Third Sunday of Lent

First Reading

Exodus 17:3-7

In those days, in their thirst for water,
the people grumbled against Moses,
saying, “Why did you ever make us leave Egypt?
Was it just to have us die here of thirst 
with our children and our livestock?”
So Moses cried out to the LORD, 
“What shall I do with this people?
a little more and they will stone me!”
The LORD answered Moses,
“Go over there in front of the people, 
along with some of the elders of Israel, 
holding in your hand, as you go, 
the staff with which you struck the river.
I will be standing there in front of you on the rock in Horeb.
Strike the rock, and the water will flow from it 
for the people to drink.”
This Moses did, in the presence of the elders of Israel.
The place was called Massah and Meribah, 
because the Israelites quarreled there
and tested the LORD, saying,
“Is the LORD in our midst or not?”

Second reading

Romans 5:1-2, 5-8

Brothers and sisters:
Since we have been justified by faith, 
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 
through whom we have gained access by faith 
to this grace in which we stand, 
and we boast in hope of the glory of God.

And hope does not disappoint, 
because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts 
through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
For Christ, while we were still helpless, 
died at the appointed time for the ungodly.
Indeed, 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.

Gospel

John 4:5-42

Jesus came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, 
near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
Jacob’s well was there.
Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well.
It was about noon.

A woman of Samaria came to draw water.
Jesus said to her,
“Give me a drink.”
His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.
The Samaritan woman said to him,
“How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?”
—For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.—
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.”
The woman said to him, 
“Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep; 
where then can you get this living water?
Are you greater than our father Jacob, 
who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself 
with his children and his flocks?”
Jesus answered and said to her, 
“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; 
but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; 
the water I shall give will become in him
a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
The woman said to him,
“Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty 
or have to keep coming here to draw water.”

Jesus said to her,
“Go call your husband and come back.”
The woman answered and said to him,
“I do not have a husband.”
Jesus answered her,
“You are right in saying, ‘I do not have a husband.’
For you have had five husbands, 
and the one you have now is not your husband.
What you have said is true.”
The woman said to him,
“Sir, I can see that you are a prophet.
Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain; 
but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.”
Jesus said to her,
“Believe me, woman, the hour is coming
when you will worship the Father
neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
You people worship what you do not understand; 
we worship what we understand, 
because salvation is from the Jews.
But the hour is coming, and is now here, 
when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; 
and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him.
God is Spirit, and those who worship him
must worship in Spirit and truth.”
The woman said to him,
“I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Christ; 
when he comes, he will tell us everything.”
Jesus said to her,
“I am he, the one speaking with you.”

At that moment his disciples returned, 
and were amazed that he was talking with a woman, 
but still no one said, “What are you looking for?” 
or “Why are you talking with her?”
The woman left her water jar 
and went into the town and said to the people, 
“Come see a man who told me everything I have done.
Could he possibly be the Christ?”
They went out of the town and came to him.
Meanwhile, the disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat.”
But he said to them,
“I have food to eat of which you do not know.”
So the disciples said to one another, 
“Could someone have brought him something to eat?”
Jesus said to them,
“My food is to do the will of the one who sent me
and to finish his work.
Do you not say, ‘In four months the harvest will be here’?
I tell you, look up and see the fields ripe for the harvest.
The reaper is already receiving payment 
and gathering crops for eternal life, 
so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together.
For here the saying is verified that ‘One sows and another reaps.’
I sent you to reap what you have not worked for; 
others have done the work, 
and you are sharing the fruits of their work.” 

Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him
because of the word of the woman who testified, 
“He told me everything I have done.”
When the Samaritans came to him,

they invited him to stay with them; 
and he stayed there two days.
Many more began to believe in him because of his word, 
and they said to the woman, 
“We no longer believe because of your word; 
for we have heard for ourselves, 
and we know that this is truly the savior of the world.”

Sermon

Sisters and brothers!

Suppose I asked you now, “Where do you get your energy from?” Your answer might be: from the power outlet or the power station, or perhaps: from my relationship, from my family or friends; maybe even: from my hopes, from success in my studies or career. If I asked, “What are you thirsty for?”, you might answer: a glass of water or tea, beer or wine – or: happiness, intense experiences, security, love, or something similar. And if I asked, “What satisfies your hunger?”, I might hear: good bread, or a tasty meal – or: a good book, a word of encouragement, or something similar. Completely different answers to one and the same question! And who would claim that one type of answer, whether more spontaneous and everyday or more thoughtful and profound, makes no sense or is wrong?

Both ways of answering are meaningful and adequate—just on very different levels! The problem lies in the questions: as simple and clear as they seem, they sound polyphonic and play with several levels of meaning.

A similarly polyphonic atmosphere pervades this conversation at Jacob's well, recounted in today's Gospel: thirst for water, as one experiences after a long hike, is the banal starting point; but suddenly the conversation turns to a completely different kind of thirst and, accordingly, to quenching thirst on a completely different, more existential level.

At first, this conversation at Jacob's well gives the impression of failed communication:

the conversation partners speak the same language, but not on the same level. Speech and counter-speech do not really meet. It is as if questions are being answered that were not asked at all. Such a conversation can be very unsatisfying, especially when the only result at the end of such a conversation is talking at cross-purposes. But the opposite can also be the case, and the conversation can lead to unprecedented creative richness: the conversation partner becomes an enriching complement and inspiration for new thoughts.

The conversation between Jesus and the woman initially focuses solely on water and the effort involved in repeatedly drawing it from the well. At first, the woman does not understand what Jesus wants from her.

She talks about the water from the well, but Jesus talks about a different kind of water: the water of life. He shifts the conversation to a different level, and in doing so, he also reaches us.

What direction am I giving my life?

How do I quench my thirst for life? Or to put it another way:

Who or what quenches my thirst for life?

In the Gospel, Jesus gently guides the woman until she finally begins to understand what is meant by this water of life.

The conversation is successful; it becomes an inner encounter between two human beings. The woman at the well recognizes Jesus as the prophet. It is not without reason that the Gospel account of the encounter at Jacob's well is also considered a lesson in pastoral care. The request for a drink of water turns into a conversation about faith, life, and one's own history.

Perhaps this conversation between the two could also be an important impulse for this Lent: to take a closer, more alert, more attentive look at the everyday things, questions, and encounters in our lives, in order to perhaps discover a different, deeper level of meaning in them: “Finding God in all things,” as St. Ignatius of Loyola once formulated it as spiritual guidance. Seeking and discovering God and his message in the things, events, and encounters of our everyday lives.

Perhaps through such special attention and awareness, one or two events in our everyday lives can even become as enlightening an encounter as the one at Jacob's well. And then Lent would certainly not only be a time of more or less arduous renunciation, but would suddenly become a time of unexpected richness and unhoped-for gifts!