Third Sunday in Lent. March 12, 2023
Juan 4,1-42
Rev. Neli Miranda
Last week the evangelist John told us
about Nicodemus, an important and respected Jew leader who came to Jesus by
night, which in the light of John’s Gospel means that he still lived in
darkness, so he came to Jesus, “…the true light, which enlightens everyone…”
(1,9). His being in the dark is revealed by his inability to see that Jesus
was not speaking about physical rebirth but a spiritual one, from above. It seems that finally Nicodemus was not willing
to accept Jesus’ call.
Today, John tells us of a woman whom we
only know as the Samaritan woman, and whom many have called a prostitute based
on the interpretation of Jesus’ words, “… for you
have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband…” (4,18). However, in contrast
to Nicodemus the teacher of Israel, she comes to Jesus in the middle of the
day, which reveals a striking difference between her and Nicodemus.
John tells us
that Jesus came to Samaria and arrived in the city of Sychar, “…near the
plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph” (4,5). This was an important historical place for
both Jews and Samaritans who in the past had been only one people. Jacob was
the great patriarch whom God named Israel and to whom the Israelites owe
their name. John adds that “Jacob’s well was there” (4,6). So, tired out from his journey, Jesus sits by the well, and “it
was about noon” John adds. While Jesus was sitting by the well, a woman came
for water, and he said to her, “Give me a drink.” (4,7). The element of water and its symbolism is
vital in Jesus’ conversation with this woman who represents the Samaritan tradition.
Jacob’s well is identified with the traditional religiosity, that is,
the Samaritan religious tradition.
From the first contact, the Samaritan woman
reveals that there are differences between Jews and Samaritans, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me,
a woman of Samaria?” And John adds, “Jews do not share things in
common with Samaritans” (4,9). Let us remember that Samaritans were considered
pagans in Jesus’ time and therefore despised in the eyes of the Jews. However, Jesus has already surpassed those
differences since entering Samaritan territory.
Face with the Samaritan position of this woman,
Jesus presents himself as the One sent by God, the One who can satisfy
her/Samaria with the living water that Jacob’s well, her own tradition, has not
fulfilled: “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give
me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living
water.” (4,10). She understands what Jesus is saying and with Samaritan
pride she asks him, “Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us
the well and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” (4,12). Jesus
answers that whoever drinks water from Jacob’s well – traditional
religiosity – will be thirsty again, but those who drink from Jesus’ water
– a renewed spirituality – will never be thirsty: “… but those who drink of the water that I will give
them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a
spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”
Convinced that Jesus’
teachings are superior to human traditions, the woman asks Jesus for the living
water so that she does not need to drink from her own tradition anymore. In
her petition, she recognizes Jesus as Lord (translated as "Sir" in
some Bible versions), “Sir [Lord], give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or
have to keep coming here to draw water.” Last week, Nicodemus did not
reach this point.
Right after the woman asks Jesus for the
living water, he takes her to another level. He asks her to call her husband,
but she replies, “I have no husband”. In the Old Testament, marriage is
used to describe the relationship between God and the Israelites; God is the
faithful and loving husband who asks fidelity of his wife, the people. So, it
seems that Jesus is confronting her/Samaria to recognize that she has failed to
be faithful to God, her loving husband. After falling to Assyria (VII BC), Samaria
was colonized with five peoples: Babylon,
Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim (2 Kings 17,24). Now, In Jesus’ time, Samaria was dominated by the Roman Empire. No wonder Jesus
says, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband,’ for
you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband” (4,17-18).
This conversation leads the woman to recognize
Jesus as a prophet. The time of transformation is coming…
She
then opens a conversation about the right place to worship God. Until now, both
religiosities, Jewish and Samaritan, had been dominated by a rigid and
ethnocentric tradition that demanded worshipping God in Jerusalem and Mount
Gerizim. However, Jesus’ answer transcends this vision and speaks of a renewed
spirituality where worshipping God is open to all peoples: “But the hour is coming and is now here when the
true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father
seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and
those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (4,24-25). Jesus’ answers lead the woman/Samaria
to recognize who Jesus is. Thus, Jesus reveals himself as the expected Messiah: “I am he, the one who is speaking to you” (4,26). The woman then left her jar, which she no
longer needs, at the well and went back to the city to proclaim Jesus. Her
conversion and testimony attracted the Samaritan community to Jesus, to drink the
living water, a new spirituality that transcends the old and rigid
religious schemes.
Dear sisters and brothers, are you ready to drink
the living water offered by Jesus? In this Lenten season, we are called to
encounter Jesus as we walk to Jerusalem. How do we see ourselves on this
journey, as Nicodemus or the Samaritan woman? Stuck in an old religiosity or walking
on the path of conversion?
May we find the living
waters on our way, may we drink them and live a full and renewed spirituality. Amen.
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