3rd Sunday of Lent – B – 2018 But Year A readings: Ex. 17:3-7 | Rom 5:1-2,5-8 | Jn 4:5-42
Holy Spirit (HG)
“He told me everything I have done.”
I. Have you ever been thirsty?
- not just thirsty for a drink of water or maybe a soft drink
- but really, deeply thirsty – parched...from having worked in the sun for hours
on end...weak-in-the-knees kind of thirst...dizzy-in-the-head type of thirst?
- this is a physical thirst – something everyone experiences – we are grateful
for water, the source and foundation of life – without it we would not live
and there would be no life on the planet
- of course, there are other kinds of thirsts: thirsts for relationships – for
friends, for family, for love
- we thirst for security, stability, success: the young people who are
demonstrating throughout the nation are thirsting for safety in their schools:
they want to feel safe when they come to school
- we thirst for meaning in life; we want to know that the purpose for our
existence, for the work we do, the kinds of things we do has some reason and
purpose
II. Quenching thirsts dominates the readings today.
A. The people in the desert had a physical thirst for water: they were afraid they
would die for lack of water – and God satisfied their thirst with water from the
rock.
B. The woman of Samaria at the well had thirsts, but she had different levels of
thirsts.
1. She must have had a physical thirst – which is why she came to the well in the
first place.
- but then the conversation with Jesus reveals deeper levels of thirst:
- she must have had a thirst for meaningful relationships: she had had
at least five husbands – this signals something was amiss, her thirst for
meaningful relationships was not satisfied
- but she also had a thirst for meaning in life. Her conversation with Jesus
reveals she was able to enter into a theological discussion: she began to
recognize there are deeper thirsts than for water – she wondered about the
correct place to worship and she thirsted for the Messiah
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Of course, we too, have a variety of thirsts:
- Justin and Jennifer: you must have some thirsts
- throughout this year you have been participating in RCIA; you have
participated in the class sessions and the events and activities of RCIA
- initially, you must have had some thirst – you must have had questions – a
desire to pursue this path this year – you must have been thirsting for
something more – and you continue to thirst for that something more.
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III. The woman of Samaria was led through a conversion process, step by step.
• initially she was seeking something very ordinary and everyday: she thirst
for water
• then she was piqued by Jesus – a man and a Jew – speaking to her in public
• they toyed around with the idea of water – thirsting for ordinary water or
something more?
• Jesus revealed he knew about her, her life history – that she thirsted for
meaningful relationships
• she thirsted for meaningful and correct worship
• ultimately, she was thirsting for God, a closer relationship with God, for the
Messiah
• having been led through these different levels, she became a disciple
witnessing to her townspeople about whom she just encountered: could
this be the Messiah?
But notice how her conversion went: it was not based on a reprimand or
scolding: Jesus did not berate her for having had five husbands or anything
else that may have been questionable about her life. He didn’t tell her she had
to straighten her life out.
He simply revealed her to herself; he accepted her as she was. In this
was she opened up and came to discover who he really was.
IV. This is the way God relates with us. God invites us into a conversion experience,
not through threats or reprimands or scolding – but through love. God reveals his
love for us – knowing everything about us, knowing who we are and what we’ve
done. God loves us for who we are and invites us to respond in love to him and to
one another.
V. And – in all fairness – we should ask who is thirsting? Is it we who thirst for God –
or is it that God is thirsting even more for us? We come to this Eucharist to quench
our thirsts – but God’s thirst for us to quenched when we draw close to him.
------------ Fr. Dwayne Thoman