Reflection on the Third Sunday of Lent

Exodus 17:3-7 Ps.95 Romans 5:1-2, 5-8 John 4:5-42

Today’s Gospel does not begin with the Baptism of Jesus, but I would like to, because today’s Gospel story of Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well is a remembrance of the living water poured over Jesus at his Baptism. It is the time when Jesus heard God’s tender words, “You are my beloved.” And at that moment Jesus took those words in, embraced them, and lived by them.

As John baptizes Jesus, Jesus feels a new courage to proceed in his mission, telling his listeners that God’s healing love is available to everyone: the marginalized, those who are poor, and those ostracized by religious or governmental institutions.

In today’s story you hear Jesus take the first step of engagement with a woman at the well: “Give me a drink”, he says. The woman, a little blunt, asks him, “How is it that you, a Jew, asks me for water?” Jesus answers, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ God would have given you living water.”

She then asks an important question: “Where do you get living water?” Jesus responds, “People who drink from here will be thirsty again. But those who drink of my water will never be thirsty.” And she responds, “Sir, give me this water.”

The Gospel continues with their conversation about the coming Messiah as she wonders, “Who are you?” And Jesus, for the first time in the Gospels, reveals that he is the Messiah. He answers the woman: “I am He, the one that is speaking to you.”

Jesus knew her testimony would be powerful enough to change her and her whole town. So, he chose that person, that well, that water and that town to begin a very public ministry – and taught them all that He is the living water, the source of eternal life.

God comes as rain and river currents to refresh and revitalize the soil of our lives. God comes as gift and grace, as the bottomless spring that sustains our roots. When you are near a body of water – the Atlantic, the Mississippi, the Rio Grande, or even Badin’s pond – consider a visit to its shore and spend some time thinking: Where are the high tides and the low tides of life for me these days? Have I found fertile places in which to rest?  Have I been listening for God’s words, the same words that came to Jesus as He experienced the water of Baptism: “This is my beloved.” Say it to yourself: I am God’s beloved.

Just being present to water, present to the ebb and flow of life, can we be like the woman at the well, nurturing the greatest call of all, asking God to carry us to a hurting world, to be a presence nourished by the water of life for now and all the days to come? Our spiritual life is not about how much we do or accomplish, but fundamentally it is living in the knowledge that we are loved by God and then allowing God’s grace to flow through us to everyone we encounter.

In this story of the woman at Jacob’s well, lives were touched, compassion flowed like water and the woman who was evangelized became an evangelizer. We, too, gather like all the women at that well when we share common experiences, meaningful stories, learning from one another and tightening the threads that weave us together – especially today in this Church, at that table of Eucharist.

So, my friends, drink up, believe and taste the goodness of God.