Third Sunday of Lent March 12, 2023
Readings: Exodus
17:3-7; Romans 5:1-2, 5-8; John 4:5-42
A thirst could be physical or spiritual. Often it is both,
as in the case of the unnamed woman whose meeting with Jesus by Jacob's well
gave us today's gospel story. Physically she is thirsty, thirsting for water,
and that brings her to the well day after day. But spiritually also she is thirsty,
an inner thirst which drives her from one man to another and for which she can
find no satisfaction. By the time she meets Jesus she is in her sixth marriage,
and yet she is able to tell Jesus "I have no husband," indicating
that she is probably already looking for the seventh.
Numbers are often significant in biblical interpretation.
According to the biblical symbolism of numbers, six is a number of
imperfection, of lack, of deficiency. The woman in her sixth marriage is,
therefore, in a situation of lack and deficiency. Seven, on the other hand, is
a number of perfection, completion, finality 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, the full assuaging
of her spiritual thirst. Isn't this the kind of experience we wish for
ourselves and for all in this season of Lent? It might, therefore, be useful
for us to look at the mechanism of this profound turnaround in life that we
call conversion.
St. John tells us of the beautiful story of the encounter
between Jesus and the Samaritan woman. The woman draws water from the well at
noon. Very unusual since this is not the best for doing this. Jesus is there
sitting in the well asking water from her. And the woman reminds Him of the
social norms that govern the interaction between Jesus and Samaritans. The
Samaritan woman said to Jesus: “You are a Jew. How can you ask me, a Samaritan
woman, for a drink?” Before this event took place, there was a depth conflict
between the Samaritans and the Jews.
Jesus uses the water as a metaphor to teach this woman the
lesson of grace and forgiveness and most importantly helps her to fulfil her
inner thirst. He speaks about the living
water, which gives eternal life, divine grace, which is God's life within the
soul. The woman craves for this type of water, because she wishes to have
eternal life although she misunderstood this at first. Jesus now has a lengthy
but candid dialogue with her. He makes her understand that she needs to confess
her sins and change her life before she can obtain this life-giving water,
grace. Jesus then reveals to her that he is the Messiah. Once she is given a
share in the mystery, the Samaritan woman's spirit is enlightened, accelerated,
and illuminated by Jesus. She now realizes what it means to take freely of the
water of life, which is the spiritual refreshment that comes into her soul
after her encounter and confession with Jesus. Not only was she impressed that
Jesus knew all her sins, but she was also given the opportunity to have those
sins forgiven. She believes he is truly the Messiah, the Anointed One. She repents
of her past misdeeds and goes back to tell her family, friends, and tells them
about Jesus.
We see a process here in realising the person of Jesus: Jesus
was a stranger for that unnamed woman and she addressed Jesus as Sir and she realised
a prophet in him, and finally Jesus became her Messiah. We see that there are two stages in the
believing or conversion process: a. believing because of what someone told us
about Jesus, and b. believing 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.
Happy Sunday
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