in her sixth marriage is, therefore, in a situation of lack and deficiency. Seven, on the other hand, represents perfection, and sufficiency. Jesus comes to this woman as the seventh man in her life. She opens up to him and finally experiences the satisfaction of all of her soul’s desiring. Jesus was able to satisfy her spiritual thirst. Dear friends, every day, Jesus comes to our life to satisfy our spiritual hunger and thirst. In the   eucharist, he comes to satisfy our spiritual hunger. In communion, he comes to our life and lives with us. Often, we are not aware of the presence of Jesus in us, but here, this Samaritan woman realized the presence of Jesus, and she found  time to listen.

First, someone must be ready to break boundaries. Human society organizes itself by erecting boundaries – national, ethnic, religious, and gender. Jesus shows in today’s gospel that in order to reach out to the other and create the necessary conditions for conversion, one must be prepared to challenge these man-made boundaries and break the  dividing walls of prejudice. This is exactly what Jesus does to get to this woman. According to the traditions of that time, the Jews were not allowed to talk to Samaritans. Samaritans were considered sinners and unclean people. They were untouchables for Jews. Jews were not supposed to interact with Samaritans. Jesus broke these boundaries when he asked the woman for a drink. It is very clear from her reaction,

“How is it that you, a Jewish man, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans” (John 4:9).

It was also against the moral norms of the day for a man to engage a woman in dialogue in a public place, and yet Jesus engages this woman in the longest dialogue. And slowly, slowly, he convinces her and makes her a true believer.

Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?” (John 4:27)

For Jesus everybody is equal. All are children of God. Though Jesus Knew her totally, he never tries to condemn or threaten the woman. All he tries to do is invite her( v. 7), challenge her (v. 10), and affirm her (v. 17), patiently trying to enlighten her doubts in prayer and worship. (vv. 24, 26).

Why does Jesus make such a tremendous impact on the woman? Because for the first time in her life she meets a man who really understands her. In her excitement she forgets her water jar and physical thirst  and runs back to the village inviting the villagers to come and see “a man who told me everything I have ever done”

When she became a believer, she left the jar and ran, meaning she gave up her old way of living. Apostles Peter,     Andrew, John and James left their nets, parents, and boat and followed Jesus. Here, she ran to the town and shared her experiences with people. Thus, she became a big missionary, bringing others to Jesus.

When the Samaritan people came to know about Jesus, they believed in him and in his teachings and they said to the woman,

 “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.” (4:42)

We see that there are two stages in the believing or conversion process. First  we believe because of what someone told us about Jesus, and secondly we believe because we have come personally to know Jesus ourselves. Lent is the period when the Church invites all her children who still believe on the strength of someone else’s witnessing to come to Jesus personally and believe, not because someone told us, but because we have known him and experienced his love       personally in our own lives. So let us listen and experience Jesus, give witness to Jesus among others, and bring them to Jesus.

May God bless you.

-Fr Johnson