First Reading:  Exodus 17:3-7

The Lord connects the act of providing life-giving water with the first plague in Egypt.  The same staff was used to begin the liberation of the Hebrews and sustain them in the wilderness.  There is continuity in God’s plan to liberate and sustain the Israelites, despite their wavering trust in Him. 

The “rock in Horeb” is not just a boulder.  It was the mountain or the foothills of the mountain.  Horeb was another name for Mt. Sinai.  Massah comes from the word for “quarreling.”  Meribah is derived from the word for “testing.”  These places became symbolic of Israel’s failures. 

The final question in this pericope is the key point through the work:  “Is the Lord in our midst or not.”  It is answered in Isaiah 7:14, “Emmanuel,” God-with-us. 

Second Reading:  Romans 5:1-2,5-8

Faith, hope and love appear throughout this passage.   They are a Christian response to Christ’s self-sacrificing love for us.  

Paul asserts that “we have been justified by faith.”  Justification/righteousness describes the quality of a person, who cares for the needy.  It is the ability to stand in the presence of God.  Paul admits that it is not because of our worthiness that the believer attains this state of life. 

I know several people that have called-ID on their telephones.  They check to see who is calling before answering, because they owe a lot of money through credit cards and their mortgage, and they cannot pay it.  So they do not want to face the person who will challenge them to pay up. . .or else!  For Christians, Christ already “paid up.”  That is why we are justified and “have peace with God.” 

The Christian lives a new life.   The word for spirit, breath and life are closely related.  When Paul tell us the listener that “the Holy Spirit. . .has been given to us,” he is saying that we live a new way of life that no longer has this debt attached to it, while we were “helpless. . .ungodly.”  But it also requires that our responses to the needs of others will be open to this new understanding and relationship with God and others. 

Gospel:  John 4:5-42 (short version:  John 4:5-15,19b-26,39a,40-42)

The story of Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well is the first of three stories from the Gospel of John.  The Lenten Gospel for Cycle A on the Third, Fourth and Fifth Sundays are aimed at those who are preparing to enter the Church at the Easter Vigil.  It is also a story for those of us who are making the same spiritual journey. 

The Samaritans lived in tension with the Jews. . .then and now!  They are less than an hours taxi ride north of Jerusalem, but there have been skirmishes between Jews and Samaritans since their beginning in the Eighth Century BC.  They are the result of a mixture of people brought about by the occupation of Assyria over the northern Kingdom of Israel.  2 Kings 17:24 states that five tribes, which “did not venerate the Lord,” were transplanted in the land.  Each tribe brought in the worship of their own god.  This may reflect the response of the Samaritan woman that she had “five husbands,” who were not her husband. 

The dialogue and understanding about Jesus by this woman, who is outside the Law in every way, is contrasted with the lack of understanding about rebirth and the identity of Jesus by the Pharisee in the preceding chapter.  Nicodemus came at night.  The unnamed woman came in the middle of the day.  It was also “about noon” when Jesus would be taken out by Pilate and presented as “your king” (Jn 19:14), beginning the road to Golgotha, where he would be given a drink before His death. 

The well was used as a meeting place to promote the continuance of the covenant  Important Old Testament figures met their future spouse to bring forth children to continue the promise of the covenant: Isaac and Rebekah (Gn 24:20), Jacob and Rachel (Gn 29:10), Moses and Zipporah (Ex 2:15).  In this story, the children are those who are brought to belief through the testimony of the woman.  The two elements of the convenant are preserved:  land and progeny.  Jesus tells the woman about where God can be worshipped.  He also receives others through her.  She leads the townspeople to Jesus, and they believe in Him. 

There are more stories to tell – ancient and modern – where the presence of Jesus turns accidental meetings into pivotal events in the lives of others.  Where did you find the Lord unexpectantly in your spiritual journey? 

Fr. Richard C. Macey is pastor of Our Lady of the Woods Parish, Woodhaven.