Living Water
This Sunday is the Third Sunday of Lent, and our Gospel reading is John 4:5-42: the encounter of the Samaritan woman with Jesus at the well. But it is not just this one woman Jesus reaches – as important as that is. The whole town of Sychar is reached, the 12 disciples are taught, and we readers and hearers of the story also are encountered by Jesus.
This Sunday is the Third Sunday of Lent, and our Gospel reading is John 4:5-42: the encounter of the Samaritan woman with Jesus at the well. But it is not just this one woman Jesus reaches – as important as that is. The whole town of Sychar is reached, the 12 disciples are taught, and we readers and hearers of the story also are encountered by Jesus.
The brief version of what happened is
this: the woman comes to the well to draw water around Noon. Jesus is alone,
sitting by the well, and asks her for a drink. As Jews normally would not speak
with Samaritans, nor men with women in public like this, the woman says, How
can you ask? Jesus answers, "If you knew the gift of God and who is saying
to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked Him and He would have given you
living water." Jesus' "living water" is certainly more than the
H2O the woman came for. And so the conversation about water becomes about eternal
life which she asks for, and then – repentance needs to be real – it becomes
about husbands, many husbands, and lack thereof. And then it becomes about
worship and the coming Messiah, and Jesus says, "I am He." She then
goes into the town and brings crowds back to hear Jesus and they come to acknowledge
that He is the "savior of the world." Meanwhile the disciples, who
were fetching lunch, get a lesson on food which is the will of God.
Now what does Jesus desire for the woman,
the townspeople, the 12 disciples, and us? Verse 14: to never thirst again and
have eternal life. Real life. The living water. Jesus Himself.
And how does this happen? By conversion.
"Metanoia" is the Greek term, and it can be a 180 degree turn-around,
or a smaller turning – however much of a turning each of us needs.
What was the woman's conversion in the
story? First, a change in her thinking by knowing the "gift of God"
(verse 10), knowing God as Father Who seeks her worship (verse 23), knowing
Jesus as the Messiah/Christ (verses 26, 29), and to face the truth (an
examination of conscience) of her sexual sins (verse 18). Second, her
conversion is in making acts of her will to ask for this "water" and
receive it (verses 10, 15), to put behind her her sinful ways (verse 28, symbolized
by leaving her water jar of her worldly life). Third, her conversion will then lead to her becoming a
disciple (implied in the context of discipleship in verse 1), a true worshiper
in spirit and truth (verses 23-24), and a witness of what the Lord has done for
her personally (verse 29).
And there is more: this woman was ready. Her
conscience that gave her the impulse to conversion. She has had five husbands
and is not married to her current man. She comes to draw water which can only
temporarily satisfy thirst. She is alone, coming in the Noonday heat when
others would not be present (presumably shunned by them for her public sins).
Yet, being a descendant of Jacob, living in Sychar at the foot of Mt. Gerizim
where the Samaritans worshiped, she is a soul concerned with the proper worship
of God and looking for the Messiah. She is a soul ready to respond. Ready –
because clearly the Holy Spirit has been at work in her soul.
The Holy Spirit is always behind every one
of our conversions (and the many, many conversions throughout life). So Jesus
is also speaking to us. John wrote his Gospel so that the reader or hearer
might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and to have eternal
life (Jn 20:31); to receive Him and become a child of God (Jn 1:12).
Are we ready for a new conversion this
Lent? Has the Holy Spirit been at work in our souls, our consciences? Are we open
to repentance? Do we desire this living water? This eternal life?
Dibby Green
Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church is located in California City, CA. Visit our website at ollcalcity.org.