Lent III

Lent III (John 4:5-42) “The hour comes and now is…”

God the Father sent God the Son into the world to seek and find the lost. As we see in this account of the Samaritan woman at the well, the lost don’t want to be found.

There are three basic relationships that define our lives. Each of those relationships is distorted by original sin- the choice our species made (and continues to make) to separate from God. As we separate from God we separate from each other. And we separate the elements and aspects of our own souls from their original unity.

The apostle John relates the story of the woman at the well to help us understand these distortions. John also presents Jesus as the solution to these distortions and their underlying cause.

The first distortion Jesus helps the woman identify is the fragmentation of her personal identity. He asks for a drink of water then leads the woman from the realm of physical thirst to recognize the reality of spiritual thirst. That spiritual thirst is part of the existential pain all human beings live with. It is a result of original separation. We all attempt to cope with that pain in many different ways. Our main coping mechanism is denial. We divert our awareness of this pain with pleasure, addictions, work or lethargy. We defend ourselves from this pain through the categories of shame and blame.

The first step in reunification is the recognition that we are lost. We must recognize there is an emptiness in our souls. That emptiness is creating both spiritual pain and spiritual longing. The woman moved very quickly into the awareness of her thirst for something more fulfilling. Her response to Jesus demonstrated she was ready for the next step.

The next step is to recognize how separation produces distortions in our interpersonal relationships. These distortions exist in all of us. It is these distortions that produce actual sin (transgressions). For some of us this sin affects the mind with arrogance and pride. We believe we know best. We adopt a condescending attitude towards other people that produces a demand. This demand can’t even perceive how it subverts and breaks human relationships.  As a sin of intellect it defends itself with invincible ignorance. It cannot accept the basic apostolic teaching about knowledge: now we know in part.

For others of us this sin affects the will. We want what want and we want it now. We don’t care how our demand affects other people. We hold an attitude of entitlement that simply states: my will be done.

The woman at the well experienced a form of sin that lodged in the heart. She lived her life with a profound distortion of marriage.

Jesus perceived this in her. No one had to tell him. He did not use any divine power to discern this. He simply observed her demeanor and paid attention to her. Jesus was fully present to the woman in a way we are never fully present to each other. In that real presence Jesus discerned her general spiritual pain and the specific way she chose to defend against that pain.

Notice, that Jesus is honest but not condemning. The woman knows that her behavior is wrong. The real presence of Jesus clarifies for her that her behavior is a distortion of divine law. She attempts to change the subject at that moment. Remember she is lost and does not want to be found. She is a sinner who does not want to repent. She feels the pain of separation and sin. She fears the solution. Jesus is the solution. Jesus is just too present and too real for her as he can be too real and too present for us if we are paying attention to him.

The woman shifts the discussion to matters of religion. Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever adopted that tactic? It is a no win scenario for human interaction. People argue about religion all of the time. We even fight and kill each other over religion. Like the woman, we can divert a serious and potentially life changing discussion about our sin into an exercise of futile debate. Jesus accepts the challenge and transforms the conversation.

In an effort to evade being found the woman raises the very issue that keeps her lost. In an effort to avoid conversion of life, the woman gives Jesus the opening to reach her at the deepest most profound level of her being.

The woman raises the cultural issue of worship. She expects a discussion, a debate and a futile no win religious dispute. She gets something very different. She gets God incarnate. She discovers that the very essence of worship is not religions opinion or cultural experience but the real presence of God. She discovers what all people discover. Worship is the highest form of love we can experience. Worship is the meaning and purpose of life.

In that context of real presence and divine love, Jesus reveals to the woman that he is the Christ, the Messiah, the anointed of God. It is an amazing revelation. It is grace that produces faith. The result of this personal interaction and conversation is conversion. The woman discovers her pain is really a thirst for God. She discovers her sin is really a distorted defense against that thirst. She discovers God is not just a cultural religious category. She discovers Jesus.

Jesus is the personal real presence of God. Jesus is the love of God incarnate, up front and personal.

The hour of salvation came to the woman as she went to the well to draw water. The hour of salvation for us is now. Jesus said: the hour comes and now is when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.