Come to the Water

Scripture Reflection for the Third Sunday of Lent 2011 (March 27, 2011)

Scripture Readings:
Exodus 17:3-7
Psalm 95
Romans 5:1-2, 5-8
John 4:5-42

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“O let all who thirst, let them come to the water...
And let all who have nothing, let them come to the Lord...”

Do you remember that song?? We used to sing it every year on this third Sunday of Lent, when we hear this classic Gospel reading, the story of the Samaritan Woman at the Well. This is the first of three weeks in a row of Gospel stories about people who are transformed by the presence of Jesus in their lives. In the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults), this is what is called the time of “purification” as the catechumens and candidates get ready to be baptized and confirmed at Easter. So next week we hear about the Man Born Blind who recovers a lot more than his sight, and in two weeks we hear the story of the Raising of Lazarus, all from the Gospel of John. Like the Man Born Blind (John 9:1-41) and the family of Lazarus (John 11:1-44), this unnamed woman in John 4 is struggling with some of the deepest spiritual questions in life. When you think about it, these are all stories about healing, about reconciliation and about a person’s movement from slavery to freedom. That’s why I began today’s reflection with that song about being thirsty, about having nothing, about needing God. It’s a prayer from the heart, a prayer of lament, a prayer that speaks to all of us at different times in our lives. The interesting thing about today’s Gospel is that, like us at times in our own lives, this woman doesn’t even realize that she is in trouble. She doesn’t even know how much she needs God. She doesn’t seem to know how “thirsty” she really is, until she meets Jesus. And then everything changes.

I heard a quote years ago connected to this Gospel reading that says simply, “Water seeks the thirsty.” That could be the theme of all three Scriptures today. In today’s first reading from Exodus, the Israelites ask, “Is the Lord in our midst or not?” and one can hear the emotion behind those words. It reminds me of all of the other complaining and grumbling that we hear in the Exodus story, like just before the crossing of the Red Sea when they cry out, “Were there no burial plots in Egypt that we had to come out here to the desert to die?” (Exodus 14:11). Paul, too, in writing to the Romans, has to remind them (and us) that we are justified by faith, and not by our own actions, no matter how good and noble they are. And he also reminds us that “hope does not disappoint,” which is a direct response to the natural human tendency to become disappointed when things don’t seem to go our way.

But let’s get back to our friend in the Gospel story. Did you notice that she showed up at the well at noon and that she was all alone? The usual time would have been early morning, and usually the women would arrive in groups. Could it be that she was somehow ostracized from her sisters, maybe because of her questionable history? I imagine that she was used to her lonely existence by that time, that she had accepted it as a fact of life; maybe she even thought she deserved it. Then, when she encounters Jesus, something deep inside of her starts to change. At first she expresses surprise and curiosity with him; then she calls him a prophet; and finally she recognizes him as the Messiah, leaves her bucket behind and becomes a true apostle to her fellow Samaritans. Those people too must have seen the change in her, because they came immediately when she called them, and eventually they came believe even without her testimony. There is a lot of healing in this story, isn’t there?

So what about you and me? What kind of unnamed thirsts do we have? In what way can we relate to this woman, this model of faith who didn’t even know how thirsty she was until she met the one who offered her life- giving water? Maybe, like Jesus’ hunger in the desert a couple weeks ago, we need to realize that thirst is not such a bad thing. It allows us to get in touch with our humanness; it allows us to seek and to long and to desire; and eventually our thirst leads us to the water, and to the one who offers life-giving water, water that seeks the thirsty.

Paz y Bien,

Father Ed

Image: Christ and the Samaritan Woman at the Well by: Henryk Siemiradzki 1886. http://freechristimages.org