B Cycle – 3^rd Sunday of Lent 24

Jn. 4:5-42

 Today throughout the entire Catholic world there will be one mass where the candidates and catechumens will be in attendance. That mass will have the first of three scrutinies as its focus in the readings and in the homily. These last weeks before Easter are intended to have all of us looking deeply into ourselves and examining ourselves to decide if we are ready to embrace want what God is offering us.  

It is an interesting question isn’t it: do we want what God is offering us?   The gospel read during this first scrutiny is the story of Jesus encountering the woman at the well. It is a gospel story we could spend an entire month discussing and analyzing because it is filled with so many minute details which are critical to understanding what God is offering us.  Even if your mass is one where the normal readings are being proclaimed the theme of what God is offering us is certainly at the heart of Jesus overturning the tables of the money changers. 

Jesus deliberately enters Samaria which is a region all Jews would avoid. The fact that Jesus willfully and deliberately enters Samaria is scandalous. This single act tells us Jesus will overcome all obstacles to have an encounter with us. That fact is the heart of this story.  Jesus seeks us out.  He comes to us and is waiting for us to notice Him, to hear Him and yes even attempt to avoid any contact with Him. 

We go to church with the expectation of being in His presence. We come to join other believers to celebrate the Pascal Mystery, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  We expect to contact Him in the Eucharist and yet we often fail to invite Him into those places within us where we hide our sinfulness. We put on a façade of righteousness and carefully follow acceptable patterns of behavior.  All the while, Jesus is offering us more and we settle for less because we do not allow Him to touch our hearts.  

How many taboos did Jesus violated before she said yes?  How many will we break to hear Him offer us what we need to be whole?  Jesus did break down her resistance to His desire for her to believe she was worthy of a new life.  He did that by speaking to her, which no Jew would do. He did that by taking a cup of water from her and drinking from an unpurified cup.  He did that by just standing in front of Him and not letting her talk about anything else but her sins.  He reveals to her he is aware of everything she is trying to hide.  He did that by letting her know how she is unable to develop any relationship with the community because her past condemns her.  He reveals to her how her sin has driven her to avoid everyone who could help her heal including God. 

What was she seeking after that initial moment with Jesus?  Nothing from Him is the answer to that question.  She was avoiding contact with everyone, especially the women of the community. She had come to grips with a life of isolation which protected her from judgement and condemnation.  She was at that moment avoiding the healing touch of Jesus by trying to keep Him in a theological discussion. Discussing faith is safe. We can do that even though we cannot overcome our weaknesses.  She avoids His offer of living water because she cannot open that door protecting her from another condemnation.    

What is this living water she wonders and how can He give it to her for He has no bucket.  How simple we are when it comes to faith.  We live on a material level while Jesus is inviting us to live on a spiritual level. 

I have what you want if you just ask for it. Jesus offers each of us that choice each day, each moment.  Our response is to keep doing what we are doing. We seek holiness on our own terms.  “We ask for the wrong things with a desire to squander what we receive on ourselves” (Jas.4:3).  We avoid allowing Jesus to touch those places where we have been wounded by sin and it tarnished our souls. 

Jesus is offering us a new life, a new image of who we are and what we are.  It is ours by God’s design and by God’s grace to bring us back into the intimate relationship intended from the beginning of creation.  Our response is to keep God confined by rules, regulations, because of our concept of sin and punishment. Our response is to follow the acceptable norms of our faith rather than do what Jesus did and challenge those norms.  He does that in encounter with the woman at the well and in the gospel where he overturns the money changers tables. 

Jesus is revealing something to us about how our dependence on externals can replace true worship and prevent a deeper encounter with God.  It is challenging us to see how our desire to be in a right standing with God can create a barrier preventing God from embrace us.  Jesus says to us, “I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens it, I will come in to Him and dine with him and him with Me” (Rev.3:20.  It is a choice we make and one that offers us living water.

Each of us should take time this week and allow the words of Christ to penetrate our hearts.  Have your own “moment at the well with Jesus” and set aside the regular routine of things which prevent us from moving into the extraordinary.  Allow Jesus to overturn the business as usual approach to our faith and allow Him to give us what we need instead of what we want.