Homily Third
Sunday of Lent Year A: Fr. Michael U. Udoekpo
·
Exod 17:3-7;
·
Ps 95:1-2.6-9;
·
Rom 5:1-2, 5-8
·
John 4:5-42
Christ
Refreshes Us with his Gift of Love
Many of us
are familiar with today’s delightful Gospel story of Jesus’ encounter with
the Samaritan woman in John 4. It is a story of God’s incarnate,
Christ, who consistently refreshes and lavishes each of us with his gifts,
with the “water” we need, especially the “water “of his love and mercy, his
journeying with us, his rapport and his dialogue with us and our families and friends!
This loving rapport and refreshment in the gospel goes back
not only to the time of creation but its also evidence in the first reading, about the first Exodus, during
the time of the dryness of the Israelite in the Wilderness (Exod 17:3-7). As
they journeyed through the wilderness, in their needs God not only fights for
them, hardens Pharaoh’s heart, but he provides the leadership of Moses, love,
food, manna, and drinking water for his chosen people, in spite of them: a
community who complains; who acts out Massah, who repeats the story of
Merribah, and are often distracted from acknowledging the everlasting love of
God. His gifts of mercy and guidance on our journeys. God is the Rock and the
Love of our lives!
Paul, as well,
speaks of this ever consistent, universal and refreshing love of God in the
second reading (Rom 5:1-2, 5-8). He says, “Brothers and sisters, since we have
been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have gained access by faith,” hope and love. Ultimately,
Jesus proves his love for us in that while were still sinners Christ died for
us” (Rom 5:8).
How often do
we not complain like the Israelites in the wilderness, at Massah and Merribah?
What prevents us from returning to God in our desert experiences? How easy is it for us to fail to recognize the love of
God in our lives, his blessings, or forget the history of our RCIA, the history of our Christian
faith, those promises we made during our initiation into Christian faith; the history
of God’s love for us in our thirstiness, in our hunger; in our deserts? In our frustrations!
Remember, no matter our drynesses God is there to refresh us!
The activities of this refreshing love of God
is heighten in today's Gospel passage, when Jesus encounters, dialogues,
listens, and shares a cup cold water with the Samaritan woman in John
chapter 4 (John 4:5-42). It is a faithful afternoon, in John 4. Jesus, a
Jewish Rabbi is travels in company of his disciples from Judea to
Galilee. He passes through Samaria. Here he meets this Samaritan woman who
comes to draw a fresh water from the well of Jacob. Everyone must have been
thirsty to a different degree: the woman, Christ and his disciples, since it
was in the middle of the summer heat. To the shock of everyone Jesus, a Jewish
rabbi breaks protocols and dismantles the unnecessary status quo. He
approaches, this symbolic, individual, a woman for a cup drinking water. He
also spends sometime chatting with her, respectfully, to the tacit disapproval
of his disciples!
This
conversation and exchange are much more than the search and thirstiness
for ordinary water. Jesus is friendly, respectful to women and people of all
cultures. It is not long the Samaritan woman recognizes this. She recognizes
the gifts and the compassion of Jesus. She recognizes his divinity, his love,
his prophetic role, his saving mission, his patience in dialogue, his forgiving
power, and his spiritual depth as a true source of the Living Water. She
invites the rest of the Samaritan town to trust and visit with Jesus, the
source of life, and the Savior of the World (John 4:42).
During Lent
we find ourselves not only in the Samaritan woman, but in the Samaritan town. From
this town, from our respective locations, Jesus invites us to listen to him. He
comes to us. He talks to us. He dialogues with us. He loves us. He provides us
drinking water.
This water
cleanses our personal faults and assures our uncertainties. It refreshes and
replaces our thirstiness for material things with spiritual need. It replaces
our hunger for war with peace. It replaces our desire for revenge with a thirst
for reconciliation. It refreshes our stinginess with generosity, our selfishness
with charity, our despair with hope; our jealousy with contentment. This
Living Water of Christ refreshes our divisiveness with unity; our exclusivism
with inclusivism and helps us reach out to others, especially the poor, the
aged, the immigrants, the sick, the weak and the marginalized of our
society.
As we
journey through our deserts of Lent and Exodus of hope, may we strive to
imitate the Samaritan woman, disposing ourselves for Christ’s healing mercy. As
recipients of God’s mercy and his refreshing love may we in turn reach out to
others, inviting them to partake in this bountiful love of
Christ, and share in his spiritual drink of faith like the Samaritan woman,
like the Israelites in wilderness.
Reflection Questions:
1.
How often do we not complain like the Israelites in the wilderness,
at Massah and Merribah (Exodus 17)?
2.
What prevents us from returning to God in our desert experiences?
Or encourage other members of our faith communities to do so?
3.
How often do we not fail to recognize the love of God in
our lives, or forget the history of our RCIA, the history of our Christian faith,
those promises we made during our initiation into Christian faith?
4.
As believers, leaders, preachers and modern prophets do we see ourselves in Jesus’ encounter
with the Samaritan woman (John 4)?
