Third Sunday of
Lent Year A [Jn 4:5-42]
12.03.2023
Jesus’
Encounter with the Samaritan Woman
- Theme in brief:
Quenching
our spiritual thirst
- Focus Statement:
Jesus quenches our spiritual thirst with
his gift of ‘living water’, if we accept him in faith, and humbly ask him to
quench that thirst, and admit our sinfulness that prevent its reception.
- Explanation of
the text
Ironically, today’s gospel text begins with the giver of living water (that is, Jesus) himself feeling thirsty and begging for water from a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well with the words: “Give me a drink” (4:7). John, who has a liking for double meaning of words or statements, hints that Jesus is not only thirsty physically, but also spiritually. He is thirsty for souls and takes the initiative to go in search of a sinner like the Samaritan woman in her concrete life-situation like drawing water at the well. Later on, he sacrifices his life on the cross out of thirst for sinners by saying, “I am thirsty” (Jn 19:28).
By requesting the Samaritan woman for water and entering into a conversation with her, Jesus crosses over three barriers: (1) of gender, since Jewish rabbis are not allowed to converse with a woman in public; (2) of race, since she belongs to the Samaritan race hated by the Jews; and (3) of associating only with the virtuous, since she was considered to be an immoral character and an outcast.
Here we find a woman who is preoccupied only with material needs
like bringing water and housekeeping. She does not give a serious thought to her private life.
When she encounters Jesus at the well, three issues block her from recognizing him: (1) Prejudices
of the kind, which Samaritans and Jews have against one another. They carry on
such a strong racial and religious hatred towards one another that Jews do not
accept even water from the hands of Samaritans (4:9). (2) Lack of faith in
the giver of God’s gift (4:10). At first she sees him as a respectable Jewish
traveller, a physically wearied and thirsty man, whom she calls “sir” (4:11),
and not as the Messiah who can quench her spiritual thirst. (3) Thirdly, her personal sins which
she tries to cover up become the greatest obstacle.
To such a person Jesus promises to offer the gift of living water. But, in order to become worthy to receive it, the Samaritan woman has to fulfil three conditions: she must (1) know the gift of God; (2) recognize the one who is speaking; and (3) ask for that water (4:10). She neither knows Jesus’ full identity nor the gifts he wants to offer and their real value. In verse 10 Jesus declares that the one who is speaking to her (that is, he himself) is the gift of God in the first place and the source of living water for a lost sinner like her. But in verse 13, he moves from the present gift to a future gift which will become a spring of water gushing up to eternal life. Later in 7:37-39, John makes it clear that this spring or river of living water is the gift of the Holy Spirit. To receive both these gifts, she must recognize and believe that the One who is speaking to her is not an ordinary “sir” as she addresses him at first (4:11), but the revelation of the Father’s love for sinners like her. She will gradually or stage by stage recognize him not merely as “sir”, but as the “prophet” (4:19) and “Messiah” (4:25-26).
What is that ‘living water’ which Jesus wants to offer? Though the text does not directly explain, it is understood from the context that Jesus means water that gives life. From John’s gospel we know that his concept of ‘life’ always refers to divine or eternal life – a participation in God’s own life through faith in Jesus. Besides this, living water may also symbolize the gifts of God’s unconditional love, supernatural grace and salvation offered to all those who ask for it. True to the common technique of misunderstanding found in John’s gospel, the Samaritan woman thinks that Jesus promises her a miraculously and continuously flowing or running water of a spring or stream as opposed to the stagnant or still water of a well or pool. Hence, she requests him to give that miraculous water always so that she could be spared from all the trouble of coming to this well again to draw water.
At this
point, Jesus tells us: “Go, call your husband, and
come back” (4:16). Jesus challenges her to look into herself, her
private life, and remove another great obstacle to become a recipient of living water,
that is, her own personal sins or unfaithfulness to God. Instead of admitting
her sinfulness and brokenness, she tries to cover up her guilt, first by denying
that she has a husband (4:17), and later on dodging the whole issue of her
private life by engaging in a religious debate with Jesus about real worship of
God (4:20). Finally, her eyes of faith are opened when Jesus openly admits that
“the one who is speaking” to her is the promised Messiah (4:25-26).
- Application to
life
Probably John the evangelist wants to portray the Samaritan woman as a person who is in darkness of a disoriented life. While she is in that state, she suddenly encounters Jesus in broad daylight (noon time), because he is the Light of the world. Or probably he wants to depict her as a woman who goes to the well to fetch water at noon – a time when nobody else goes. Perhaps he wants to tell us that she is a quite isolated or segregated woman due to her immoral life. Whatever maybe the evangelist’s intention, Jesus’ compassionate approach to her gradually leads her to faith in him as the promised Messiah and the giver of ‘living water,’ that is, supernatural life. Lenten Season is meant for us to realize our alienation from God and neighbours like her due to our sins and brokenness. Now is the fitting time to realize that our ‘water-pot’ (that is, worldly pleasures) and water (that is, material possessions) are not everything. For us who are busy and preoccupied with worldly affairs, business and satisfaction of material needs, Lent is the appropriate time to admit that it is an illusion to think that these things are the be-all and end-all (all that matters) in life.
