On the first Sunday of Lent, we followed Jesus into the dessert so we could confront our weaknesses, identify and then turn away from the things that separate us from God (selfishness, greed, materialism, desire for power) and rebuild our relationship with God. Last Sunday, the second Sunday of Lent, we followed Jesus up a mountain with Peter, James and John. There on the mountaintop we witnessed his transfiguration and glorification. We prayed that the light of His transfigured face might shine on us so that we could become transforming lights to one another. Then we followed Jesus down the mountain back into our world where he continued his ministry. Today and for the next two Sundays, we leave the Gospel of Matthew and move to St. John's Gospel where we witness three encounters between Jesus and people whose lives he transformed by the light of his presence and the truth of his word, a Samaritan woman, a man blind from birth and Lazarus.
St. John’s description of Jesus’ meeting with the Samaritan woman at the well of Jacob is one of the greatest stories of conversion and evangelization in all of scripture. Like most of the people Jesus ministered to, the Samaritan woman was a dubious candidate. She was a Samaritan, a people despised by the Jews. She was a woman, rabbis and observant Jewish men were to avoid speaking to or even looking at women in public. And her morals were questionable, making her an outcast among outcasts. Yet Jesus reached out to her with mercy and love, challenged her and turned her life around. She, in turn, was so astounded that she wanted to share her amazing experience with all the people in her town. On the strength of her personal testimony, “Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him.” This woman became one of the first evangelists. In his Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Nuntiandi, Pope Paul VI said, “the sure sign that a person has been evangelized is that they in turn become evangelizers: This is exactly what happened in the case of the Samaritan woman.”
The mercy and love Jesus offered to the Samaritan woman; he offers to us. Jesus invites us to drink the water that will become in us "a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14). He invites us to eat the food of faith, food that enables us "to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work"(John 4:34). Then, Jesus, the Messiah, who lives in us and through us actually expects us "to finish his work" here in Peachtree City. Like the Samaritan woman, we are called to be evangelizers. We are called to share the mercy and love offered to us to others so together we can build the kingdom right here.
Creative and forgiving Father
you let people experience your mercy
when they encounter your Son, Jesus Christ.
Let Jesus, your living Word,
speak to us from heart to heart.
Give us an unquenchable thirst
for the things that matter:
for faith and for meaning in our lives,
for hope in a better world
filled with your justice and peace,
for a spirit of committed love
that knows how to share itself.
Generously give us all these things
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
