3rd Sunday of Lent

Liturgy of the Word:

Ex. 17:3-7;

Ps. 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9;

Rom. 5:1-2, 5-8;

Jn. 4:5-32

1st Reading, Ex. 17:3-7. Water from the Rock. Journeying from Sinai, the Israelites encamp at Rephidim. But, finding no water, they complain to Moses. Why did you bring us out of Egypt in order for us to die of thirst? (vv. 1-3). And so Moses cries out to the Lord for help. The Lord instructs Moses to strike the rock of Hebron with his staff.

Moses strikes the rock and water gushes out for the people to drink. The place was named Meribah (the place of quarreling) and Massah (the place of the test) because that is where the people quarreled and complained.

Gospel, Jn. 4:5-32. The Samaritan Woman. This remarkable dialogue continues the Johannine self-revelation of Jesus that began with the miracle at Cana of Galilee. Returning to Galilee from Judea, Jesus arrives in Samaria and stops in Sychar (ancient Shechem), near the land that Jacob gave to his son, Joseph. Jesus sits down near Jacob’s well to rest. It is about noon, and his disciples go into town to buy food.

A Samaritan woman comes to draw water. Jesus says to her, “Give me a drink.” The woman says to Jesus, “How can you, a Jew ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” For Jews had nothing in common with Samaritans (vv. 4-8). In fact, Samaritans were “half Jews” and Samaritan women were regarded by Jews as ritually impure, such that Jews were forbidden to drink from any vessel they had handled.

Jesus answers her, “If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked and he would have given you living water” (v.10). Jesus is speaking of the water of life, i.e., the revelation that Jesus brings. But the woman only thinks of “flowing water.” “Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the well is deep, where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself?” (vv. 11-12).

It is amazing how the woman’s remarks lead Jesus into a progressive revelation of himself. “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” (vv. 13-14). The woman says to Jesus, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water” (v. 16).

The woman does see the higher meaning of “water welling up to eternal life.” So Jesus abruptly changes the subject. “Go call your husband and come back” (v. 16). The dialogue now turns towards the woman herself. The woman says, “I do not have a husband.” Jesus says that she’s right, because she has had five husbands and the one she has now is not her husband (vv. 17-18). “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet.” Another level of Jesus’s self-revelation.

But the woman leads the dialogue up another step. “Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain [Mt. Gerizim, Mount Ebal to the Jews], but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus tells her, “The hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him. God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (vv. 20-24).

And again, the woman leads Jesus to another self-revelation. She says, “I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Anointed; when he comes, he will tell us everything.” Jesus completes his self-revelation to the Samaritan woman, “I am he, the one who is speaking with you” (vv. 25-26).

The disciples arrive and are amazed that Jesus is talking with a woman, a religious and social restriction. The woman hurries to the town and tells the people about Jesus knowing everything that she has done, “Could he possibly be the Messiah?” (vv. 27-29).

The people go out to see him. Meanwhile, the disciples ask him to eat. He says, “I have food to eat of which you do not know” (vv. 31-32). He was referring to his food as doing the will of the Father and doing his work (v. 34). While our Gospel episode ends with v. 32, the real conclusion of the story begins with v. 39. The Samaritans begin to believe in Jesus because of his knowledge of the woman.

On their invitation, he stays with the Samaritans for two days. They began to believe in his word, rather than in the woman’s words, that he is “truly the Savior of the world” (vv. 39-42). In a true sense, the woman served as a missionary who led her people to Jesus.

Prayer: O God, author of every mercy and of all goodness, who in fasting, prayer, and almsgiving has shown us a remedy for sin, look graciously on this confession of our lowliness, that we, who are bowed down by our conscience, may always be lifted up by your mercy, through Christ our Lord. Amen.