Third Sunday of Lent, February 24, 2008

Homily, Sunday, February 24, 2008

It was noon when Our Lord encountered a Samaritan woman from a nearby village of Sychar. In the desert countries that was the hottest hour of the day. She had come to draw water from the Well of Jacob that was half a mile out of the village. In countries where there is no running water, it is customary for women to gather water sometimes a mile away. Something is strange in this whole situation.

First, the custom was to draw water in the morning and/or evening when it is not as hot.

Second, woman would go to the well in a company of other women. Going to the well alone like this Samaritan woman is only smacks like a desperate situation.

Third, the Jacob's well was 100 feet deep, requiring a bucket and long rope to lower it.

Fourth, there was another well right in the village of Sychar.

All these odd situations tell us that the Samaritan woman was avoided by her village and she too avoided fellow villagers. When everybody is indoors to stay out of the scotching sun she sneaks out to draw water, because she could not accompany all other women. It is more than likely that she was a lonely, depressed woman.

It further turns out that she had had five prior husbands, and was at the moment living with the one who was not even her husband. So she not only was a five-time victim of either divorce or death, she was also living like an outlaw. For such a long series of marriages, we can only assume that something was really wrong most probably with her.

Assuming that divorce was behind her five marriages, divorce was a shaming phenomenon. You shall remember how Joseph being a righteous man wanted to divorce Mary quietly to avoid putting her to shame. Those many marriages that did not work imply how devastated she had been. Her heart had been broken over and over. No wonder she disassociated herself from everybody. She most likely blamed herself to the point of lowest self-esteem. Depending on the men she lived with she probably was a town-talk byword. During their conversation Our Lord offers her living water. She ultimate begs for this water. Then Our Lord makes something strange happen. He brings up her husband as a pre-condition for getting this living water. It turns out that she had no husband, and Our Lord already knew that.

The question is why did Our Lord brought up the issue of a husband if he already knew the woman had no husband because she had had five husbands, and was at the moment living with a man who was not her husband?

Answer: Our Lord wanted her to voluntarily admit and confess her true sins.

LESSON: In order for us to get the living water, Our Lord wants us to first take responsibility, own, admit and confess our sins to him, as a pre-condition. We cannot be connected to the well of eternal life, living water of grace, when we are still connected to sin. So, Our Lord is asking her to straighten her life with that someone who is not her husband first. If that someone is somebody else's husband, to severe that relationship. If that someone is bachelor, to follow proper law of marriage process.

The reason Our Lord applauds her sincerity is because that is exactly what he wanted out of her -- honest admission of wrong doing. She was in a state of sin. This is all Our Lord wants of us in the Sacrament of Confession: honest admission of our faults. The content of our sins He already knows. But what He is interested in us is our going through the process of honest admission that we are in the state of sin and are sorry. That all He wants from us and the next thing we know we are back in connection with God.

Her confession brought life back into her instantly. She was able to then profess her faith in Our Lord, As soon as she confessed her sins, she could then profess her faith in Our Lord. She then could figure out how best she could worship God, where was the proper place of worshiping God.

LESSON: Here we see why we confess our sins. We confess sins so that we can profess faith, and so worship. Confession comes first as a prerequisite. Jesus said that no one can profess or even pray without the agency, the impulse of the Holy Spirit. No wonder then that we cannot have access to the living water (divine life) unless we are first in the state of grace which sin severs. So, we need to take care of first things first. Before we can worship, we must first be in the state of grace restored through the Sacrament of Confession.

In the Second Reading St. Paul speaks of this. He speaks of have to the grace of God through Jesus Christ. We gain access to God's grace, divine eternal life, through Jesus Christ. Today he makes that it accessible to the Samaritan woman, and He does that by showing her how to have such an access. That is by confessing her state of sin openly. If open confession is not what Our Lord was after, there is no reason why he brought her husband into it. He was leading the woman to the act of confession. After her confession, it turned out that He already knew everything. So, content was not what Our Lord was so much after. What he was after was to get her to admit to wrongdoing first. Confession is about us opening up for the grace of God. And grace can only come on condition we are pure and clean.

When one's life is back in order with God through Confession, Worship is next and comes spontaneously because now one has ACCESS. There are no barriers between one and God. Now one can communicate with God.

So the woman asks, where should I go for worship? Jesus instructs the Samaritan woman about even higher form of Worship that transcends locality: Worship in Spirit and in Truth.

THE TRANSFORMING EFFECTS OF CONFESSION:

From that moment on the woman who was shy, ashamed, despondent was filled with energy and vitality. She moved from being a contagion of sin to a contagion of salvation. She who was an outcast, cut off from her village community was now a bridge for that very same community salvation. Confession had become her well of living water to revive your trooping spirit.

On Easter Vigil, the psalmist says, that once our relationship with God is mended, our relationships with others automatically are restored. As soon as we are right with God, we become right with everybody. When we are connected and have access to God, the well of living water, we can be alive for other people, including our spouses. The reason the Samaritan woman was having a series of marriages including illicit union with those who are not her husbands, was precisely because she was dead to God. She had no living water to give to those she married.

SACRAMENTS AS THE LIVING WATER OF GRACE:

Besides the Sacrament of Confession, all the other sacraments are the wells of Divine Grace, the living water. Christ out of whom the flow, is the rock that Moses struck and out of which flowed water to feed the people of Israel and their flocks in the desert. On the Cross, Our Lord was pierced with a lance and out of his heart flowed blood and water, representing all the sacraments. The Mass is the well of living water, the Eucharist.

God said to Moses -- God is standing right here on the rock of the Altar, the Christ. When the Priest shall invoke the Holy Spirit, the rock will issue the life-giving flesh and blood of Christ.