Living Water
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March 10, 2023Beginning this weekend (3rd Sunday of Lent) up to the 5th Sunday of Lent, we shall have the Rite of Scrutiny at the 9:00 a.m. mass. Since each of the persons featured in the Gospels for these three Sundays (the woman of Samaria (Lent III), the man born blind (Lent IV) and Lazarus (Lent V), is an example of conversion, their stories offer excellent catechesis for RCIA participants and also for us. Further, each of these Gospel texts also features the transforming love of Christ for those whom he calls to salvation; he is living water, light and sight for the blind, and the source of life for all who believe.
Our First Reading today tells us of the story of the Jews from slavery to Egypt to wandering in the desert. They had been slaves for several generations in Egypt, and for the most part, they had forgotten their ancestral religion and God’s Covenant with their patriarch Abraham. Now their new leader, Moses, was telling them that their ancient Lord had at last heard their cries and was now leading their escape from Egypt back to their homeland. But in spite of the mighty deeds God had done for them, the former slaves complained that in Egypt, at least they were not thirsty. So, Moses struck a rock from which water flowed, and they were satisfied.
The rock which Moses strikes represents God who gives water (God’s own life), essential for our spiritual life. The people’s thirst represents every person’s longing for God, and everything that happened to satisfy their thirst represents God’s desire to satisfy all human longings.
In the Gospel, an unclean, ostracized Samaritan woman is given an opportunity to receive the living water. 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. Thus, Jesus reveals that he himself is the Source of Living Water and that we need the grace of Jesus Christ for eternal life because he is that life-giving water.
But very strikingly, Jesus became personal with this woman and started asking embarrassing questions about her five husbands. She cleverly tried to change the subject and talk about religion as she probably didn’t want Jesus to get personal. But Jesus still pursued the conversation because he wanted to free her, forgive her, shape her life in a new direction, and change her. He wanted to offer this woman Living Water, and the way for that to happen is to know her deepest longings, even her most private ones.
We need to allow Jesus free entry into our personal lives. A sign that God is active in our lives is Him entering in to our personal, “private” 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. Amen.
