GIVE ME SOME OF THAT WATER

III SUNDAY OF LENT - John 4:5-42

In this third Sunday of Lent, we are called to accompany the Samaritan woman with whom Jesus had a profound dialogue about the “living water”. We can look at her journey of faith and reflect upon our own, comparing our attitudes to hers. Do we allow ourselves to be guided by Jesus as she did? So let us have a look at her journey of faith step by step.

• Jesus took the initiative. Indeed, throughout the Scriptures, God is the one who always takes the initiative. He gives the first step. So, it is not a surprise that we find Jesus “sat straight down by the well”, as if waiting for that foreign woman. 
• Jesus introduced himself as someone who needs help and he asked for something easy to give, a little water to drink. He does the same with us: humbling himself, he comes close to us and asks for something, which does not demand much from us. In a way, we may consider his request as simply an excuse to start a conversation. Then, we discover that, little by little, step by step, Jesus took the interlocutor to new heights, leading her from ignorance to understanding and from being stranger to becoming a disciple so close to Jesus that he reveals himself to her. 
• From a non-believer, she became a believer. Her first reaction was surprise and even suspicion, seeing Jesus as another rude Jew, whom she should approach with caution. However, she is open to start a conversation and that openness is essential for any further step.
• When Jesus suggests that she is the one who should ask for a drink to be given “living water”, she made a full of irony: “Are you a greater man than our father Jacob?” However, hearing Jesus’ promise of water for eternal life, she ends up asking: “Give me some of that water!” I too am thirsty with an insatiable thirst, and only the Lord Jesus can quench my thirst. 
• Then Jesus goes a step further, leads her to have a good look at her life and face the mess she is in. Before Jesus, she does not claim to be just and perfect, but with sincerity and truthfulness, she recognises her sin. Indeed, her life has been a mess: in vain, she has searched for love, only to be trapped in relationships that degrade her. 
• Jesus recognised her sincerity and praised her for that. For the first time, someone took her seriously and for that she recognised Jesus as a prophet, emboldening her to ask about the true worship that is due to God. 
• Jesus’ answer allowed her to direct the conversation towards the coming of the Messiah. And then Jesus made himself known as the Messiah: “I who am speaking to you,’ said Jesus ‘I am he.”
• For that Samaritan woman, Jesus was no longer an insolent Jew, but the Messiah and, because she had been with him, she found meaning in her life and she could not keep it to herself. She had to announce this Good News. And thus she did, going to the village and spreading the news to everyone she met. Because of her testimony, they too went to Jesus and recognised him as the Messiah.
  

In this woman's life, there had been six men: the five previous husbands and the man with whom she lived now. None of them had given her happiness, until a seventh man appeared in her life - Jesus, who offered the living water, leading her to find the meaning of her life. It is in him that her heart finds rest.