Ex 17:3-7
Ps 95:1-2,6-7,8-9
Rom 5:1-2, 5-8
Jn 4:5-42
The Gospel for this Third Sunday of Lent is long. It is as detailed as a movie script and is packed with possibilities for preaching. Indeed, it would take very little effort to give a 45-minute homily on the gospel alone. It is a daunting set of readings for the listener.
The episode of the woman at the well is a response to the first reading in which, despite the gift of manna, quail, and their freedom, the Israelites complained, argued, bullied Moses, and demanded that God give them water. Moses asked God what to do. In answer to his plea, God instructed him to strike the rock with the same staff he used to part the waters. Moses did as told. Water flowed.
The gospel continues the theme of water and thirst, Jesus asked the Samaritan woman for water. Given the social context of the Ancient Near East this was a radical act on Jesus' part. Jews did not speak to Samaritans. They certainly did not ask them for a favor. A Jewish man speaking with a Samaritan woman was unthinkable. The scene was set for a radical teaching.
In last week's gospel of the Transfiguration God revealed his Son's divinity to the apostles through a voice from a cloud. This week Jesus reveals his divinity to the Samaritan woman in his own words. He reveals the gift, the giver, and conditions for receiving that gift, conditions that the Israelites failed to uphold.
The two conditions for the Samaritan woman--and for us--to receive the gift of eternal life are: First, to recognize our need for the gift and the one who brings it: “If you knew the gift of God. . . .” That need cannot be met by anyone or anything else.
Asking for a gift is humbling. It is the humility underlying prayer, particularly the prayer of the Mass. When we ask for a gift we admit our need for it. We admit our dependence on the gift and our dependence the One who can give it to us. However, humble is a state that humans try to avoid at all costs.
The second condition is to understand the true nature and value of the gift. The Samaritan woman misunderstood that. “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 respite from her daily routine, that He would free her from life’s discomforts and banish all suffering.
Like the woman at the well, we assume, if not demand, that in one way or another, Jesus' put an end to all our troubles or better yet, prevent them from happening. We imagine further, that our problems will be resolved to our satisfaction in the way we want and without pain, suffering, or any effort on our part.
But Jesus did not come into the world to take us out of it. He did not come to spare us the pain of living on this earth, or to free us from the limitations of being flesh and blood.
He came to experience and endure those limitations with us, from the moment of his birth until his passion and death. He came to experience our pain, suffering, and limitations so as to give us the waters of eternal life. As stated so powerfully in the final verse of the first reading from Paul's Letter to the Romans, "But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us." That statement, in itself, is another homily.
The Liturgy of the Hours begins every day with Psalm 95, today's responsorial psalm. Listen to the first verse 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."
That is the only way to respond to the gift and to the Giver.
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For the moment winter seems to be coming to an end. Am waiting for the "onion snow" which the Amish considered a sign that it was now safe to plant the onion sets. According to mom the onion snow was by very large snowflakes, the kind that make a sound when they hit the ground. Am ready for it. Still making up for some of the cancellations due to the snow.
The photos are three from a file titled "Images of Aging"
Three generations in Taipei, Taiwan not far from the Chiang-kai Shek performance center. Fr. Jack, SJ, MD 
Retired Vietnamese Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres in My Tho, Vietnam. Spent three days with them after tertianship. The motherhouse is in the Meking Delta not far from one of the points at which many made escape attempts. Wish I could have heard their stories. 
An elderly couple in the adoration chapel at the National Shrine of the Immaculate conception in D.C. %20-%20Version%202.jpg)
