Third Sunday of Lent
“If you knew the gift of God….” These were Jesus’ words to Samaritan woman. She had come to the well to draw water. Jesus’ first words to her were, “Give me a drink” (Jn 4:7). Her first words in response to him were, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” It is impossible that Jesus was not aware of the hostility between the Jews and the Samaritans. He chose the higher road as he responded, “If you knew the gift of God, and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water” (Jn 4:10).
There are three things in Jesus’ response that were bound to get her attention – the gift of God, who is talking to her, and that he could give her living water. Today, I would like to reflect on these three things.
“If you knew the gift of God”
What is the gift of God? The gift of God that Jesus could give the woman is lifegiving revelation. This lifegiving revelation is made known to her in course of the encounter. There are two parts to this lifegiving revelation.
First, Jesus said, “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth” (Jn 4:23). It was the woman who had brought up the issue about true worship. According to her, her ancestors worshipped on Mount Gerizim but for the Jews it was Jerusalem. Jesus replied, “God is Spirit.” In other words, God is not a mountain, or a place, or a sanctuary and is not limited by these spatial realities. God is spirit. God is an all-pervading presence available to those who believe.
On the one hand, the gift of God is this lifegiving revelation. On the other hand, the gift of God is the faith or the ability to put one’s belief in this lifegiving revelation.
Questions for Reflection:
- If Christ stood today in front of you and said, “Give me a drink,” what would you say in response?
- Jesus said to her, “If you knew the gift or God and who is speaking with you…” How would you describe the gift of God to you?
“And who is saying to you”
This brings us to the second part of the lifegiving revelation. The woman admits that her people were awaiting the Messiah who would “tell us everything” or the lifegiving revelation. (Jn 4:24). At this point, reveals his identity. He said her, “I am he, the one who is speaking with you.” The “I AM” here is a reference to the “I AM or “egō eimi” in God’s revelation to Moses. The greatest lifegiving revelation was standing right in front of her. He is the one who makes God (who is Spirit) known. To know the Messiah and the God he reveals is the gift of God. To know him and to know the God he reveals is like living water that wells up to eternal life.
Questions for Reflection
- has there been a time when Christ has stood in front of you and you did not recognize him, and another time when you did?
- Could you describe a time when recognizing “I AM” was a lifegiving experience?
“He would have given you living water”
“Living water” can have two meanings. It can mean flowing water from a stream of spring as opposed to the water of a cistern or pond which not like fresh water from a spring. She came to a stale cistern to draw water whereas Jesus is offering her the spring itself.
Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman is more than a one-off event. It captures much of salvation history. In today’s first reading, the people in the desert, their thirsting for water, their rebellion, and the water from the rock all leads to the One standing at the well in front of the Samaritan woman. Jesus is the hope not just of the Samaritan woman, not just of the Jewish people, but all of humanity. Paul, in today’s second reading says, “And hope does not disappoint us because the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Rom 5:5). The love of God poured into human hearts is the spring of living water that wells up to eternal life. Jesus is the personification, the incarnation, the sacrament of God’s love. He stood before the Samaritan woman and he stands before us.
Questions for reflection
- Each of us hopes for the spring of living water within us. Are there times we have stood before stale cisterns to find that which only God’s love can fulfil?
- We celebrate the Eucharist each weekend and we have the lifegiving revelation. How can we nurture the “gift of God” and “the I AM who stands before us?”
- Fr. Satish Joseph