Lent 3rd Sunday
Ex 17:3-7; Rom 5:1-2, 5-8; Jn 4:5-42
To Quench the Deeper Thirst
Advertisements in the media guarantee to satisfy our needs. We may have tried all kinds of advertised drinks and have yet to find one that truly satisfies. Perhaps they do meet a momentary need, but our deeper thirst is never quenched because material things can never fill our inner void. Man is created to thirst for God. This weekend’s liturgical readings reiterate that only God can quench our real thirst; they tell us how our physical needs ultimately lead to a spiritual need.
Progress of Enlightenment: In the first reading, the Israelites put God to the test as they grumble to quench their thirst on their way to the Promised Land. Moses, commanded by God, strikes the rock with his staff in the presence of the elders; miraculously, water flows from the rock. This is one of three events found in the Old Testament that speak of people thirsting for water (Ex 15:22–25; Num 20:11). In all these instances, the people exhibit their distrust in God by striving only to satisfy their physical thirst.
In the Gospel, Jesus turns a Samaritan woman’s physical thirst into spiritual thirst. The richness of the story lies in the dialogue between Jesus and the woman. It is a story about revelation, communication, and relationship — a transition from ignorance to enlightenment. Jesus gradually leads the woman to a yearning for the spring of salvation, the living water which is eternal life, divine grace, and God’s life within the soul. The woman craves this type of water because she wishes to have eternal life, although she misunderstands it at first.
How does the woman’s physical thirst turn into spiritual thirst? At first, the woman remains in the temporal realm while Jesus speaks from the spiritual. He breaks down this barrier for her as He tells her about her personal life, and she is astonished that He knows everything about her.
During this process of heart-to-heart conversation, she first calls Him a Jew, then “sir” or “Lord,” then “prophet,” and finally “Messiah.” She begins to understand that Jesus is the awaited Savior. “Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Jesus makes her realize that He is not just an ordinary Jew. She now understands that the water Jesus gives is the Holy Spirit (Jn 7:38–39), and she begs for it. Jesus can work in us in the same way if we ask for help from the Holy Spirit.
Finding Our Own Well: Once, there was a woman who walked a mile daily to draw water from a public well. Over the years, she grew weary of the journey. One day, while working in her garden, she came upon a large flagstone lying on the ground. The flagstone was completely covered with moss. Her curiosity aroused, she cleared away the moss, then removed the flagstone — and discovered a lovely spring. She was thrilled! Never again would she have to make that tiresome journey to the public well. She now had an unfailing source of water of her own. That is exactly what Jesus did for the Samaritan woman.
Thus, she was fully catechized and found the spring of salvation. She then became an evangelizer, carrying the Good News to her people and bringing them to Jesus. This marginalized woman’s enthusiastic response, powerful personal testimony, and brave witness stand in stark contrast to Nicodemus’s hesitance (Jn 3:9), the crowd’s demand for proof (Jn 6:25–34), and the Pharisees’ refusal to acknowledge the hand of God in the healing of a blind man (Jn 9:24–34). She is a model for us, showing us how to quench our spiritual thirst and become evangelizers in our own households.
Personal Rapport with Jesus: If the thirst of the body is the very taste of death, then the thirst of the soul is the very picture of spiritual despair. We are living in a world where many try to satisfy the inner craving of the human heart with material things. St. Augustine wrote, “You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”
The Samaritan woman came to the well to fetch water as a sinful woman but went back home as a transformed person because of her dialogue with Jesus. We too, in order to understand Jesus fully and be transformed, must enter into our own personal dialogue with Him. If we do this, we will find that His yoke is sweet and His burden light.
Faith is not just repeating certain phrases or reciting the Creed. Faith is growing day by day in the knowledge of God, as taught through the experience of Jesus, who shows us how to apply it to our daily lives. Jesus wishes to come into our “private” lives not to embarrass or frighten us, not to judge or condemn us, but to free us and change us — to offer us what we really need: the living water of the Holy Spirit. Let us find this living water in the Sacraments, in personal devotions, and in the Bible.
We must allow Jesus to enter our hearts in order to be transformed. If we converse with Him in daily prayer, we will begin to experience a transformation into the true nature God desires for us, and to grow in faith as did the Samaritan woman. To do this, we need to rid ourselves of the “husbands” — the unholy attachments and evil habits we all have — so that Jesus can enter our hearts and transform us. It is only through our personal rapport with Jesus that we become His evangelizers, like the Samaritan woman. Are we ready to quench our inner thirst?
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