Sunday Gospel Comment
Alberic Jacovone OSB
YEAR A THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT - 27.2.05 Ex 17,3-7; Rom 5,1-2.5-8; Jn 4,5-42 If you only knew the gift of God A
woman thirsting for living water. The Gospel for Sunday 3, 4 & 5 of Lent is from John’s Gospel. The
Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults calls them Sacramental Sundays in that
the 3 readings present 3 main Christian convictions: Christ quenches our thirst
- enlightens our darkness - gives us eternal life. As this year is ‘Year of
Eucharist, these 3 Johannine passages are most suited to deepen a loving
relationship with our Lord & an intense awareness of his abiding presence,
in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. Today’s scene is a masterpiece: it’s
about a woman & about us. In it, a Samaritan woman -& Us!- discover that
there is more to life than quenching thirst with ordinary water from a well, as
the Samaritan woman found out, at Jacob’s well. There is a deeper, more
compelling thirst for truth, life & meaning. The ‘living water’ that
Jesus gives is no ordinary water; it quenches the thirst for justice, for
happiness & for God. Only Jesus can give this water. And if we drink the
water that Jesus gives, we shall never be thirsty again...(Jn 4,7); indeed, out
of us ‘shall flow rivers of living water’, viz. the Holy Spirit himself will
guide those who believe in him (Jn 7,37). The story of the woman at the well is
worth studying: - It’s midday. The heat is unbearable. There’s no shade or
cover anywhere. And there’s absolute stillness. There’s no one around and no
one would want to be around in this scorching heat.... Yet, even at such ungodly
time, out comes a woman with an empty jug to get water from the well. She is a
troubled woman & she purposely avoids being seen. She’s had a stormy life.
She’s had 5 husbands and she is not married with the man she lives with now.
Still she must go on in life. Right now she need water & she goes for it. Jesus
is “living water”.
At this point in the story, we -& the woman-, realize that there is a deeper
need for happiness, & we thirst for it: we understand why she is restless:
she is looking for something that cannot be found & only God can give. We
sympathize for her, indeed we are that woman: we experience ourselves to be just
as restless, troubled & searching... Lucky for her & for us, Jesus is at
the well, tired and waiting. He thirsts for us, just as he did for the woman; he
awakens in her & in us the longing for happiness: ‘If you only knew what
God is offering and who it is that speaks to you...’. When Jesus discloses his
full identity: (“I am He!”), we come to believe that Jesus is Saviour of the
world, and understand that we must keep our ‘jug’ free from, & empty of,
any fears or forces that may weigh us down and prevent us from finding peace or
worshipping God in spirit & truth. Today, we are immensely more fortunate
that the woman, since for 2000 years, we’ve had the faith experience of
generations on side. In the
Eucharist, we welcome the Lord in Holy Communion. Here he gives himself to us,
as nourishment for our journey. The woman believed Jesus was ‘Saviour of the
world’, & brought other people to Him. All the more so, Our Lord who comes
to us in the Eucharist is a powerful missionary thrust, as we take the love of
Christ, which is beyond all understanding, into the hearts of everyone. Pope
John Paul writes: “In the humble signs of bread and wine, when they are
changed into his Body and Blood, Christ walks besides us; becomes strength &
nourishment for our journey, enables us to become witnesses of hope to
everyone... In the Eucharist, we receive Christ & Christ receives us, we
enter into close friendship with him. Thus our union with Christ is a sign &
instrument of the communion of mankind with Christ and in him with the Father
& the Holy Spirit”. ______________________________________ |
