3rd Sunday of Lent Year A 12/3/2023 Jn 4, 5-42
We are today in the third Sunday of Lent. We have the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman.
Jesus and the woman begins with a conversation about the basics of life, about water. Jesus and the woman have a different understanding of what water is but they are in agreement on the common thirst to drink. Jesus asked her for a drink, and he gave her his living water, the water of salvation.
I remember there is Bible's quote in a church in my hometown the word of Jesus on the cross “I am thirsty” Jn 19, 28 to say that the Lord thirsts for our love. They are invited to come to him, come to the church… God loves us. That could be ours also as Saint Augustin said “ You have made us for you oh Lord and our heart is restless until it rests in you”
This spiritual thirst is indicative of an awareness that something is missing in one’s life – a feeling of ennui, of listlessness and dissatisfaction, an inner longing, but one cannot put our finger on the reason for the emptiness within…
We try to fill the emptiness with work, fashion, cars, houses, jobs, and many other things, but the truth is, nothing but God Himself can quench our spiritual thirst.
This world is filled with wells that promise to provide love, acceptance, but never fully satisfy. Many of us turn in desperation to the fountains of the world seeking a drink as God’s people in the desert and this woman the water and food. And, yet, like the Samaritan woman, we still thirst.
Only Christ can fill our empty souls for eternity and provide for our essential emotional needs now. He alone can quench the thirst of your soul. Saint Augustine was right when he said that our hearts will remain restless until we rest in Christ.
There are times in the lives of us all when we respond just that way when the Lord is asking something of you and me. We’re usually quicker to call on God to give us something and slower to return the favour when he comes knocking on our door.
What the Lord asks of us is usually pretty simple, even if not always easy. The Lord asks for our attention, he asks for some of our time, he asks for the truth, he asks for a place in our hearts where he might be at home; and he asks for the use of our arms and hands to reach out to those in need.