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A look at the appointed gospel from the Revised Common Lectionary for the third Sunday in Lent, March 15, 2020.
“So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.” Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?” Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” They left the city and were on their way to him. Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. Do you not say, ‘Four months more, then comes the harvest’? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.””
My Two Cents….
Each day that she went to the well, she bore more than water. Shame, loneliness, and regret were all burdens that others put upon her. Sometimes she wore these tattered garments all by herself. You could describe her situation as complicated. She did.
This outsider went to the well in the middle of the day. When the sun was high in the sky, at its hottest zenith, there weren't others at the communal well. It was easier that way. There were no icy stares or uncomfortable silence to navigate. Her trip to the well was purely functional.
How can we identify with her story? Have we ever suffered from social isolation and the judgment of others? Do we know what it is like to carry the burden of being an outsider? Perhaps, we can't. Maybe we have always had friends and a good reputation. If so, we would not need to go to the well when nobody else was around. We would be there in the morning when we could fill up on the day's news and laughter.
Whether we can identify with the Samaritan woman's plight or not, we all need living water. There is a part in each of our souls that is thirsty for God. Whether isolated or socially engaged, the human creature yearns for spiritual connection with its Creator. St. Augustine, the great African bishop, once said that our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.
We may not even be aware of this restlessness as a spiritual thing. Some might call it a search for meaning or purpose, longing to find our happy place in the world. We want our lives to matter and make a difference. We seek connection with others and a place of significance in the community.
It was this search that Jesus recognized within the Samaritan woman. Christ's humanity reached out and linked with her. She found the living water that refreshes and reanimates. Whether we naturally identify with the woman at the well or not, this story invites us to do a personal inventory. Where do we find ourselves in need of God's soul-quenching love? Where is the brokeness within that longs for the healing God can provide?
Living God - water us and let us grow in your love!
In Christ's Light,
Walt
Permission granted to share today's content with family and friends. Copyrighted 2020. Walt Lichtenberger
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