L-III: (A): Ex. 17:3-7; Rom. 5:1-2, 5-8; Jn. 4:5-42

Rev. Randall D. Bell tells a powerful story about a pastor who stood in court beside a member of his congregation–an individual who had been “out with the boys,” and had too much drink. As he was driving home on the rain‑soaked streets and through the dense fog, he turned a corner and heard a sickening clash of metal and breaking glass. Two young people lay dead. They had been thrown from their motorcycle. He was charged with manslaughter and driving under the influence. He sat in court trembling after days of testimony. The judge was about to speak. It could mean years of prison, loss of job, and poverty for his family. The judge spoke: The test for drunkenness had not been properly done; the motorcycle had no proper lights; the jury was ordered to render a not guilty verdict. All that was ominous and foreboding was now gone. He was a free man. The court declared him “not guilty.” His family kissed him–they could go on with their life, all because he had been declared innocent. Then Rev. Bell adds these words, “Now maybe this story and the way it ended angers you, because you are hurt over those young people who were killed. But know this–you and I are that man. His story is our story. We are the sinner who finds himself in the presence of God the Eternal Judge.” You see, not only are we blinded by our prejudices against people like the Samaritan woman with her unseemly lifestyle, we are also blinded to the fact that we are the Samaritan woman. We, too, have fallen short of the grace of God, but the Hand of Grace is reached out to us as well. 

This woman at the well has been variously praised by several saints as: one who “left her water pot at the well in order to go off and preach the Gospel,”.  She is “the first apostle to the Gentiles who invited her neighbors to ‘Come and see’.”

Legend has it that when the woman left Samaria to preach the Good News, she eventually made her way to Carthage in Africa where she was imprisoned for the Faith and died a martyr. Another legend, preserved in Spain, says that she converted and baptized Nero’s daughter and 100 of her servants.

Today’s readings are centered on Baptism and new life.  Water represents God’s Spirit Who comes to us in Baptism. Just as water in the desert was life-giving for the wandering Israelites, the water of a true, loving relationship with Jesus is life-giving for those who accept him as Lord and Savior. The Holy Spirit of God, the Word of God, and the Sacraments of God in the Church are the primary sources for the living water of Divine Grace.

In the Gospel, an unclean Samaritan woman is given an opportunity to receive living water. The Gospel tells us how Jesus awakened in the woman at the well a thirst for the wholeness and integrity which she had lost, a thirst which Jesus had come to satisfy. In revealing himself as the Messiah Jesus speaks to her of the fountain of water he will give — the life-giving waters of Baptism.  Here is a woman who comes to Faith and becomes a missionary who brings others to Jesus. Jesus recognizes the gifts and ministries of women in his future Church.

In this episode the Samaritan woman epitomizes someone who was looking for love in all the wrong places. Yet love came to meet her unexpectedly. This woman knew the religious traditions of her people, so she had an idea of the importance of God in her life, yet something had not clicked. She knew her religion, but she also experienced rebellion in her heart against God’s will regarding marriage, which is why she starts to give Jesus some attitude.

In the encounter of Jesus with this woman we see two thirsts seeking each other out. Each one seeks the other in order to satisfy their thirst. The Lord has a great thirst for our faith and our love. The Samaritan woman has a thirst for real love.

Our Lord today knows he is dealing with a hardened heart frustrated after a long time looking for love in all the wrong places. Therefore he knows when to be tactful, addressing her true thirst, but also blunt, telling her the mistaken ways she tried to slake her thirst. He comes to meet her at her level. The Lord often avoids the Messianic titles of his time because his contemporaries see the Messiah as someone simply social and political, but when the Samaritan woman asks him if he is the Messiah, he responds without hesitation: “I am he, the one speaking with you.”

We need to allow Jesus free entry into our personal lives. Jesus wants to “get personal” with us, especially during this Lenten season. Jesus wants to get into our “private” lives because we have a “private” personal life which is contrary to the will of God. Christ wishes to come into that “private” life, not to embarrass us, not to judge or condemn us, not to be unkind or malicious to us, but to free us, to change us, and to offer us what we really need: living water. Once we are willing to give up on our sinful private life we will be able to witness Christ to others as this missionary woman did.

The Gospel Reading ends by telling us that the Samaritan people came to see Jesus because of the testimony of this woman. A single, sinful, and ostracized woman was able to lead the population of a town to Jesus.  We need to bear witnesses to Jesus like the Samaritan woman. (Someone here bore witness of  Jesus that is why Chelsea is being coming to accept Jesus as her savior and Lord, seeking to slake her thirst in him.) Let us have the courage to share our experience of Jesus during this Lent with our neighbors, calling them to come and see him.