3RD SUNDAY OF LENT – A
John 4:5-42
“Of all our planet’s forces,
perhaps none has greater power than water. It is the most magical force
on earth; the presence of water shapes, renews, nourishes our planet. It
is our planet’s life-blood that flows continuously which is an ingredient for life.
Water makes earth alive.” (Prof. Iain Stewart, BBC: How Earth Made
Us?) We know that water is essential to life! It is the
cradle of life! Science tells us that the first life form on earth was born in
water. All the major ancient civilizations built their cities and empires in
places where there was water.
In today’s gospel, Jesus revealed
himself to the Samaritan woman as the spring of water welling up to eternal
life.
The encounter happened in Samaria on
a very unholy hour which was about 12noon (sixth hour) and with a Samaritan
woman. It was in these very unlikely setting that Jesus would reveal
himself and something spectacular in the dialogue between him and the
woman. The well did not just provide water but a place of social
interaction for people who usually went there early in the morning to avoid the
burning sun. Jesus sat on the well, exhausted from his journey, to meet
the Samaritan woman who was avoiding any company. The well symbolized
spring yet to be revealed; sitting on the well symbolized the weakness and
humility of Jesus as a man being thirsty; the Samaritan woman symbolized the
emerging Church from the Gentiles in the process of conversion. On that
very ground, Jesus came so that the Samaritans, who claimed to be the
inheritors of Jacob (Israel), might recognize him as the Christ and the legal
heir of their ancestors. The Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans
who, after their return from exile, were considered as impure, aliens and enemies.
Jesus being thirsty initiated the
conversation by asking the Samaritan woman for a drink but the water Jesus was
asking was not the one she thought to be. By asking for a drink, He
wished to satisfy the thirst of the woman by giving her the living water which
she still misunderstood as coming from the well. When he told
her that whoever drank the living water he gave would never be thirsty again,
the woman understood now the spiritual meaning and begged him for that living
water. At this point, Jesus asked her to call her husband in which she
said she had none. He knew she had had five husbands and the one she had
now was not her husband. The five husbands represented the five senses
that led her to error and her husband at the moment made her an
adulterer. The woman who was not offended by Jesus’ revelation, raised
her admiration of him by acknowledging him as a prophet. Jesus’s
invitation was to leave her sinful past in order to marry a lawful
husband who was the Word of truth, Jesus Himself. Jesus was leading
the Samaritan woman now as an emerging Church-bride into a fuller understanding
of him as the bridegroom. Jesus, addressing himself to her as Church,
proclaimed that one day true worshippers would worship the Father not in that mountain
nor in Jerusalem but in spirit and in truth. Then Jesus revealed himself
to her as the Messiah. When the disciples came, the woman left her water
jar which represented her earthly desires, prejudices and old self and went to
the city as an apostle telling everyone about her encounter with the
Christ. The Samaritans believed and proclaimed Jesus as the Saviour of
the world.
If water is the “soul of the earth”
that shapes, nourishes and renews creation, Jesus is the spring who gives
living water which is the Holy Spirit to those who thirst for
truth. The Lord continues to seek the Samaritan woman who is the
emerging Church amongst the wells of other cultures and religions offering them
truth. The Lord also continues to seek the Samaritan woman who is us in
the present time offering us continuous conversion and fullness of life.
Like the Samaritan woman, after we encounter the Lord and experience
conversion, we become channels of grace which is the life-blood that flows
generously to the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment