Is God still with us in the World? Meditation on Jesus the Water of Life (3rd Sunday of Lent)

African Catholic Voices

The Gospel presents to us the story of a woman who was searching for God. She was a woman who had no name. In the NT, those who have no name are usually people who have no status in society. She was also a Samaritan. The Samaritans were regarded as inferior spiritually by the Israelites because they were unfaithful to God’s covenant and worshipped idols. They were outcasts. Jesus however breaks the prejudices of his people: by talking to a Samaritan woman, asking her for water and even spending some time with her in the richest and longest dialogue in the New Testament. Before God, we are all equal. In Jesus no one is lost in the crowd. In Jesus it is no longer a man’s world but a world fit for all; where God’s children, male or female, White or Black, rich or poor have equal dignity and respect before God.

In this dialogue Jesus elevates the status of women by making them hearers of his word and sharers in his missionary work. Jesus shows that he can go to any extent to bring all humanity into the cycle of God’s love. He came to confront and heal the ancient divisions which have kept people apart. He welcomes all: the rejects of society, the sinners as well as saints, the faithful and unfaithful children of God. He however always invites people to leave their past and seek the highway that leads to truth, life and salvation that is in him. He came that all of us will have life and light; that all of us will have self-esteem and pursue our ordered ends free from social restrictions and settled prejudices. He came to offer everyone the water of life.