A Different Kind of Thirst
Mar. 3: Third Sunday of Lent
Today, our parish celebrated the first scrutiny for the catechumens preparing to be baptized. So it makes sense that the readings are all about water.1 Except for the second reading, from Romans. That seems to be about hope; it doesn’t even mention water. Why would that be?
Let’s find out!
Reading I
Ex 17:3-7
In those days, in their thirst for water, the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “Why did you ever make us leave Egypt? Was it just to have us die here of thirst with our children and our livestock?”
So Moses cried out to the LORD, “What shall I do with this people? a little more and they will stone me!”
The LORD answered Moses, “Go over there in front of the people, along with some of the elders of Israel, holding in your hand, as you go, the staff with which you struck the river. I will be standing there in front of you on the rock in Horeb. Strike the rock, and the water will flow from it for the people to drink.”
This Moses did, in the presence of the elders of Israel. The place was called Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled there and tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD in our midst or not?”
The people have escaped Egypt, but now they’re worried they’re going to die of dehydration.2 But of course, God isn’t going to let that happen. He gives them the water, miraculously from a rock.
It makes me wonder, who named the place, though? Is God mocking them with this constant reminder? Or are the Jews themselves sardonically acknowledging their own shortcomings and lack of faith?
Responsorial Psalm
95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;
let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us joyfully sing psalms to him.
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Come, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
“Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the desert,
Where your fathers tempted me;
they tested me though they had seen my works.”
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Whoever named the place, the Israelites clearly needed the reminder. Hence, this Psalm. Worship God and have faith. Don’t be like the Jews at Meribah and Massah. They actually saw God perform miracles, like parting the Red Sea, and still wondered if God was with them.
God is with us, too, whether we acknowledge it or not. So we’d better acknowledge Him.
Reading II
Rom 5:1-2, 5-8
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 to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in hope of the glory of God.
And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For Christ, while we were still helpless, died at the appointed time for the ungodly. Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.
Sometimes3 the second reading is only tenuously connected to the first and the Gospel. Here, one might point to the "love of God has been poured out" metaphor as the whole connection.
But I don’t think so. At least, I don’t think that’s all. The Israelites wandering the desert, they didn’t have hope. They thought they were going to die of thirst, until God gave them water. The Samaritan woman in the Gospel, we’ll see she didn’t have much hope either, because of her sins.
But Paul tells us we can have hope despite our sins. God told Moses to strike the rock while the Israelites were complaining; he didn’t make them apologize before providing the miracle. Likewise, Jesus died for our sins even though we still continue to commit them. And that’s why we can boast in hope of the glory of God.
Verse Before the Gospel
Cf. Jn 4:42, 15
Lord, you are truly the Savior of the world;
give me living water, that I may never thirst again.
I think it’s significant that the Lectionary has us singing the words of a divorced Samaritan woman. The Jews of Exodus were God’s chosen people, but the Samaritans were not. Yet Holy Mother Church asks us to emulate this woman because of her hope.
Gospel
Jn 4:5-42
Jesus came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there. Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well. It was about noon. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.
The Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” —For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.— Jesus answered and said to her, “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.”
The woman said to him, “Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep; where then can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself with his children and his flocks?”
Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”
Jesus said to her, “Go call your husband and come back.” The woman answered and said to him, “I do not have a husband.” Jesus answered her, “You are right in saying, ‘I do not have a husband.’ For you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true.”
The woman said to him, “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain; but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.”
Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You people worship what you do not understand; we worship what we understand, because salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him. God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth.”
The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Christ; when he comes, he will tell us everything.” Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one speaking with you.”
At that moment his disciples returned, and were amazed that he was talking with a woman, but still no one said, “What are you looking for?” or “Why are you talking with her?”
The woman left her water jar and went into the town and said to the people, “Come see a man who told me everything I have done. Could he possibly be the Christ?” They went out of the town and came to him.
Meanwhile, the disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” So the disciples said to one another, “Could someone have brought him something to eat?”
Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work. Do you not say, ‘In four months the harvest will be here’? I tell you, look up and see the fields ripe for the harvest. The reaper is already receiving payment and gathering crops for eternal life, so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together. For here the saying is verified that ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap what you have not worked for; others have done the work, and you are sharing the fruits of their work.”
Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me everything I have done.” When the Samaritans came to him, they invited him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. Many more began to believe in him because of his word, and they said to the woman, “We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world.”
In the Letter to the Hebrews,4 Paul says, “Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.” In other words, hope comes first. If you don't have hope for something, you can't have faith in anything.
Jesus meets a woman who’s by herself. That’s kind of strange; usually women would go in groups to the well, just in case they run in a strange, itinerant rabbi asking for water. It seems likely that they’re avoiding her, or she’s avoiding others. Either way, she is an outcast even among a civilization of outcasts, the Samaritans.
It’s not really clear why she’s had five husbands, but it may be by choice. After all, why did she tell this stranger she doesn’t have a husband? Is she coming on to him? Is she looking for husband number six?
It's no accident that they're meeting at Jacob's well. This scene is reminiscent of another scene from Genesis, where Jacob meets Rachel for the first time, also at a well.5 But of course, she's no Rachel, a young, beautiful virgin. She's been married, or, as Jesus points out, has been not-married five times. Jesus doesn’t let this go; He points it out, despite her lie. He’s obviously not excusing her behavior.
And yet, He tells her something He doesn’t go around telling everybody—He’s the Messiah. His insight gives her hope that what He says about living water is true. Because of that hope, she has faith in Him and His words.
The disciples show up, and for once, they have enough sense to not interrupt. But the Samaritan woman runs off anyway, to go tell everyone the Good News.6 While she does that, Jesus tells them He's already eaten.
They take Him literally, and so He explains7 that His “food” is doing God’s will, i.e. gathering souls for God.
And as if to prove His point, the Samaritan woman comes back with people from the town. It’s a happy ending for her. Whether they were avoiding her or she was avoiding them, they’ve managed to resolve their differences, thanks to her faith in Jesus.
After spending some time with Him, they find faith, too.
Jesus starts the story alone, but because of who He is and what He does, He gives hope to a sinful woman, who then find faith in Him. The disciples bring Jesus food, but the woman brings back more faithful.8
All because He was a little thirty.
I’d like to point out that I resisted the urge to call this post “Thirst Trap,” because this is a family blog.
Reminds you of the Zen master, doesn’t it?
Often.
Arguably the first evangelist to the Gentiles, even before Paul.
This is just one of many instances where Jesus explains a metaphor when His followers get confused. It’s one more piece of evidence that “This is my body… this is my blood” is meant to be taken literally.
While researching today’s readings, I found a paper that identified this story as having chiastic structure—
A Meeting of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well (vv. 5-9)
B Dialogue on living water (vv. 10-15)
C Dialogue on true worship (vv. 16-26)
B' Dialogue on true food (vv. 27-38)
A' Meeting of Samaritans and Jesus (vv. 39-42)