1.Ex 17: 3-7
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2.Rom5:1-2,5-8
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Gospel:
John4:5-42
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" It is our nature to be thirsty or hungry."
Dear brothers and
sisters, the theme of our readings today is thirsty and the quenching of thirst
by drinking water. The first reading recalls that moment in which the
Israelites were crying out for water while they were leaving Egypt. They
complained to Moses as if he was going to kill them, their children and their
livestock. Moses was in dilemma, but Yahweh instructed him to strike to rock in
Horeb with his staff, and the water
would flow. And it did.
In the gospel, we heard
the encounter and conversation of Jesus with a woman from Samaria. Jesus was
exhausted due to a long walk under the sun's heat and he asked for water from a
woman whom she should not talk because she was a Samaritan. During their
conversation we realize that the woman
and Jesus were not on the same plane of thought. While the woman thought of
water at the well( physical water), Jesus talked about living water, so he was
on a spiritual plane. However, the things had become clearer as the
conversation went on. In fact, the woman rightly surmised that Jesus is the
Christ that the Samaritans also expected. Let us take some of the points of
their discussions and let us reflect on them.
First, Jesus says to
the woman, " Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again."
Yes, most of us think that material things would quench our thirst, but it does
not. The quenching is simply temporary, and after a while, we will be thirsty
again. In affluent countries, we would notice that people are fond of buying
things even if they do not need them. As a result, their houses become
disordered, and a wide garbage. If we concentrate on material things, we will
never be quenched from our thirst.
Second, Jesus continues
to say, " 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."
so, the water that Jesus gives is the saving love of God poured into our hearts
which gives us life and peace. Jesus gives us the living water of salvation.
This ultimately quenches our thirst. The woman being a Samaritan felt being
abandoned by those who called themselves pure Jews, thus the woman was hungry
for love, and had run through quite a few partners looking for a real thing. Jesus' soul-piercing glance tells her that he is the love she has been looking for. She abandoned her water jar and returns to
city to tell everyone about Jesus. We can put this question that did that woman
wait till had a master degree in
theology?
Did she sit down with people and demonstrate from scripture why he
was the Messiah? the answer is No. She simply told people, with joy, confidence,
and conviction, what Jesus had done for her. And she invited people to come and
experience him for themselves. That is how a large portion of that heretical
town came to believe. And that is how a large portion of the Roman empire came
to believe. There were no crusades in stadiums, no TV preachers. Christians
simply listened to neighbors and co-workers with respect and love, asked
questions to find out their needs, and told how Jesus had met similar needs in
their lives. Thus an invitation was issued to come and check it out. One of the our Lenten resolutions ought to get
over our fear of sharing the good news, to be aware of the spiritual needs of
those around us.
The living water of
salvation is no less than Christ. This can be illustrated by the famous words
of St. Augustine who said, " My heart, O God, is restless until it rests
unto Thee. Before his conversion, Augustine was known to be a sinful person, a
person full of vices. These may have quenched his thirst for things, but he
felt it was simply temporary. Thus, his heart became restless. But the
restlessness disappeared as he found God in his life.
Third, related to the
feeling of thirst is hunger. The disciples of Jesus were looking for food. And
when they came back, they offered food to the hungry Jesus. The response of
Jesus was, " I have food to eat which
you do not know" which lead to a confusion among his disciples. He further
said, " My food is to do the will of God, he suggests that he cannot live
without obedience to the will of the Father. This is also something which we
should reflect. Obedience or following God and his laws should also be our food
that enriches us.
Lastly, when the woman
proclaimed the good news and her encounter with Jesus, the Samaritan also came
to meet him. Afterward, they told the Samaritan woman, " We no longer
believed because of your word, for we have heard for ourselves, we know that
this is truly savior of the world". In our journey of faith, we tend to
rely on the testimonies of others, which may be valid. But it is also expected
that we ourselves should have our own or personal encounter with Christ. Two
words are used here: hear and know. It
is good that we have also heard for ourselves the God whom we believe, through
reading the Bible, and we have known our God through constant prayers and reflections.
While we grow older, we must also grow in our knowledge of Christ.
0 Response to "HOMILY FOR THE 3rd SUNDAY OF LENT YEAR A"
Chapisha Maoni