Third Sunday of Lent
Lectionary: 28
Reading 1 EX 17:3-7
In those days, in their thirst for water,
the people grumbled against Moses,
saying, “Why did you ever make us leave Egypt?
Was it just to have us die here of thirst
with our children and our livestock?”
So Moses cried out to the LORD,
“What shall I do with this people?
a little more and they will stone me!”
The LORD answered Moses,
“Go over there in front of the people,
along with some of the elders of Israel,
holding in your hand, as you go,
the staff with which you struck the river.
I will be standing there in front of you on the rock in Horeb.
Strike the rock, and the water will flow from it
for the people to drink.”
This Moses did, in the presence of the elders of Israel.
The place was called Massah and Meribah,
because the Israelites quarreled there
and tested the LORD, saying,
“Is the LORD in our midst or not?”
Responsorial Psalm PS 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9
R. (8) If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;
let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us joyfully sing psalms to him.
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Come, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
“Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the desert,
Where your fathers tempted me;
they tested me though they had seen my works.”
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Reading 2 ROM 5:1-2, 5-8
Brothers and sisters:
Since we have been justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have gained access by faith
to this grace in which we stand,
and we boast in hope of the glory of God.
And hope does not disappoint,
because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
For Christ, while we were still helpless,
died at the appointed time for the ungodly.
Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person,
though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die.
But God proves his love for us
in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.
Verse Before The Gospel CF. JN 4:42, 15
Lord, you are truly the Savior of the world;
give me living water, that I may never thirst again.
Gospel JN 4:5-42
Jesus came to a town of Samaria called Sychar,
near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
Jacob’s well was there.
Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well.
It was about noon.
A woman of Samaria came to draw water.
Jesus said to her,
“Give me a drink.”
His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.
The Samaritan woman said to him,
“How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?”
—For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.—
Jesus answered and said to her,
“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.”
The woman said to him,
“Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep;
where then can you get this living water?
Are you greater than our father Jacob,
who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself
with his children and his flocks?”
Jesus answered and said to her,
“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again;
but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst;
the water I shall give will become in him
a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
The woman said to him,
“Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty
or have to keep coming here to draw water.”
Jesus said to her,
“Go call your husband and come back.”
The woman answered and said to him,
“I do not have a husband.”
Jesus answered her,
“You are right in saying, ‘I do not have a husband.’
For you have had five husbands,
and the one you have now is not your husband.
What you have said is true.”
The woman said to him,
“Sir, I can see that you are a prophet.
Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain;
but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.”
Jesus said to her,
“Believe me, woman, the hour is coming
when you will worship the Father
neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
You people worship what you do not understand;
we worship what we understand,
because salvation is from the Jews.
But the hour is coming, and is now here,
when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth;
and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him.
God is Spirit, and those who worship him
must worship in Spirit and truth.”
The woman said to him,
“I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Christ;
when he comes, he will tell us everything.”
Jesus said to her,
“I am he, the one speaking with you.”
At that moment his disciples returned,
and were amazed that he was talking with a woman,
but still no one said, “What are you looking for?”
or “Why are you talking with her?”
The woman left her water jar
and went into the town and said to the people,
“Come see a man who told me everything I have done.
Could he possibly be the Christ?”
They went out of the town and came to him.
Meanwhile, the disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat.”
But he said to them,
“I have food to eat of which you do not know.”
So the disciples said to one another,
“Could someone have brought him something to eat?”
Jesus said to them,
“My food is to do the will of the one who sent me
and to finish his work.
Do you not say, ‘In four months the harvest will be here’?
I tell you, look up and see the fields ripe for the harvest.
The reaper is already receiving payment
and gathering crops for eternal life,
so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together.
For here the saying is verified that ‘One sows and another reaps.’
I sent you to reap what you have not worked for;
others have done the work,
and you are sharing the fruits of their work.”
Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him
because of the word of the woman who testified,
“He told me everything I have done.”
When the Samaritans came to him,
they invited him to stay with them;
and he stayed there two days.
