THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT
20 MARCH 2022
In
the Ancient Middle East, men came to woo their perspective brides at
wells. Isaac met Rebekah at a well. Isaac’s son Jacob met the love of his life,
Rachel at a well. Grateful for
protecting his daughter at a well, the priest of Midian gave Zipporah to Moses in
marriage. Now, Jesus approaches Jacob’s
well. He has already revealed himself as
the bridegroom when he changed water into wine at the wedding feast of
Cana. He is the faithful bridegroom who
has the power to change the ordinary water of human love into the divine life
of God.
This
bridegroom now courts an unlikely bride.
Some of the Fathers of the Church have called the Samaritan woman at the
well a “half pagan harlot.” Samaritans were
enemies of the Jewish people, because their intermarriage with their Assyrian
conquerors had introduced many pagan elements.
In his encounter with this prospective bride, Jesus speaks words of
judgment. She has been married five
times. Currently she is living with a
man who is not her husband. His judgment
is honest and to the point, without being condemning or angry.
Instead of
rejecting her as being unworthy of his love, Jesus invites her to enter into a
nuptial relationship with him. Gradually,
she responds positively to his invitation.
This woman represents us, the Church.
Over the centuries, Jesus has always loved his bride, the Church,
despite the many scandals and sins and bitter divisions and infidelities of her
members. He continues to love us today,
even in the midst of our present divisions and the scandals by those shepherds
who have abused their sheep instead of caring for them.
Convinced
that Jesus is truly the Messiah for whom she had been waiting, he Samaritan
woman shares in his mission of doing the will of the one who sent him. She leaves her water jar at the well and goes
into the town to proclaim the Good News to everyone she meets. She invites them to respond to his invitation
to enter into a nuptial relationship with him.
As his disciples return, wondering what happened, he invites his
disciples to do the same, telling them that the fields are ripe for the
harvest. He gives us the same
message. The fields of our world are
certainly ripe for the harvest. Emerging
from the worst of this pandemic, we have divisions and anger within our
families, within our Church, and within our culture. First, the bridegroom invites us to judge our
own sins and failures. Once we can be
honest about ourselves, we can turn more completely to him during this
Lent. Then he sends us to do what he
does for us. We can embrace those who
have become our enemies in the same way he has embraced us. We can take the risks of reconciling with
those with whom we disagree. We can
forgive those who have hurt us deeply.
As Christ’s bride, we can share that same nuptial love given to us.
At the
10:00 Mass today, we pray the first Scrutiny over our Elect who are preparing
for the Sacraments of Initiation at the Easter Vigil. Like the Samaritan woman at the well, they
have come to recognize the nuptial love given to them by the bridegroom. As they prepare to satisfy their deepest
thirst by passing through the waters of baptism, they acknowledge the ways they
have turned away from God. In this first
Scrutiny, we pray that they will be freed from whatever holds them back. We ask the Lord to strengthen them in these
final weeks before they complete their marriage with the bridegroom in the
Sacraments of Initiation.
These good
people are powerful examples to the rest of us.
Through Baptism, we have already accepted the Bridegroom’s invitation. They invite us to acknowledge our own sins
and give them over to the Lord’s judgment.
They invite us to renew our faith in the Church, despite the many sins
of her members and even of her leaders.
They invite us to be sent on the same mission as the Samaritan woman and
the first disciples: to do the will of
the one who sent him.
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