Living Water – Drawing from Deep Wells
Water – fresh, running water, drinkable water, water in the desert, water from a well, living water. Water and hearing the voice of the Lord are linked in today’s readings.
On the Third Sunday of Lent, two different sets of readings may be used. For communities in which people are preparing for the Easter sacraments – Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist – the readings are those from Cycle A. There are three different Cycles of readings used in our liturgies. This allows us to hear more of scripture that is possible if only one set is ever used.
A ritual known as the Scrutinies is celebrated on the Third, Forth, and Fifth Sundays of Lent. We join with those preparing to enter the Church in looking at our lives and examining areas in which we need a bit more help from the Lord to live our lives as witnesses to the love of God. The readings from Cycle A support the theme for the prayers and reflections that form these rituals.
This year, for celebrations of Mass that do not have the Scrutinies, the readings from Cycle C will be used. At Resurrection, for Sunday’s Zoom Mass, it will be the readings from Cycle A.
Moses and the Israelites in our first reading (Ex 17:3-7) are wandering in a desert – hungry and thirsty, remembering the days back in Egypt when they at least had something to eat and drink, even if they had to be slaves. Moses fears they will turn against him and possibly even kill him in their anger at being in a desert with nothing to drink. He turns to God in frustration – “What am I to do with this people!” And he hears the voice of the Lord (God) telling him to strike a rock with his staff – the same staff he used to part the waters of the sea and bring them back flowing over the pursuing Egyptians. When Moses strikes the rock, water pours forth.
In our experience, this sounds totally improbable, outlandish even. But in that land, water hides within and behind rock formations. It is possible to break through the rock and find flowing water. That water sustained the Israelites and they were able to continue on their 40-year journey, wandering through the desert on the Sinai Peninsula before arriving at the Promised Land.
St. John tells us of the time when Jesus stopped in a Samaritan town and met a woman at a well that had once been owned by the great patriarch, Jacob. (Jn 4:5-42) Jesus and his friends were hungry and thirsty. His friends went into town to buy some food. He stayed at the well. A woman approached the well. Based on the time of the day, he knew she was not a woman of good reputation. Most women came to the well early in the morning. They were busy with household activities around noon when this encounter took place. Possibly, this woman “worked” at night. She had been married many times. She was living with a man to whom she was not married. She was not a person respected by her community. She came to the well at a time when she did not expect to meet anyone there.
Jesus spoke with her, despite the fact he would have known she was not a respectable woman based on the time of day she had come to the well. He asked her for a drink of water. She was shocked and questioned his motives. Why would a good Jew speak to her, let alone ask her to get him some water from the well? Men didn’t speak to women whom they did not know in public places like a well. Jews didn’t speak to Samaritans.
As the woman and Jesus speak, she realizes that he is more than he appears. He speaks of giving her living water (another name for running water rather than water from a well). That seems totally off-the-wall to her. It doesn’t occur to her that he might be speaking of what we call the water of life, the life of and with God. Yet eventually, as they speak, she comes to recognize that he is sent by God and is a prophet. Water comes in many forms, it seems. Sometimes it’s a gift of new life possibilities.
John tells us that Jesus and his disciples stayed in that town for two days. Jesus spent the time teaching the people of the kingdom of God. Many people came to believe in him when they heard his teaching. The waters of life flowed in their community, after first being offered to a woman whom no one respected, a woman who shared what she had discovered with the rest of her community.
St. Paul speaks to the Christians in Rome about the gift of peace with God to which we have access by our faith in Jesus (Rm 5:1-2, 5-8). We can hope in the glory of God, the love of God poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. Like the Samaritan woman at the well, we don’t have to be perfect or even respectable for God to love us. God reached out to the people of that village in Samaria. God reached out to the people of Rome. God reached out to the Hebrew people in the desert. And God reaches out to us each day. Jesus came to us when we were imperfect. He lived and died as a truly human man. And in his life and death, the witness and integrity of his life became our model. Through his resurrection, we all have life and the possibility of reunion with our God.
In California this year, we continue to be very aware of water, including the lack of water. We are very short of rain. Water conservation and even rationing loom on the horizon. But the water of life, given by God, does not run short. There is plenty of that for all. It’s an abundant resource, just waiting for us to reach out in faith and tap into it.
As the Psalmist says, “If today you hear God’s voice, harden not your hearts.” (Ps 95) Where do we hear God’s voice today? What is the living water we need?
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