Reflection for the Vigil of the Third Sunday in Lent

by Sister Elizabeth Carrillo

Our Gospel tonight brings us to a well. Wells appear often in the Scriptures, and they are rarely ordinary places. In biblical tradition, encounters between a woman and a man at a well often herald the beginning of a new relationship, one that leads toward marriage and the forming of a household. A servant of Abraham meets Rebekah at a well and brings her to Isaac. Jacob first sees Rachel beside a well. In each case, the well is a threshold, where the ordinary rhythm of daily life opens into the possibility of new relationship.

John places Jesus beside Jacob’s well in Samaria. Earlier in this Gospel, we have already been given hints about his identity. John the Baptist speaks of him as the bridegroom whose arrival brings joy. Now the one who has been named as the bridegroom sits beside a well.

It is midday, and Jesus is alone. A woman arrives carrying the jar she uses each day to draw water.

What follows crosses boundaries. While Jews and Samaritans share a common heritage, after the split of Solomon’s kingdom, the northern kingdom of Israel fell to Assyria. Foreign people were brought in, and over generations, the populations mixed. As a result, Judeans regarded the Samaritans as religiously compromised and ritually impure. Even the proper place to worship God had become a point of contention.

Given this history, a Jewish rabbi would not normally speak with a Samaritan, much less a Samaritan woman. Yet Jesus says, “Give me a drink,” reaching out across barriers of culture, religion, and custom.  We can almost feel the woman’s shock and rebuff. Her words emerge from a long and painful history of suspicion, division, and exclusion. But Jesus answers in a different register. “If you knew the gift of God, you would ask him, and he would give you living water. 

The symbol of water flows through the story of God’s people. In the wilderness, Moses struck the rock and water gushed forth. The prophets spoke of God as the fountain of living water. Isaiah promised that the people would draw water with joy from the springs of salvation. We hear in Ezekiel of the life-giving waters that flow out from the temple.

There’s a connection here. Earlier in John’s Gospel, Jesus speaks of the temple of his own body. God’s presence is no longer confined to stone walls but now stands before this woman in the person of Jesus, the new temple from whom the life of God flows; the bridegroom offering a new covenant. This living water is something he alone can offer, and whoever receives it discovers within a spring of water gushing up to eternal life. At first, the woman takes his words in a literal, practical way. The well is deep, and Jesus has no bucket. But the promise of never returning for water again is appealing. He’s caught her interest.

Then the conversation shifts from water to relationships. We have already seen how meetings at wells in Scripture often carry the promise of marriage. And it’s in this context that Jesus says, “Go, call your husband and come back.” She replies simply, “I have no husband.” Jesus affirms her words, naming the painful complexities of her life; she is known deeply, without condemnation. In this, she recognizes his prophetic gift.

The dialogue deepens and turns to the long-standing disagreement between their peoples. Where should God be worshiped, on this mountain or in Jerusalem? Jesus explains that the hour is coming, in fact it is now, when true worship will not be bound to either place, but offered in spirit and in truth. Encouraged, the woman speaks of their people’s shared hope in the coming Messiah. And Jesus responds with the words spoken to Moses at the burning bush: “I am.” With this name, he reveals his divine identity, and it’s not to his disciples or the religious leaders, but to this Samaritan woman.

Receiving this revelation with joy and amazement, she becomes a vessel of the good news herself. She leaves her water jar at the well and rushes back to her town, calling with words that echo the invitation of Jesus himself: “Come and see.” The woman of Samaria has become an apostle to her people, drawing them toward the one who has revealed himself to her.

Toward the bridegroom who has come seeking his people, offering them the living water of the new covenant.

The living water that Jesus offers does not remain contained. It flows outward through those who have encountered him. You might take a moment to ponder: 

Where have you heard words that helped you feel deeply known and loved? 

Is there a vessel you are being asked to leave behind to receive living water?

What word of good news might God be calling you to embody and pour forth in this season?

(Questions adapted from Jan L. Richardson)