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__2023. 03.12. 3rd Sunday Lent ●● Exodus 17:3-7 ●● Psalm 95 ●● Romans 5:1-2, 5-8 ●● John 4:5-42 ●●
Title: Water Source
[__01__] A couple of years ago, I visited a sick friend the hospital who was recovering– and has now recovered - from an illness – but along the way, he lost his appetite.
While he was barely eating anything,
we urged him to drink water, to stay hydrated. Water – [H2O] is a biological requirement. In fact he drank
enough water to recover, even though he did not feel thirsty.
More than half of the human body
consists of water The water is in you and me doing its job, performing a
healing function even if we do not perceive or sense its impact or effect..
Water is a performance enhancing
substance. Good news. It’s totally legal.
[__02__] Why does Jesus stop at the well – which is a place with an underground stream or spring for water?
It appears that Jesus is at the well
to procure or get water for hydration, but he’s actually there to provide or
give “living water” for holiness.
The definition of a sacrament is a
visible sign of an invisible reality.
This moment is sacramental with the water as a visible sign of God’s
goodness.
Also, Jesus
sees – in the Samaritan woman – a goodness which others disregard. He sees – in
you - goodness which others may disregard. As Paul wrote in Romans:
“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.” (Romans 5:7-8)
[__03_] The biblical scholar – Kenneth Bailey – wrote that we can assume that this traveling group including Jesus and the apostles had the necessary water jug or container or “bucket” to go to such a well. They were traveling overland in hot dry climate. And, it was the middle of the day.
If
the group had such a container, why did Jesus not ask that it be left with him?
The others were going into town to buy food. He was the one at the well. He
went without a jug or jar because he had another plan in mind. (Kenneth Bailey, Jesus through Middle
Eastern Eyes, p. 202)
[__04__] Jesus’ plan calls for healing and wholeness which is a theme for this Sunday’s Gospel and the next 2 Sundays on which Jesus heals the man born blind and raises Lazarus from the dead.
These
40 days of Lent are a time of discipline of prayer, fasting, almsgiving but we
do these things not to merit a reward or to improve our “chart”. Rather we do
them to unite ourselves to Christ’s own Passion.
To
take prayer as an example, it an exercise in freedom – and liberation – to pray
or fast or give alms on behalf of – someone who has wronged you or trespassed
against you or insulted you.
Our
instinct/reflex is to take revenge. But
our freedom is in offering these things up – to say as Jesu does “forgive [her or him
or] them Father, they know not what they do.”
(Luke 23:34)
Also,
to pray for those who may persecute you. This prayer not change the other
person – but can change you.
Your prayer is a healing sacrifice that
benefits you.
At
times, I admit, the discipline may feel like the water you do not want to drink
because you are not feeling well or do not feel thirsty. Nevertheless the water does its job.
[__05__] We read in today’s Gospel about a woman who
individually needs the healing grace of God and Jesus Christ.
Why
does she show up alone at midday – 12 Noon – after everyone else has retrieved the
early morning water? St. Augustine wrote
that the woman represents the Church not yet made righteous but about to be
made righteous. She is wounded.
The
statement about her “5 husbands” indicates something about her personal
life. Biblical scholars have also
pointed out that the “5 husbands” are not just in her “relationship profile” (as
though she had social media. I know she didn't have that.)
It
was also in the “relationship profile” of the country of Samaria which was once
part of Israel but later was conquered by foreign invaders.
The
people of Samaria were originally Jewish but after the invasion the Jewish
population was captured taken into exile. They were replaced by 5 different
ethnic groups, 5 different religions, 5 different idols.
Thus,
when Jesus says you have 5 husbands, he is not just speaking to her but to the
whole nation and to you and me with our divided, wounded hearts.
[__06__] Sometimes, we need to go beneath the surface –
beyond what is visible – to gain the necessary water for healing and recovery –
whether physically or spiritually.
In
physical-medical sense, I once had the very fortunate/blessed experience of being totally and successfully
healed after being very dehydrated due to a virus.
I’d
like to compare the physical healing properties of water to the mercy of God.
When
I was not feeling well, it worried me that I could not simply drink water to
get hydrated and healthy.
I
needed help and needed time.
[__07__] [NEEDED HELP] That is, I needed an ER hospital visit to get an I.V. intravenous. I also had to rest.
I
suggest that a sincere confession our sins in the sacrament of penance and
reconciliation is similar.
That
is, it is a prescription from Jesus the physician to receive his mercy poured
out upon you and me. There is no IV or needle, but it does involve staying
still for a bit allowing to God to come from the outside in.
Jesus
does not come to get water. He came to give water and his life for you and me.
[__08__] [NEEDED TIME] while I was being
rehydrated with the necessary fluids, I did not feel good right away. I was
told by the doctor: “you do not feel bad because you are getting worse, but
simply because you did not have enough water.”
I
can think of instances where I have sinned or been guilty of fault and then
tried to recover, apologize, make amends. I even went to confession. In some
cases, I did not feel good instantaneously. It may take a while to recover.
Nevertheless,
is it not valuable to admit and confess our wrongs out loud? To give them to
God who puts them to death in the confessional?
The
water of mercy does its work even if we do not feel the impact right away.
Going
to confession and receiving sacramental absolution/ forgiveness is not given to
us to make us feel better or soothe us immediately.
A
sacrament of a visible sign of an invisible reality.
We
receive the grace and mercy of Christ because we were made in his image,
because were created good.
Do
you always see the goodness in yourself ? I do not. I need Jesus’ mercy to
remind me of this.
God
made everyone good and in his image. Yet, we can be wounded in need of healing.
This healing enables us to be messengers
of the good news, having been refreshed by water better than any mountain
spring:
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