3^rd Sunday of Lent (A); March 15 , 2020

Ex 17:3-7   Ps 95   Rom 5:1-8   Jn 4:5-42

Deacon Jim McFadden

 

This Sunday we have the great privilege of hearing the story of the woman at the well, the definitive text on Christian evangelization. As we reflect upon this magnificent story, notice that as the woman seeks, she has already been found! This is the linchpin of Biblical spirituality: the woman is a seeker; indeed, we all are because we have thirsts and hungers; so, we seek all kinds of things. But, the most important point that as we seek we have already been found. She comes to the well—and, think of the well of all the things that we seek—to find satisfaction. As she comes to the well, Jesus is already there! There is nothing more important in this story or the spiritual life than this idea.

This story illustrates The primacy of grace! “It’s not you who have chosen me, I who have chosen you.” In ordinary spiritual quest, we’re the one who are seeking God, which you can see in a lot of world religion texts, poetry, and art. But, that’s not what the Bible is interested in. “It’s not you who have chosen me, but I who have chosen you.” Here’s the principle: if only we would surrender to God who is already looking for us, we would be in the right space. So, when we twist ourselves into pretzels wondering how we find God, how do I seek, that is not the primary question. It’s how I allow myself to be found by the God who is always and already looking for me.

What gets in the way of this realization is our errant desire: to quote that country/western refrain, we’re “looking for love in all the wrong places.” We try in vain to satisfy the deepest longing of the heart with something less than God. There’s the life of sin in a nutshell. Trying to fill this yearning with something else than God can never work; indeed, it will make us frustrated and addicted to these God-substitutes.   Waking up to this fact can be indispensable in the process of conversion.

So, what does Jesus say to the woman who has regularly visited the well:   “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. But, those who drink the water that I will give will never thirst.” The water that Jesus will give will be a spring of water welling up to eternal life. If you have ears to hear, the whole spiritual life is in those words of Jesus.

There is no other way to realize our destiny. If we drink from the well of wealth, trying to satisfy the deepest thirst of your heart, we’ll get thirsty again.   You drink from the well of power, you’ll get thirsty again. If we drink from the well of approval, we’ll get thirsty again. When we drink from the well of sexual pleasure, we’ll get thirsty again. Why? All these good things—and, they are good—are ephemeral: they fade away, wear off, run-out. Haven’t well experienced this syndrome?   Why does it happened: we have an infinite hunger for an infinite good; all these finite goods either fade away, wear off, or run-out.

Continuing these spiritual laws of physics, what is the one reality that never runs out? What is the one fountain that never runs dry? Answer: the divine life (!) which is precisely what Jesus offers the woman at the well. You see how the infinity of God is not just a matter of theological interest, but it has enormous spiritual significance. Since God is infinite, his life never runs out, wears out. Think of the water that Jesus is offering is the Church—which is the mystical Body of Christ—with all of its richness—it’s teaching, sacramental life, liturgies, devotions, Adoration, life of the saints, etc.—is meant to convey to us the divine life which never runs out! Therefore, that’s the well you drink from!

            Brothers and sisters, we have to ask ourselves, “Are we drinking from the right well?” If so, we have to leave behind our disordered desires, which can be painful. But, all of that is necessary so that we can be lead to a place of right praise and worship, which is the very Body of Christ, the Church!

            As the story comes to its conclusion, notice what she does.   She puts down the bucket, symbolic of the abandonment of her old way of life. She let go of all the ways that she strove to satisfy her heart that were without God. She puts that down. And, so will you and I when we let Christ into our lives.

And, finally, she goes into the village and declares Jesus to everybody. This is always the Biblical rhythm. Once you’ve been evangelized, you want other people to know. What’s evangelization? It’s one starving beggar, one hungry person telling another where they can find true bread, which is exactly what she does at the end of the story.

So, you want a model for evangelization and conversion, spend sometime with this wonderful story of the woman at the well. Amen.