The Woman At The Well

 III Lent, A

It’s plain enough that the readings today invite us to reflect on the symbol of water. In the first reading Moses gives water from the rock to God’s people in the desert – and as St. Paul says, the rock was Christ. (1 Cor 10:4) In the gospel Jesus leads the Samaritan woman through a process of enlightenment so that she might discover in herself the living water that becomes in us, as Jesus says, a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

It is very fitting that we reflect on this living water because the purpose of this season of Lent is the Church’s accompaniment of those who are preparing for baptism at Easter. And we too, who are already baptized, are preparing ourselves for the renewal of the grace of our baptismal promises.

In order to appreciate well the depth and beauty of this gospel that we have today, that of the Samaritan woman, there are certain things to note.

First of all, the well. In the Bible, meeting a woman at a well is, as they say, a thing. Specifically, it’s at a well that somebody meets his wife. Jacob met Rachel at a well, as in the same way Moses met his wife Zipporah. Isaac too met his wife Rebecca at a well.

Therefore, this scene of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well, if we read it within the code of the Bible, is about the beginning of a marriage. It’s Jesus Christ seeking a wife. But not in the sense of a human marriage. Rather, this gospel is the marriage of the grace of God that appears in Jesus Christ with the nations of the world that the woman, as a foreigner, symbolizes. She is a symbol of the Church, who will be the spouse of Christ, gathered from all nations.

Given that most of us are not Jewish, we are spiritual children of this marriage of Jesus Christ and the nations. In Christ, we have become the Chosen People and are brought into the grace of the covenants God has made with his Chosen People: with Noah, with Abraham, with Moses, and with David.

We see this process of being led into the grace of God in the journey of enlightenment into which Jesus invites the Samaritan woman, so that she might recognize the living water that God desires to bring to life within her. And by means of faith, prayer, and the Sacraments, God draws us in just the same, so that the waters of our baptism might come to life within us and well up to eternal life.

There’s another detail here that’s important to notice. The evangelist notes that Jesus and the Samaritan woman meet at about noon when she came to draw water. But one doesn’t go to the well at noon when it’s hot out. Usually, women went to get water in the morning, in order to have it for all the needs of the house and the family, like for cooking, for example.

But the Samaritan woman seems to want to avoid the others. Why? As she herself says, she has had five husbands and currently lives with the sixth. And as we know, then as now, people talk. So she probably goes to the well at a different time than the others in order to avoid the judgy looks and the gossip. Sadly, she’s ashamed to go to the well with the other women of the village. Hold that thought.

The great moment of this process in which Jesus enlightens the spirit of the woman is when she confesses that she knows that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Christ [and] when he comes, he will tell us everything. Then, Jesus identifies himself as this Christ: Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one speaking with you.”

And we know that in some way she has arrived at faith in Jesus as the Christ, because she addresses him with kyrie, the vocative of the title kyrios, “Lord,” – as we sometimes pray in the ‘Lord have mercy’, Kyrie eleison. This kyrie is translated here as, ‘sir’, but make no mistake, the Samaritan woman is addressing her Lord.

Then, after this session of spiritual direction with Jesus, what does the woman do? The gospel says that she left her water jar and went into the town and said to the people, “Come see a man who told me everything I have done. Could he possibly be the Christ?”

Notice that she’s no longer ashamed. She’s speaking with the people openly, inviting them to encounter Jesus for themselves. And why is she no longer ashamed? Because after so many difficulties and failed relationships, she has found, in the spiritual sense, the perfect husband, the seventh, Jesus Christ. As we know, the number seven in the Bible has the sense of fullness and perfection, as, for example, in the seven days of creation.

In all of this, the Samaritan woman takes our place in as much as she represents the Church, the spouse of Jesus Christ, in the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah: as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride, so shall your God rejoice in you. (62:5)

So, let us too rejoice, for we are the beloved children of this mystical marriage conceived within the heart of God. We are members of the Church, the beloved spouse of Jesus Christ, in which the living waters of baptism well up to eternal life.