REFLECTION Sunday´s Gospel

3^rd Sunday of Lent A (27 March 2011)

Fr James McTavish, FMVD

The fountain of living water within us!

Recently in England I heard there was a Japanese flag hanging from a shop window, which had hands clasped in prayer and below were the words “Please pray for the people of Japan.” In these days are reports that the water is contaminated with radioactivity and is not safe for children to drink. We too pray for the country that it can harness inner strength in this trying time and work together for the good of all the people.

It makes me think that often in sufferings it is easy to lose faith in God. How can God be provident and allow such things to happen? Once a founder of a community said something very insightful in this regard. He said in front of suffering to ask God why may be the wrong question and there is a danger of impertinence. A better question than why is what. What can I do to help? What can I do to alleviate suffering?

One thing is for sure - trust is vital as we progress on our journey of Lent. The Sunday readings are light for our path and can help guide us. Today we encounter people who are thirsty after their sojourn in the desert. In the first reading (Exodus 17,1-7) the people of Israel start to complain as there is no water to drink. They start to complain and to lose trust. They ask Moses “Why did you ever make us leave Egypt?” Moses does not know what to do and asks God “What shall I do with this people?” The Lord tells Moses to strike the rock in Horeb – “Strike the rock, and the water will flow from it for the people to drink.” The image of the rock in Horeb is what is known as a type, it prefigures a future reality which St Paul understands thus “they all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was the Christ” (1 Cor. 10,4).

In the gospel, there is an encounter between two thirsty people (see John 4, 5-42)). It is the account of the episode of encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman. They meet at the well which is a biblical place of encounter – it was where Moses met his future wife. The Samaritan woman comes to draw water at noon –the hottest part of the day. Perhaps she went there at this time to avoid meeting other woman as she was ashamed of her situation. She had a live in lover and 5 previous husbands. Jesus “had” to pass that way. In fact he did not have to, as the Jews would avoid Samaria as there was a longstanding hostility between them, but Jesus chose to pass that way to encounter her. He was tired after the journey and asks her for a drink. She is surprised as Jews should not ask Samaritans for a drink – a Jew would never even share a drinking vessel with a Samaritan. Jesus is talking about living water but she does not grasp it at first. Jesus is patient and slowly his identity is revealed to her and to us. In fact you can follow a progressive revelation of who this man asking for water is - greater than Jacob (verse 12), Sir (v. 15), a prophet (v.19), the Messiah (v.29), I AM (v.26) and finally the Savior of the World (v.42).

Jesus promises living water which can become a spring of life giving water in us. Often like the Samaritan woman there are many wells which we frequent which only leave you thirsty afterwards. An interesting question for reflection is what wells do we drink from that never quench us? One can be the good opinion of others –it is hard work to always draw water from this source and it never fills as we are always worried about what will be said the next time. Other wells are money, success, alcohol...like drinking sea water – at first you may be satiated but later the thirst returns with a vengeance. Jesus desires that we come to him as our source. Later in John’s gospel he announces “Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as scripture says: 'Rivers of living water will flow from within him.'" (John 7:37-38)

Sometimes we come to Jesus and it does not seem as if his word satiates us. Why is that? Sometimes we are hard hearted! A stone in a river may have water flowing over and around it but if you crack it open even after years in the river it is still totally dry! That is why the psalmist exclaims “If today you hear his voice, harden not your heart.” What hope do we have when our heart is hardened like a rock? The Word itself can save us. The prophet Jeremiah explains that the word of God is also a hammer that can shatter rocks (Jer 23, 29). But if we keep going, keep digging we can strike gold! Once a mining engineer told me about the challenge of digging deep water wells. He said if you dig often you hit small pockets of water but the trick is not to stop there. You need to continue and then you will hit rock. Don’t stop but persevere, and after the rock layer and you will hit the water source as often it is below many layers of rock. This image helped me to understand why we have to persevere in we find to discover the fountain of living water.

We see this with the Samaritan woman – the patience of Jesus allows her to go deeper little by little. Her attitude changes and she starts to open her heart to Jesus. Eventually she leaves her water jug and runs back to tell the others in her town about the one who has told her everything she has done. The townsfolk are so inspired by her testimony that they come to Jesus. Listening to Jesus, the Samaritan woman becomes a missionary! The townspeople declare “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." (John 4:42)

How great if many could be drawn to Jesus by our simple testimony. So many are thirsty for words of comfort, direction, hope and peace. We can all be missionaries in our own little way just like the Samaritan woman. May we be attentive to recognize Christ sitting waiting for us at all the wells we frequent. May the dialogue with him open our hearts and release the fountains of living water held there within because the Holy Spirit has been poured into our hearts (Rom 5,5). Thank you Jesus because through your patient dialogue with us we can come to discover the fountain of living water within us and be a source of life for others. Amen.