Third Sunday of Lent
~ Sister Kathy Carpenter, Walsenberg, Colorado
The Woman at the Well - John 4:5-42
In the heat of the day, Jesus encounters a Samaritan woman. The large water vessel she carries can be symbolic of her life: weary, isolated, and burdened with a complicated past. There sits Jesus, a Jew, an enemy of her people. He may smile and say something quiet and kind, not judging her, not telling her of her sins, just present to her.
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Jesus begins with a quiet request, "Give me to drink." This quiet request invites a relationship, which surprises her, but she does not turn away. In fact, she recognizes who this person of Jesus is and now the encounter grows into another dimension, one not about water but listening to every word that comes from him.
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He is inviting her, not only to quench his thirst, but he is inviting her to what we know in Lent as metanoia, change of heart, a deep inner conversion — turning toward a new way of being. The woman listens. She is inspired by what Jesus is saying. She is changed, as all of us are, when we sit and listen.
As she leaves, she leaves behind her water vessel and takes with her a new experience of the Living Water. Scripture says she went into town and talked with people about her remarkable experience.
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Reflection:
What “water jar” might I be invited to leave behind?
How could my own story become a path for others to encounter Christ?