The empty water-jar carried by the woman symbolizes two things: (1) Our own emptiness and spiritual thirst deep down in our hearts for inner joy and fulfilment. We must realize how thirsty our spirit is. When we are ‘thirsty’ Jesus comes in search of us at the ‘well’ of our ordinary life-situations because he too is thirsty for sinners like us; he too is constantly in search of us to save us. So he takes the initiative to quench our thirst and asks us: “Give me a drink.” It is something like telling us: “Give me your heart and I shall quench your inner thirst.” What are we thirsty for? Though on the surface level we are thirsty for material things, deep down we are thirsty for love, acceptance, understanding, mercy, forgiveness, reconciliation, peace, meaning and purpose in life. Ultimately, our thirst is a thirst for God himself, and Jesus says that he can satisfy that thirst with living water. Yes, in every human being there is a longing beyond food, shelter and enjoyment. Living water is God’s love and life, which Jesus gives to those who recognize him as God’s gift. Lenten Season is the most appropriate time to admit how thirsty we are for God’s love, mercy, forgiveness, salvation and grace to grow in divine life. Material things can never satisfy our inner (spiritual) thirst.
Secondly, today’s message motivates us to leave (renounce or give up), as the Samaritan woman did, our own ‘water-pot,’ that is, selfish or sinful ways and too much immersion or preoccupation with worldly concerns and over-attachment to material things. It also impels us to become humble ‘beggars’ before the merciful Lord and entreat him to shower his gifts of loving mercy and pardon on us with a trustful cry: “Lord, give me this water that I may never be thirsty….” (cf. 4:15).
What prevents us from recognizing Jesus as the giver of divine life or receiving God’s unconditional love and forgiveness? (1) Our prejudices: We all have our social, religious, national, cultural and regional prejudices against certain people/groups. This is the first block that prevents us from accepting any truth coming from “those people”. Look at the barriers Jesus crosses: she is a woman and he is a man not expected to talk to a woman in public (= a gender issue); she is a Samaritan and he is a Jew (= a racial issue); he is a devout Rabbi and she is in immoral character (= a moral issue); and he is a respectable man and she is an outcast (= a social issue). Instead of going beyond these barriers put up by society and its culture and building bridges to cross over them as he did, do we sometimes construct further walls of prejudices and hatred?
(2) Second biggest hurdle are our sins: They break off our love-relationship with God and neighbours. Hence, Jesus, just as he did to the Samaritan woman, challenges us, especially in this Lenten Season, to look into (examine) ourselves. By asking the Samaritan woman to go and call her husband and come back to him (4:16), Jesus exposes her private life. She epitomizes anyone (man or woman) who is estranged from the love of God and neighbour by a sinful life. When we apply it to our own life, in this Lenten Season Jesus must be asking us to bring our several ‘husbands’ (that is, our sins and worldly pleasures by which we temporarily satisfy our inner thirst for happiness) to his feet. Each one of us is the Samaritan woman and Jesus challenges each one of us in this Lent to replace our numerous ‘husbands’ with intimate bond with him and his life-giving Spirit as the centre of our lives.
We crave to satisfy our present wants and needs with possessions and pleasures. We forget that our needs and cravings will come back again and again. For temporary satisfaction, like the Samaritan woman, we too run to countless wells to draw material water without giving a serious thought to our need for living water. The material water is a symbol for our craving for success, self-esteem, self-importance and pleasures. Sometimes we run to muddy waters of power, status, position and possession. Jesus always waits for us at the ‘well’ of our life-situations with his living water. Like her we too seek false happiness in our many ‘husbands’. Since the sacrifice involved in renouncing all these false husbands is too demanding, like her we too put enough resistance to God’s grace. We make so many excuses for not giving up our wrongdoings and bad behaviour. Sometimes we even justify our objectionable behaviour with lame excuses. If ever we could seriously think of what Jesus is offering to us, we would give up all our resistance and excuses.
Jesus becomes a source of divine life for us if we
humbly recognize our brokenness. We must humbly beg (that is, ask or request) him to
quench our inner
thirst with that living water (his love) by admitting our inner wounds
and human frailty. It is only when we approach him with our helplessness and
broken relationships, without any defence mechanisms and excuses of the kind she
made, he fills us with his love and forgiveness. She requests for living water
but does not think that first the well must be bored or drilled deep into the
hard rock of her heart. She is interested in a religious discussion, but only
for satisfying her mind, and not for allowing religious faith to change her
conduct. Is this not often true of us also?
An awareness of our own disturbed past and unsatisfied present state of affairs makes us well disposed to thirst for God. The more we look into ourselves the more we enter into the depth of relationship with God, just like the Samaritan woman who is led step by step to deeper and deeper knowledge of (or faith in) Jesus: first as sir (4:11), then as prophet (4:19), and finally as Messiah (4:25-26) whom God has given as his greatest gift to a sinful and broken-hearted person like her. When she looked into herself she must have realized her own emptiness. Self-discovery leads to the discovery of God, or revelation of one’s own self and the revelation of God’s unconditional love go hand in hand. Conversion to Christ begins with a sense of sin – a realization that the type of life we are living is not the one we are supposed to live as persons called to a life of holiness by baptism. The more we realize this the more we feel our need for God who alone can take away the restlessness of our hearts and lead us to a change of heart step by as he did to the Samaritan woman.
- Response to God's Word
Are we thirsty for God’s values? How do we express this spiritual thirst? What are the barriers which prevent us from receiving God’s love and forgiveness? What are our broken relationships? What are our social, religious and regional prejudices? Who (what) are our ‘five husbands?’ What are the defence mechanisms and excuses we make or resistance we put up to cover up our wrongdoings and refusal to change? Have we lost the sense of sin and justify our immoral ways by saying: “What is wrong in it; everybody does it?”
- A prayer
O God, you are my God; I seek you. My soul
thirsts for you like a dry and weary land without water. Thank you for giving me
your Son Jesus as your greatest gift. Thank you also for the gift of the Holy
Spirit who is like a spring of water gushing up to eternal
life. Change my heart and remove all the obstacles and resistance that I put to
block your love. Amen.
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