Scrutinies – Third Sunday of Lent 2015

Lent is a time for self reflection, for looking into the deepest part of our lives. If we do this in a completely honest fashion, we are likely to see things we are not very proud of.  But the real purpose of this self reflection is not to convince ourselves that we are scum, that we have no redeeming value, or that the world would have been better off if we had never been born.  When we bare our lives to a close inspection, we must see our faults, admit them, and ask the Lord for forgiveness.  This process in the language of the common Greek of the New Testament, is Metanoia, a “turning away”, from sin, from temptation, from anything that separates us from Jesus.

Let’s look at today’s Gospel, and find how it can open our eyes to our personal need for turning away from sin.

First of all, Jesus and his disciples are in the town of Sychar, in Samaria.  We all know about Samaria and the people who lived there.  They worshipped the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, just like the Jews. They didn’t, however, follow the Mosaic Law, which God gave to His people through Moses.  They sacrificed to the Lord, but not in Jerusalem. They wanted to follow God, but on their own terms, not the terms that the Jews received during their forty year trek through the wilderness. Therefore, they were unclean, sinners, and were to be avoided, shunned. When you came upon one of their towns, you generally wanted to put your head down and keep moving.  But what does Jesus do? He was hot and thirsty, so he sits down by a well, next to a Samaritan woman, and asks for a drink of water. When she is surprised by Jesus’ actions, he didn’t get up and leave. Instead, he engages her in a conversation, seemingly speaking in riddles, telling her that if she knew who He was, she would be asking him for “living” water.  Jesus doesn’t reject her, condemn her, avoid her, but instead he draws her into conversation.  He invites her to look beyond the surface, beyond appearances, and see reality.  He tells her that if she would recognize who he truly is, she would ask him for Living Water, and upon drinking this water, she would never thirst again.

Still unclear as to what the Lord is talking about, she ask him for this water.  Jesus does something here that we need to focus on.  He starts a line of questioning that would become uncomfortable for the Samaritan.  He points out that she is currently living in sin, living with a man who is not her husband.  She tries to be evasive, but finally admits to the Lord the nature of her sin.  In doing so, her eyes are opened to a new understanding of Jesus, of his nature as a prophet.  She speaks to him about the difference in the worship of God between the Samaritans and the Jews.  Jesus cuts through these differences and speaks about the future of Jerusalem, and the future of true worship, about the establishment of a new way of worshiping God, in Spirit and in Truth.  She then tells Jesus that she knows this is so because both the Samaritans and the Jews are waiting for the Messiah.  Jesus then says to her,

         “I am he, the one you are speaking to.”

Now the disciples return, clueless as ever, and ask Jesus, in so many words, what are you doing, talking to this outcast? Instead of reacting to the disciples and their questions, she goes back into the town and evangelizes!  She was a sinner, she was shown the reality of her sin, admits it, and in the process, she is given a revelation. She is shown the true nature of Jesus. She doesn’t keep it a secret, but instead tells everyone she can find.  Remember that these people she is speaking to are her neighbors, who, like anyone in a small town, know everyone else’s business.  They, however, don’t reject her testimony, but believe it. Over the course of the next few days, they tell her that while they at first came to believe in Jesus because of her testimony, now they have heard Jesus for themselves, and recognize the divinity of the Lord.

What can we gain from this Gospel?  We need to be like the Samaritan woman.  We need to recognize first, that we didn’t find Jesus on our own, but just the opposite – Jesus comes to us, where we are, broken and sinful.  He opens our eyes to the reality of our sins, and in admitting them to the Lord, we are healed and changed.  In the living waters of Baptism, and in the Sacrament of Confession, we confess our sins, and receive absolution from the Lord. In this process, we are adopted into God’s family, into a loving relationship with the Lord.  But at this point, it is clear that this is not to be a “Jesus and me” thing.  No, we have to share this with everyone around us.  We experience Metanoia, we turn away from sin, and turn to the Lord.  We turn away from sin and turn to the Altar, where the Lord comes to us under the appearance of bread and wine, where we eat the Body and Blood, Soul, and Divinity of the Lord, and in doing so, we accept a commission to spread this good news to all around us.  We are also invited to speak to the Lord in adoration, where we can sit and speak to Jesus, to ask for his living water, and to receive his invitation to eternal Life.