Many more began to believe in him because of his word,
and they said to the 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.”
[I]The word of the Lord.
Summary
The readings of today 3rd Sunday of year a have a lot for us to learn. They are used mainly for the 3rd scrutiny and third stage of catechumen who are waiting for baptism. Hence they are thisrting for real water to quench their thirst which is release from the bondage of original sin. The first parents fell into sin because they lost trust in God and were not contented with their status. Hence the devil brought in them grumbling and feeling God had short changed them. They did not know God had a plan for them. The same thing is seen by the Jews who came out of bondage in Egypt. Even after seeing all the wonders God had done as they passed from bondage they lost trust. Grumbling motif returns in them just like their forefather. God gives them the water from a rock but the punishment comes where all perished even Aaron and Moses in the desert. The only survivors were Joshua and Caleb. The rock in the desert was seen to be dry but it had water inside it to quench the thirst of all who were on the exodus. Presently in the church this rock is Jesus. Whoever touches Jesus with faith and trust gets salvation. Unfortunately even though Moses was told to touch the rock, he hit it. How many times do we hit Jesus hence we have our years because of our mistrust of Jesus. Today if you hear the word of God do not harden your heart. Many also abuse the Eucharist in the way of reception. They strike the Lord. St. Paul tells us we have been justified by faith in Jesus Christ. We need to know that our salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ. Today the gospel narrates to us a dialogue not a monologue like in Nicodemus. The woman at the well begins by calling Jesus a Jew then she climbs and calls him sir,then prophet then Christ. We are called to make a leap of faith. Change the mentality of seeing Christ the messiah through prayer dialogue with him. The woman was a Samaritan. She was accused and condemn without trial. She was afraid to face the reality of the morning and thought of going during the day. This woman who was not a Jew represents the people of the nations. There is a call that an individual should evangelize, a nation to a nation, a state to a state and so on. The moment a spark of light comes to your eyes don’t let it pass without results. Sin has made us to be enslaved by various idols whom the Scripture calls husbands. We need to leave the house of five and more husbands and go with our utensil to seek Christ. Our utensils are our hearts that thirst. The church which is a pilgrim has many huddles to skip before meeting Christ. It has to skip the huddle of idolatry, lust, self negation and abasement, belittling self, tribalism, nepotism, feminism, male chauvinism,nationalism,and the rest. Christ says ‘I thirst’ in these idols. The loss of the sense of the divine has cost us our youthfulness, our power, our strength and the rest leading us to carry empty pots. Most of our time is wasted in the unwanted. Christ comes to break the bond of slavery between the Jew and the Samaritan by seeking water from her. Dialogue will always help us move away from bloodshed. The efforts of ecumenism must not be left to few. All the times Christ thirsts by the war in us, and the war outside us. The war in us is refusal to admit our sins. The war outside us is refusal to see those we have hurt with our character. God calls us to confession. The woman confessed that she had no attachment to any of the husbands. It was her lack of control that made her to think she could get satisfaction from creatures. The more she got involved the more she courted more enmity from the society. Christ makes her to realize who he is to her until she goes to preach the good news. The woman left many things. She left the house and even maybe a man whom Jesus told her"even the one you have is not yours." She left the time for going to fetch water with others, she left the road to other husbands and even the one going to the well. She left the pot at the well. What have you left in this time of lent? The wars within us can just be left and we shall live. Change the routine of doing things. Change wrong friends. Do not listen to lies anymore. The woman was never afraid again in her talk with the master. Courage sent her back to preach to her enemies and in few houses she created a parish with the parish church at the well where Christ remained seated. How many of us hid the preaching of priests to the point of visiting the blessed sacrament at the alter or in the tabernacles. The woman brought together a worshiping crusade of knights who stayed with Christ for two days. Christ is always waiting at the well of our hearts. He needs you to communicate or dialogue with him in the prayer that wells from the heart. Leonard Boff calls it existential shock. I bet now you see the gospel has a lot. I can continue for long but I wish all of you a good night and happy and holy Sunday. Praise be to Jesus Christ.
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