Jesus Christ Is The Well Spring Of Our Lives

Third Sunday of Lent (Year A)
 
Ex 17.3-7;  
Rom 5.1-2, 5-8;  
Jn 4.5-42.

The 3 “Ts”

Dearly beloved in Christ, on the first Sunday of Lent, we spoke about Temptation. Last week Sunday, we reflected on the Transfiguration and today, there is another T called Thirst.
The scripture readings for Mass today are all linked by the theme of water as the means to quench our thirst.

WATER IS INDISPeNSABLE

Water is the one element without which human life can survive no more than a few hours.  Its absence turns fertile land into desert, moist into decay and life into dryness as a number of biblical authors observe.  Those of us who keep houseplants or a garden know what happens when we fail to water them.  We have all experienced the painful state of thirst on a hot day when we have had insufficient to drink.  The sound of flowing water, even, at fountains and springs can bring a sense of coolness and well-being.

THE WATER FROM THE ROCK

In the Old Testament reading from the Book of Exodus, we heard how Moses struck the rock at Horeb, and water flowed out for the People of Israel to drink:  material succour for them in the heat of the desert.  This water was brought by the fact that the people felt that God had abandoned them to perish in the desert and they grumbled against Moses. The Lord who was ahead instructed Moses to go with the elders ahead of the people and He will be standing in front of them. This must have been an unimaginable sight; to have seen elders assembled in obedience to God. What kind of role do you play as an ‘eldre’ in the affairs of your Christian life or daily routine at work or at home?

JACOB’S WELL AT SYCHAR

Last week, as we reflected on Jesus’ words, “Do not be afraid,” one of the fears mentioned was “Do not be afraid of God revealing you to yourself.” In our Gospel reading for this Sunday (John 4:5-42), we see that Jesus revealed a Samaritan woman to herself, and then revealed Himself to her, and how all that led to great conversion. An important point that Scripture scholars point out is that Jesus meets this woman at Jacob’s Well, in a Samaritan town, at noon. Noon is not the usual time of day when people went to the well, but as we see later on, this woman probably went to the well when no one else was there to avoid the dirty looks and back-biting that she usually got from the other townspeople.So perhaps she was startled to see another person at the well, who she can tell is a Jew. And then, to her astonishment, Jesus speaks to her, and asks her for a cup of water! Remember, Saint John tells us, Jews did not associate with Samaritans because they saw them then, as they do today, as heretics, following wrong teachings and rituals.  

THE LIVING SPRING FLOWS BEYOND BORDERS

Here, outside the territory of the Jewish people, Our Lord identifies Himself with the woman:  He is a person in need of a drink and she has the water.  He depends on her to quench His thirst.  Then Jesus turns the relationship round the other way by offering her the fullness of life, a prelude to a time when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, when salvation will not be found on this mountain or that one, but wherever God chooses to reveal and to offer it.  The Samaritan woman is converted:  Sir, give me some of that water!

JESUS CHRIST IS THE MESSIAH AND THE WELL SPRING OF ETERNAL LIFE

We recognise that Our Lord is the source, the wellspring of eternal life, and that He offers salvation to us.  In the Catholic Church we use many tangible signs, symbols and sacramentals to sustain our belief that Our Lord is present in His Church.  The water of the font, in Baptism, is the effective sacramental sign that Christ’s eternal life is poured into the lives of the catechumens, changing their whole orientation and altering the state of their souls for ever.  The sprinkling of Holy Water in the Asperges at Mass, or the Vidi Aquam at the Paschal Vigil and during the Easter season helps us all to renew our sense of what Christ did for us in our own Baptism, and with Holy Water, our bodies and minds receive a small reminder of the effects of this living water. The priest immerse water into the wine in the chalice that we are members of Christ’s body and the water in the bowel used by the priest symbolises preparation for the sacrifice and the washing away of sins.

ARE YOU STILL THRISTY?

It’s a remarkable thing! Does this remarkable set of events have anything to say to us? This set of events tells me a few things. If you’re thirsting for something that no one or no thing seems to be able to satisfy, go to Jesus. As He did with the woman at the well, He will confront you with the truth, but He is not here to condemn you. He is here to save you. And if you want to give witness, you don’t have to memorize the Bible or Church law. You can simply say, “There is someone who knows what I have done and still loves me.”

LENT IS AN OPPORTUNITY

The season of Lent is a time to grow in prayer, to become more prayerful than we have been up to now, or to recover an earlier state of enthusiasm for prayer that we might have lost.  How can we do this?  First, by recognising what Christ taught the Samaritan woman.  He is the living water.  To be close to Him, to hear His words, to talk with Him in our hearts and minds is to open our souls to the living water of His grace.  As Saint Paul put it in our second reading, the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.  We come to Him as the wellspring, and draw living water from Him, like Saint Teresa’s gardener using a bucket drawn from the well.  We grow in prayer by allowing Our Lord greater freedom in our souls, by opening up and doing his will.

LENTEN PRAYER

May this Lent be a time to rediscover the joy of prayer, the beautiful flow of the living water Christ gives flowing through our souls.  May the Holy water we are sprinkled with helps to renew our hold on Our Lord’s spiritual gifts to us and to increase our desire to pray. May we not be afraid and let the living water of Jesus’ love satisfy our thirst, and may he grant us the grave to share this living water with others. Amen.

Fr Joseph Osho