He didn’t need a bucket!
March 27th, Third Sunday of Lent
Today’s Gospel is an absolutely delightful story. A long excerpt from John’s fourth chapter is the fascinating story of Jesus passing through Samaria having an important conversation with a Samaritan woman at the town well. Violating the social rules and custom of the day, Jesus, a single Jewish male, asks the Samaritan woman for a drink. That brings on a marvelous conversation between the two in which the woman tries to artfully change the subject each time Jesus gently directs her towards being completely honest. This simple story, about which all of us are familiar, has many implicit meanings and values. One is the relationship between Jesus and women. Another is the relationship between ourselves and foreigners.
Next week we get another wonderful story, namely that of the man born blind. Don’t miss it!
Themocracy
What struck me about this Gospel reading is that this woman challenges Jesus about his own life and message, and whether he was just about the “orthodox” Jewish community or something different. This challenge must have been startling for Jesus, coming as it did from a Samaritan and a woman. This, of course, has been a constant issue for the Church. Whether or not Jesus answers the question totally well, his actions, reaching out to the people of the town, clearly resonate well with them.