Ex 17.3-7・Ps 95. 1+2, 5+6, 7+8・Rom 5.1-2, 5-8・Jn 4.5-12
by Eeso
Today is the Third Sunday of Lent. We come to Church today including in our intentions those who will receive the Rite of Christian Adult Initiation (洗礼志願者) on Easter Vigil Mass. We will continue our prayer intention for them on the Mass of the fourth and fifth week of Lent. Our point of departure in understanding our readings today is as usual our individual and community daily life experience from a very plain and material manner, following Jesus teachings in a highly spiritual manner. Jesus, is the “Living Water.” We are then invited to link our central theme on “water” to our Baptism.
(1) A short reading from the book of Exodus today talks about the instruction of the Lord to Moses as a response both (1) to the complaint of the people to him (to Moses) regarding insufficient water to drink for themselves, for their children and their livestock, and maybe as a response also (2) to the concern of Moses of what people can do to him (to Moses) if things get worst. In here, our short reading can be understood as the Lord`s providence to His to His people, and protection to leaders of His people, in this case, to Moses. The instruction of Jesus was clear. As Moses strike the rock, water overflowed, He had been saying that people and His people`s leaders can rely on Him. He is always in our midst, trust in Him. So He is the Living Water. Whoever drinks this Living Water will never thirst.
In this season of Lent given this Word of God from the Old Testament having both a faith community and community leaders, not so far from what we have at present, we too are all invited to dig deeper on the meaning of our baptism.
(2) Jesus exactly knows what we really need. He wants us to know what God is offering us. He promises that anyone who drinks the water that He shall give will never be thirsty again. Our Gospel today is about Him extracting His teaching from a very plain manner and from a very seeming material realm to a highly spiritual realm. Most of the time, we find Jesus taking with His disciples from a seemingly obvious manner so His disciples are often stuck into it and fail to understand its deeper meaning. How often, we too with plenty of preoccupations (many concerns in this world we live), and noisy, fails to know what God is offering us!
So is the woman in our Gospel today. This woman so preoccupied with her purpose of coming to the well has led her to confusion on Jesus` Words. However, later on we realize that the power of Jesus` Words, and without doubt, His presence, has made this woman to ask for the Water so that she will never thirsty again. Indeed, the power of the Word of God, brings us closer to Him and continue to desire Him alone.
The woman is a Samaritan woman. We are being taught that Samaritan women were discriminated in their time. They may even represent other marginalized people, financially poor, outsiders and foreigners, physically and emotionally abused, and confused. They may even represent some people who had been in a long estrangement from the Word of God. BUT as we see, through our Gospel today, Jesus tells us that indeed, seeking and desiring only what is eternal is for all. We are all, then, have a calling to spread this Good News to all.
(3) Then our Second Reading summarizes the Joy of Christians. While we will definitely experience uneasiness and difficulty in choosing Him over anybody and anything else, we have PEACE with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Disappointment will never be the end- result of our hope because before we hoped there was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. Jesus has first shone us the glory of the Cross. We are saved by our faith in Jesus ` Words.
For our candidates for Baptism (洗礼志願者), and of course for all of us, let us also bring home the final words of all other Samaritans to their fellow with whom Jesus spoke/conversed, as they say, “Now we no longer believe because of what you told us, we have heard Him ourselves, and we know that He really is the SAVIOR of the world.” Let the faith handed on to us be our own faith, and the faith of our community, that is meant to be shared.
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