2020/03/15 — 3rd Sunday of Lent — Year A

Third Sunday – March 15

First Reading — Exodus 17:3-7

Second Reading — Romans 5:1-2, 5-8

Gospel — John 4:5-42


An obvious theme of this Sunday's readings is water. In the first reading, Moses miraculously brings water from a rock for the thirsty Israelites. In the gospel, a Samaritan woman comes to draw water, and Jesus, apparently thirsty, asks her for a drink. But then he offers her "living water." She thinks he is speaking about physical water. Even when he clarifies that the water he gives becomes an interior spring that confers eternal life, she is still thinking of physical water. But after further conversation about authentic worship in spirit and truth, she realizes that he is the Messiah. Later, many of the townspeople come to faith in him.

The water Jesus promises is a symbol — as in other places in the scriptures — of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is promising her, and all believers, the Holy Spirit for eternal life. And here we come to the second reading. Paul says that our justification come by faith, which in turn gives us hope because the Holy Spirit pours (water metaphor) the love of God into our hearts. So, as in 1 Corinthians, he speaks of the three "theological virtues," faith, hope, and love The greatest of them comes through the Holy Spirit.

So what seemed at first to be about water turns out to be about the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Another point to note is that from early times Lent was the time of final preparation for the baptism of catechumens at Easter. Over the centuries, as infant baptism became more common, that aspect wasn't so prominent, but over the past 60 years it has been renewed. For catechumens, and by extension for all of us, these readings about water and the Holy Spirit remind us of baptism. Jesus tells Nicodemus in John 3 that one must be born of water and the Holy Spirit — which happens at baptism — to enter the kingdom of God. Jesus promises us the water of the Holy Spirit, springing up to eternal life.