Reflection on the Gospel of the Third Sunday Of Lent |
John 4: 5-42 |
It’s the 3rd Sunday of Lent as we keep traveling deeper into the desert experience the Lord asks us, are you thirsty for me? Are you thirsty for living water?
Living water! Now what’s that? It’s the same puzzled expression that the Samaritan woman had on her face when she encounters Jesus and He offers her living water. The Samaritan woman in today’s Gospel is thirsty, she has been seeking love and has been duped. She was looking for a real relationship but ended up being considered as a woman of loose moral character. She experienced shame and judgement and therefore collects water from the well during the hottest time of the day expecting to be all by herself.
But Jesus has other plans. He isn’t bothered about the Jewish Samaritan rivalry. All Jesus cares about is her. He knows her weaknesses and her immoral past but he wants to offer her something real and substantial. Unlike the love that she sought before, Jesus’ love is true. Human love is transient/short lived or fleeting, the Love of Christ is eternal and never changing. It cares for her and wants to provide for her. All she has to do is accept the Love Jesus is offering her and everything else will be taken care of… it is a relationship like no other she will ever have.
Are you thirsting for love from the world and are never satisfied? Have you truly considered the Love of Christ?
The woman at the well accepted the love of Jesus and ran away without drawing water from Jacob’s well. She was overflowing with Joy, she had hope, she was never the same, she experienced a transformation. The same applies to us, we may currently thirst for the world but if we truly experience God’s love, we will want more of it and less of the world. We will want to share God’s love throughout our world. So are we ready to accept God’s love offering?
