There is no doubt that thirst is the dominant theme in today’s readings. Whereas in the first reading, thirst takes God’s own people away from him, in the gospel thirst brings a sinful woman and her renegade people closer to God.
The first reading describes the episode at a place called Massah when the people of Israel were going through the desert after their escape from Egypt. We read simply: “But the people thirsted there for water, and the people murmured against Moses.” They are close to stoning him, so he calls out to the Lord. God then tells him to strike the rock "and water shall come out of it, that the people may drink."Moses does so and water gushes forth. But the sacred writer comments: "And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the fault-finding of the children of Israel, and because they put the Lord to the proof by saying, ‘Is the Lord among us or not?".
In the gospel the thirst of a sinful Samaritan woman leads her to encounter Jesus. The Samaritans had cut themselves off from Israel and were considered ethnically and religiously impure by the Israelites. The woman, we will learn, had a deeply disordered personal life. She had been married a staggering five times and was now living with a new man who was not her husband. She went to the well seeking water but found God made man waiting for her. Seated by the well, Our Lord engages her in conversation.
He will certainly confront her with the disorder of her life, but first he will speak to her of "God’s gift", not just running water but a greater spiritual "spring of water welling up to eternal life". He is speaking both of baptism and the grace of the Holy Spirit in our souls. St Paul, in the second reading, uses a similar ‘liquid’ image to describe the action of the Spirit: "God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us." .” The woman, whom it seems had been shunned by her fellow villagers (she had to go for water alone at the hottest part of the day), now goes to proclaim Jesus to them: "Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?”.
The message is clear: we should thirst not just for earthly satisfaction (our Lenten penances should be helping us to restrain this desire) but for the grace of God. We shouldn’t rely on our ‘status’ but trust more in God’s power to save and convert us, no matter how disordered our life might have been up to now – the people of Israel rebel against God; a sinful woman becomes Christ’s apostle. Our hard rock-like hearts need to be watered by the grace of the Spirit. The bitter Samaritan woman was surprised by Christ and her life found new meaning. God has surprises for us too in this holy season.
Homily on the readings of Sunday III of Lent (A)
The priest Luis Herrera Campo offers its nanomiliaA short one-minute reflection for these Sunday readings.
