March 16, 2020
Paulist Fr. Rich Andre preached this homily for the 3rd Sunday of Lent (Year A) on March 15, 2020 at St. Austin Parish in Austin, TX. The homily is based on the day’s readings: Exodus 17:3-7; Psalm 95; Romans 5:1-2, 5-8; and John 4:5-42. Due to concerns about the coronavirus, most of the 11:30 am Mass was recorded via Facebook Live and is available here.
As we move deeper into Lent, we move into the Gospel of John. The next three Sundays’ gospels are chosen particularly for people coming into the Church at Easter, because these are fantastic stories about people growing in relationship with Jesus Christ.
Jesus’ conversation with the woman at the well – his longest conversation with anyone in the gospels – is remarkable in at least three ways:
- Samaritans and Jews were sworn enemies – each group considered the other to be apostates to the God of Abraham.
- Jesus is speaking to an unknown woman. Even today in the Middle East, men do not speak to unknown women without a chaperone.
- Women would typically go to the well at dawn, before it was hot, to gather all the water they needed for the day’s chores, and also to socialize with one another. Because she is coming in the middle of the day, this woman is apparently an outcast.
Jesus knows the woman’s sins, yet he befriends her. God knows our sins, and yet he invites us into an ongoing encounter. We pause to acknowledge our sinfulness.
Most of us Catholics are baptized before we have a clear understanding of the nature of sin. But for those adults who are going to be baptized at the Easter Vigil, they are asked to intensely examine their lives during Lent. On the third, fourth, and fifth Sundays of this season of Purification and Enlightenment, the whole community joins them in observing a ritual called the Scrutinies. We who have already been baptized not only show our prayerful support for those preparing for baptism, we also scrutinize our own lives. This Lent, let us each ask ourselves two questions:
- What is weak and sinful in us that needs to be healed through Christ?
- What is good and strong in us that needs to be strengthened by the Holy Spirit?
The First Scrutiny is celebrated today, in conjunction with this gospel passage about Jesus and the woman at the well. And so I ask us to consider more specific questions about our lives of discipleship. The temptation here is to focus on how we relate to the sins and isolation of the woman. That’s probably not the best way to ask God for healing and strengthening! Instead, let us scrutinize our lives in relationship to two other aspects of the story.
First, how do we interact with people who are outcast, marginalized, or living in the shame of sin? Do we judge, gossip, condemn, lecture, ignore, and pontificate… or do we act as Jesus did?
- Jesus knew the woman’s failings, but he treated her with respect.
- Jesus allowed the woman to explain what she believed. He treated her perspectives with respect, even as he noted his disagreements with her.
- Jesus did not pressure the woman to change her lifestyle. Instead, he gently witnessed to the potential that her life held.
When we encounter someone with a different set of values, may we take Jesus’ encounter with this woman as our example!
Second, after her encounter with Jesus, the woman surprisingly becomes the first evangelizer in the Gospel of John. She takes a significant risk by stepping out of her role in the village pecking order, daring to invite others to experience the Messiah as she had.
- To what extent has our encounter with Christ changed our lives?
- Do we invite others to experience the light of Christ, or do we fearfully hide our experience of the light under a bushel basket?
To put it a simpler way: Jesus encountered the woman as she was.
- Do we believe that we can encounter Jesus as we are?
- Are we willing to encounter others as they are?
As Paul has said, we boast in the hope of the glory of God, and hope does not disappoint. God proves his love for us, even while we are still sinners.