3rd Sunday of Lent (A)

THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT
(Jn. 4:5-15,19-26,39, 40-42)

Exhausted from a long walk into the hot sun, Jesus sat wearily down and dismissed Jewish tradition by asking the Samaritan woman for a drink of water to quench his thirst. No Jew ever spoke to a Samaritan because a century-old feud kept alive in each generation had embittered relationships. Thirst knows no boundaries so they struck up a conversation, and the woman, taking Jesus literally, was astonished to hear that he could provide her with water that would last forever. She had always wanted to be spared from the embarrassment of being snubbed at the well by her neighbors who despised her because of her chequered lifestyle. As the conversation deepened the woman came to realize that her problem was not the lack of water but an inner thirst that no earthly water could satisfy – a thirst caused by the absence of God in her life. The Samaritan woman had a story to tell because five husbands failed to bring her happiness. Jesus lead her to look at her deeply troubled life and helped her to unburden her soul. Without a note of condemnation he accepted her, and coming to terms with everything she ever did wrong, she was released from her guilt. He gave her hope and offered her nothing less than the living waters of friendship and the Spirit of God which leads to eternal life.

Today’s readings focus on water and thirst, but what exactly do water and thirst mean in the gospel context? It’s not just water as we know it that Jesus is talking about, but the saving love of God poured out into the hearts enabling us to find life and peace. Thirst stands for the absence of God in our lives- that unsatisfied longing within every human heart. St. Augustine talks about ‘Out hearts being restless until they find rest in God.’ Since the pleasures of life fail to satisfy the thirsting human spirit, the only remedy is a relationship with Jesus who provides a mysterious type of water producing a well-spring of life within us.

What it took five husbands to teach the Samaritan woman, we learn from the mistakes of over-indulgence, drugs, promiscuity and gambling. Her conversation gives us great hope because in human terms a worthwhile life was beyond her. Yet her past did not hinder her from coming close to Christ. Jesus won her over by gently leading her out of herself and raising her mind and heart to higher things. At Jacob’s well a man, by asking her for a drink of water, restored a woman’s dignity and changed her life. When we were baptized we received this saving water of life for the first time. It was mere beginning which planted us, seed-like, in the garden of God. As life goes on we need to be constantly in touch with this fountain of living water which Jesus gave us- otherwise we wither and the miracle of growth in godliness does not take place. Today Jesus asks us to have a look at how we are living out our baptism. If we are suffering from thirst his spirit is always at hand to refresh us and lead us in our search for the unending, the unchanging and the eternal.