3rd Sunday
of Lent
19 March 2017
Ex 17:3-7
Ps 95:1-2,6-7,8-9
Rom 5:1-2, 5-8
Jn 4:5-42
Today’s Gospel is long. It is filled with rich details. First, John reveals Jesus’ humanity as he
describes His fatigue and thirst on the journey to Jerusalem. Then he reveals the Messiah’s divinity and
the gift he brings.
As she learns of the
gift of eternal life the Samaritan woman represents us. She is those of us who are are alive
today. We see how easily she
misunderstood both the gift and the giver.
And her story forces us to ask if we also misunderstand the giver and
the gift he brings.
The first reading and the Psalm are closely linked. In fact, Psalm 95 refers specifically to the
events described in the reading from Exodus. The newly freed Israelites were
complaining again. God had given them
manna and quail to ease their hunger.
But the people quarreled with Moses. At Meribah and Massah they forgot
all that God had done for them in the past. They demanded that God give them
water. And they were in a hostile mood. Moses prayed, "What shall I
do with this people? A little more and they will stone me!" In
answer to his prayer God instructed Moses to strike the rock with the same
staff he used to part the waters of the Red Sea. And water flowed.
Psalm 95 has two parts.
The first seven verses are an invitation worship and thanksgiving.
“Come let us sing to the Lord,
and shout with joy to the Rock who saves us
Let us approach Him with praise and thanksgiving
and sing joyful songs to the Lord.”
However, next four verses are a warning not to act like the Israelites in the first
reading, a warning not to doubt that God is in our midst. The psalm ends with the chilling verse, “So I
swore in my anger, they shall not enter into my rest.” That generation of complainers, those who
demanded water at Meribah and Massah while doubting God, did not enter the
promised land. Like the Samaritan woman
they misunderstood the giver and the gift, the gift of their lives.
The Gospel could be a movie script. The scene is set. The motivation for the
actors is there. There dialogue as the action unfolds is detailed. After a long tiring journey with the apostles Jesus sat near a
well to rest It was hot. He was thirsty. A woman going about her daily chores came
for water and the drama began. Jesus asked the woman for water. She was shocked that a Jew would speak to a
Samaritan woman. The revelation comes in
the subsequent dialogue. Jesus makes it
clear that he is offering her a gift. That gift is the water that will quench
her thirst forever. He offers her a
“spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
She is amazed. She begins to wonder who this man is. Could he be the
Messiah, the one called the Christ, He
who is to come? Jesus replies, “I am he,
the one speaking with you.” Last week we
heard the account of the Transfiguration in which Jesus' divinity was confirmed
for his apostles in the Father's voice. Today,
Jesus confirms his divinity for the Samaritan woman in his own voice.
Jesus is offering the Samaritan woman, and thus he is
offering us, the gift of eternal life.
However he is setting two conditions for that gift. The first is that we must recognize our need
for the gift, the very specific gift which Jesus brings. That need cannot be
met by anyone or anything else: “If you
knew the gift of God.. . .” The second
condition, the point where the Israelites failed repeatedly, is to recognize
the gift and thank the giver, “and if
you knew who is saying to you, ‘ Give me a drink’ . . . .”
Asking for a gift is humbling. When we ask for a gift
we admit our need for it. When we ask we confront our dependence on the
One who can give us the gift. Humble is
a state we try to avoid.
The Samaritan woman misunderstands the gift. “Sir, give me this water, that I may not be
thirsty, or have to keep coming here to draw water.” She assumed that Jesus was offering her rest
from her daily routine. She assumed
Jesus' gift would free her from life’s discomforts and rid her of all
suffering. Like the woman at the well,
we all assume, if not demand, that in one way or another, Jesus' gift will end
all our troubles if not prevent them from ever happening. We imagine that all of our problems will be resolved to our satisfaction in the
way we have determined they should be. No
pain. No suffering. No problem.
Jesus did not come into the world to take us out of it. Jesus did not come to spare us the pain of
living on this earth. He did not come to
free us from the limitations of being flesh and blood. He came to experience those limitations with
us, from the moment of his birth until his passion and death. And he did so out of love. He did so to give us the waters of eternal
life.
As stated so
forcefully in Paul's Letter to the Romans,
"But God proves his love
for us
in that while we were still
sinners
Christ died for us."
Every day the divine office begins with today's psalm. Listen to the first stanza again.
"Come, let us sing to the Lord,
and shout with joy to the God who made us,
let us approach him with praise and thanksgiving,
and sing joyful songs to the Lord."
Consider that for the rest of today.
Following lunch I celebrated Mass in the chapel at the Shrine of Mary Help of Christians, one of three Marian shrines in Slovenia and probably the most well-known. Afterwards we went to Lake Bled, one of the, if not the, most popular tourist destinations in Slovenia. Though the weather was not ideal in that it was cloudy, some sun appeared just as it was setting. Am happy with the results.
The restaurant at which we had lunch served Slovenian food. It was very good. It is owned by a well-known contemporary musician and composer. This flower was on the wall. It is about three feet across. The petals are sheet music of one of his songs. I converted it to black and white because the edges of the paper had aged to a beige-yellow that was not particularly appealing.
The Shrine of Mary Help of Christians. The small domed area to the right is the chapel in which the icon is venerated. It is where I celebrated Mass for our group. In English as it was the only language they had in common.
The chapel. It is very small. There are benches for perhaps 20 or so. A number of tourists dropped into the Mass. Because the space is small there was no option but to face away from the congregation from the offertory to the elevation before communion (O Lord, I am not worthy . . . ) for which I turned around. This is not the first time I've celebrated Mass facing away from the congregation during the Eucharistic Prayer. It is not a bad thing.
The main altar taken from the back of the church. One of the things I always do when shooting in a church is to take a series from the very center of the main aisle. It minimizes distortion of the image caused by the lens. The church is much less elaborately adorned than the Franciscan Church in LJ.
The view from the front of the church toward the loft. We had the chapel from 3:00 to 4:00 (and were running about eight minutes behind when we arrived). Did not hear the organ. A Mass in the main church was scheduled for 4:00 PM as we were leaving.
A close-up of the loft. The series of panels is very attractive and nicely done.
The next two are the same sculpture of the Holy Family. The workshop director Mateja clued me in about approaching close to the sculpture and stooping a bit. From a distance the cross is about 100 yards behind the sculpture and much taller. However, when stooping, well the result is visible. I'm impressed by the vision of the artist and the amount of engineering that went into the project.
And as a silhouette
Lake Bled may be the most well-known tourist attraction in Slovenia. A few rays of sunshine broke through the haze to add a nice dimensions to the relatively few photos. The castle overlooks the lake. The path from the parking lot to the castle is steep. Very steep. Alas, the free admission to the grounds was abolished. At 10 Euro per head we did not go in.
The church on the shore.
The island in the middle of the lake. There is a church here as well. The main entrance on the other side features a very long staircase. Not certain how many steps but it is a lot. The haze interfered with sharp photos but added an ethereal dimension that I like.
I changed one into black and white with a lot of other manipulation on the computer to produce the result.
+Fr. Jack, SJ, MD
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