Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”

The scripture readings for this reflection can be found at http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/031520.cfm

 In our gospel for today we hear of the encounter of Jesus with the Samaritan woman. She’s a woman who you might say “Has a past.” It seems apparent that she has lived a life of promiscuity. She has had five husbands, and the man she’s currently living with is not her husband.

We need to remember that women of her day had very little choice or control over their own lives. If she is divorced it is because the men divorced her. She had no right of divorce. That was exclusively the man’s right. Maybe it was just divorce but maybe not. If she’s not divorced, then she suffered the death of five husbands. Five times left alone, five times nameless, faceless and of no value, five times starting over. Maybe some divorced her. Maybe some died. We don’t know. Either way, divorce or death, it is a tragedy for her life.
Further, as a Jew, Jesus should have nothing to do with Samaritans because of the animosity between the Jews and the Samaritans. Further, as a male, he was never supposed to talk to an unaccompanied female in public. He quickly violates both policies by assertively asking the woman for a drink. Jesus sees her struggles and needs. A conversation immediately starts over Jesus’ claim to be living water. The woman at this point cannot grasp the deeper meaning of water that Jesus is proposing.

Jesus looks beyond what her physical needs were and offers her spiritual water. Jesus is the Spiritual Water that can bring her closer to God. He knows her past, but her past doesn’t matter. He slowly draws her closer to relationship with Him, the living water, and to a loving relationship with God. She starts off by addressing Him as “Sir” to believing that he’s a prophet. She realizes her need of Him as her savior.

In her encounter with Jesus at the well, Jesus holds before her two realties of her life; the realty of what is and the realty of what might be. He brings up her past, not out of condemnation, but simply a statement of what is.

But it doesn’t end there. Jesus is more interested in her future than her past. He wants to satisfy her thirst more than judge her history. Jesus knows her. He looks beyond her past and sees a woman thirsting to be loved, to be seen, to be accepted, to be included, to be forgiven, to be known. Her thirst will never be quenched by the external wells of life. Jesus is offering living water that will bring new life, new possibilities and freedom from the past.

 We are like that Samaritan woman at the well. There may be things in our past that we may not be proud of. But Jesus is not interested in our past. He’s interested in who we are now and how we can turn to Him, the living water, repent of our past sinfulness and turn to God to find that peace that can come from God alone.

During this season of Lent God calls us to be like Moses in the first reading and strike open the rock that blocks the flow of God’s grace into our lives.

We can strike at the rock of anger to let in the peace of Christ.
We can strike at the rock of lust to let in an appreciation of our human dignity!
We can strike at the rock of envy to let in the grace of gratitude.

In order to let the flow of spiritual water flow over us, we can turn to the sacrament of confession during this time of Lent and try to turn away from our sinfulness to a better way of life. Jesus is waiting for us in the sacrament of confession to leave behind these sins of anger, lust, envy, and whatever else that is keeping us from a deeper relationship with God and with those in our lives that we may be alienated from.

God is calling us to a deeper relationship with him, and like the Samaritan women, he wants us to leave the past behind, to seek forgiveness, and to turn to Jesus with His living streams of water.

As we approach our Lord in Holy Communion, let us pray, “Jesus, may I thirst for you as you thirst for me!”