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.” John 4:5-42
3rd Sunday Lent Cycle A
There was an old father who at every Thanksgiving would gather his sons and daughters for dinner at their old home. It was the only chance the family would get together especially after the mother had died. But as the years passed each gradually stopped showing up for the reunion until the poor father was left alone every year at Thanksgiving. Nonetheless the father would still invite everyone each year. But each one had always an excuse for not coming.
The father was getting tired of all this and so he one year he thought of a strategy. That year the old man sent each son and daughter an invitation to his funeral.
The sudden news of their dad’s demise shook all of them. Each of them felt so guilty for ignoring his dad’s annual invitations that with great haste they all returned home the soonest time possible.
To each one’s tearful surprise, instead of finding the dad’s urn at home they saw a full Thanksgiving table. And when their dad finally showed each one hugged the man so tightly as if to never let him go.
Think of this. If ever the man did come up with the trick the children would never have returned home to see him and talk with him.
The late Pope Francis in his message for this season of Lent has this same message to all of us. God is very eager to communicate with each of us, to invite us to conversion by reflecting on Christ’s sacrifice. Yet have we shown God any interest recently? Have we forgotten that unlike the grandfather in our story, it is no ruse at all that Jesus has really died for us.
Like the old man, Jesus in today’s gospel also tricked the Samaritan woman if only He could save her soul. At first he teased her by asking for water. As a Jew, Jesus shouldn’t share cups with a Samaritan much less engage a woman in dialogue. But Jesus continued on playing with by her revealing her amorous secrets. The only aim of Jesus beyond this strategy was to give her “living water”, to show that He is the “messiah” she was waiting for – in short to save her from sin.
Does God really have to come up with a trick like this for us to take interest in a dialogue with Him about our overdue conversion?
Jesus talks to the Samaritan woman. Jews don’t talk to Samaritans whom they consider mortal enemies. Nor do they never drink from the same cup. Jewish men seldom talk with their women whom they consider inferior almost like part of their livestock. And yet Jesus breaks the usual because the woman needs conversion. She has had five lived-in partners for in truth she was a discriminated prostitute. No wonder she fetches water at noontime when everyone is at lunch. The woman needs the real water that gives eternal life.
We also need conversion. Jesus comes to talk to us. Are we interested to talk to Him?