Third Sunday of Lent Year A

Gospel Reading: John 4: 5-30

5 Jesus came to the Samaritan town called

Sychar, near the land that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.

6 Jacob's well is there and Jesus, tired by the journey, sat straight down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink."

8  His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.

9 The Samaritan woman said to him, "What? You are a Jew and you ask me, a Samaritan, for a drink?" - Jews, in fact, do not associate with Samaritans.

10 Jesus replied, "If you only knew what God is offering and who it is that is saying to you: 'Give me a drink,' you would have been the one to ask, and he would have given you living water."

11 "You have no bucket, sir," she answered "and the well is deep: how could you get this living water?
12 Are you a greater man than our father Jacob who gave us this well and drank from it himself with his sons and his cattle?"

13 Jesus replied: "Whoever drinks this water will get thirsty again;

14 but anyone who drinks the water that I shall give will never be thirsty again: the water that I shall give will turn into a spring inside him, welling up to eternal life."

15 "Sir," said the woman "give me some of that water, so that I may never get thirsty and never have to come here again to draw water."

16 "Go and call your husband" said Jesus to her "and come back here."

17 The woman answered, "I have no husband." He said to her, "You are right to say, 'I have no husband';

18 for although you have had five, the one you have now is not your husband. You spoke the truth there."

19 "I see you are a prophet, sir" said the woman.
20 "Our father worshipped on this mountain, while you say that Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship."

21 Jesus said: 'Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem .

22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know: for salvation comes from the Jews.

23 But the hour will come - in fact it is here already - when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth: that is the kind of worshipper the Father wants.

24 God is spirit, and those who worship must worship in spirit and truth."

25 The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah - that is, Christ - is coming; and when he comes he will tell us everything."

26 "I who am speaking to you," said Jesus "I am he."

27 At this point the disciples returned, and were surprised to find him speaking to a woman, though none of them asked, "What do you want from her?" or "Why are you talking to her?"

28 The woman put down her water jar and hurried back to the town to tell the people,

29 "Come and see a man who has told me everything I ever did; I wonder if he is the Christ?"

Meditation

This Sunday's reading is very long; I suggest that you use the shorter version for your meditation (verses 5 to 30).

Jesus leads the woman along a wonderful journey towards a deeper, more human life. You can enter into the story from the perspective of the woman - when have you (or someone you know) made a similar journey in your relationship with God, with others, with your own self? Recognize the woman's resistance to growth, her complacency, her evasions, and her eventual acceptance, partial though it was, of Jesus.

You can enter the story with Jesus, the ideal leader, parent, teacher or spiritual guide. Notice how he meets the woman where she is, needing her assistance; how he is patient with her but also challenges her to grow to what she is capable of.

The story is in two sections:

Verses 2 and 3 : At first the woman is content with the water she draws from the well. Jesus very gradually leads her to search for another kind of water which has two characteristics: when you drink it you do not get thirsty again, as it comes from a spring inside of you. Enter into the metaphor so that you can recognize the spiritual journey it evokes for you. When have you experienced Jesus guiding others in this way?

Prayer 

 "The task of the educator is not to cut down jungles but to irrigate deserts." C.S. Lewis
Lord, the world is thirsting for living water.
So many people are content with water which, when they drink it, leaves them thirsty for more:

in personal relationships they

look for security and domination;

in positions of authority they enjoy lording it over others;

they sacrifice precious things for the

trappings of power;

compromise their principles for popularity.

 Send them Jesus who will lead them to ask for another kind of water:

trust in relationships

service in authority;

sincerity and truth rather than power;

integrity at whatever cost;

the kind of water which they will drink and need never be thirsty again,

water that they do not have to go to a well for because it comes from a spring inside them and wells up to eternal life..

"One does not seek to find a master, neither does one find a master. When the disciple and master meet they simply recognize each other."
Mariella Robitaille, Canadian contemplative nun

We pray for teachers, parents, community leaders, spiritual guides, that like Jesus they may

wait at the well where people gather,

speak to them about down-to-earth realities they know,

be patient when they are arrogant or mocking,

challenge them to move beyond where they are,

give them space until of their own accord they put down the water jar that was so important to them and hurry away.

 Forgive us preachers of the gospel that we come to others as superiors,

afraid to acknowledge that we are tired and thirsty;

afraid to ask them for a drink;

conscious that we are rabbis and they are women;

that we are Jews and they are Samaritans.

"I would not have anyone think that I became a Catholic because I was convinced of the truth. I became a Catholic because I fell in love with the truth."
 Eric Gill, English religious sculptor

Lord, we thank you for great people we have known who in eyes of the world appear to be needy, but really are not:

those who are in prison but in reality are free;

those who have few possessions but are wealthy;

those who live in small houses with place for many;

those who have no power and yet influence thousands.

 It seems at first that they are thirsty and we have access to wells .
 We soon realize that we are the ones who should be asking for living water and they have it to give us. Thank you, Lord.

       Lord, forgive us that we run away from the important questions, we argue whether we should worship on this mountain or in Jerusalem , forgetting that you are Spirit, and those who worship must worship in spirit and truth.

        "My cell will not be one of stone nor wood, but self-knowledge."
St Catherine of Sienna

We thank you for those who have led us to understand ourselves better; it was as if they told us everything we ever did, so that we had a fleeting experience of meeting the Christ