THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT
(Violet) Cycle A/Year I (March 19, 2017)
Ex 17:3-7/Rom 5:1-2, 5-8/Jn 4:5-42
Jesus journeyed with His disciples from Judea to Galilee. He passed by Samaria, and there, tired thirsty, sat by the well where He met a Samaritan woman who was about to fetch water from the well. Jesus conversed with her, speaking to her seven times, the sacred number of the covenant. The conversation between Jesus and the woman that happened by the well began with Jesus asking the woman “Give me a drink” (Jn 4:7c). In this conversation with the woman, Jesus said: “If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water” (Jn 4:10). In the seventh time that Jesus spoke to the Samaritan, He revealed Himself to the woman as the Messiah.
The woman spoke to Jesus for six times and the seventh time that she spoke was her confession of faith to Jesus as the Messiah. After her conversion, the woman proclaimed the good news of salvation to her town mates who eagerly came to the place where Jesus was to witness the Messiah. They made Jesus stay in their town for two days then they confessed their faith in Jesus, saying to the Samaritan woman: “We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world” (Jn 4:42).
In the gospel, Jesus presented Himself as the living water and then revealed Himself to the Samaritan woman as the Messiah. This revelation was met with confession of faith not only by the Samaritan woman but also by her town mates who believed in Jesus as the Savior of the World. Jesus Christ is the savior of the world because He is the Messiah who offers the living water of eternal life.
In this modern world where people do not only thirst for basic needs but also for wants and pleasures, Jesus Christ as the living water has become somehow irrelevant if not unnecessary. People have become like the Samaritan woman fetching for physical water that sustains life while she is in front of spiritual living water that offers eternal life. People now a day search for many things that can grant them meaning of life while they almost ignore if not criticize the Church that offers them the living water that leads to eternal life.
In this Lenten season, we need to reflect on our personal life because we may not be aware of the fact that we are just like the Samaritan woman fetching for the wrong water. On the other hand, we need to learn from her. She did not ignore Jesus; she dialogued with Jesus and it was through her conversation with Jesus that she recognized the fact that only Jesus was the Messiah that could offer eternal life. We must not ignore Jesus; we must not ignore His Church. We have to dialogue with Jesus through personal prayer and sacramental rites in the Church. This Lenten season is an opportune time to spend more time to prayer and church’s activities. It is only when we give time to God and converse with Jesus that we will find the meaning of our life. Indeed, it is only Jesus, the living water, who can grant us the desires of our hearts because only He is the Son of God sent by God the Father to be our Messiah, the Savior of the World.