3rd Sunday of Lent
By Fr. Chinnappan Pelavendran
Many years ago, when kings still lived in palaces and castles, they had servants who would bring water to the palace every day. They would bring the water in earthen pots. One of the servants had two pots; one was cracked but the other was not cracked. The other servants told him to throw away the cracked pot, He said, “No. Where the cracked pot leaks, there are beautiful flowers growing for the king’s pleasure.” Everything needs water to have life.
On this Third Sunday of Lent, the Church invites us to accept the love of God. God gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit. In the Gospel today, Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well and gives her the living water. She and the other people of this place are able to recognize Jesus as the Messiah, the Savior of the world.
In our first reading, God enabled Moses to provide water for the Israelites who were thirsting. This was life-giving water. Without it, they would have died. Water is as important to life as air, without either, there is no life. St. Paul tells us in our second reading that Jesus poured the living water, the gift of the Holy Spirit into our hearts. We need the Holy Spirit to sustain us spiritually, just as we need water to sustain us physically. The Jews thought that they only needed to keep God’s law, but St. Paul told them they also needed the Holy Spirit to nourish them. According to St. Paul, redemption is a gift from God manifested in Jesus’ death on the cross. Through the Holy Spirit, we have received the gift of Faith.
The Samaritan woman understood that Jesus was the Messiah when He told her about the living water. He speaks about the living water, which gives eternal life. The living water represents divine grace, which is God’s life within the soul. The woman craves this type of water because she wants to have eternal life. She now realizes what it means to take freely of the water of life, which is the spiritual refreshment that comes into her soul after her confession with Jesus.
She is impressed that Jesus knew all of her sins, and she had the opportunity to have her sins forgiven. She believes that He is truly the Messiah. She is sorry for all of her sins and goes to tell her family and friends about Jesus. Large numbers of people came to hear Jesus. Jesus was honest with the woman about what was right morally and wrong in her life. The gift of truth helped to set her free. It is important to remember that Jesus wants to share the Good News of the Gospel with everyone, including us.
We need to allow Jesus into our personal lives. We need to be open to accepting others, as Jesus did. Let us turn to Jesus with all of our hopes and dreams. His love is always non-judgmental, and unconditional. Let us rest, assured that Jesus accepts us warmly, and helps us to see that he will give us strength, In Him, we have the power we need to overcome any problems.
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