Gospel: John 4:5-42
Jesus came to a town
of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son
Joseph. Jacob's well was there. Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there
at the well. It was about noon.
A woman of Samaria
came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." His
disciples had gone into the town to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, "How
can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?" —For Jews use
nothing in common with Samaritans.— Jesus answered and said to her, "If
you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, 'Give me a drink, ' you
would have asked him and he would have given you living water." The woman
said to him, "Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep; where then can you get this living water? Are
you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this cistern and drank from it
himself with his children and his flocks?" Jesus answered and said to her,
"Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks
the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in
him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." The woman said to him, "Sir,
give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to
draw water."
Jesus said to her, "Go
call your husband and come back." The woman answered and said to him, "I
do not have a husband." Jesus answered her, "You are right in saying,
'I do not have a husband.' For you have had five husbands, and the one you have
now is not your husband. What you have said is true." The woman said to
him, "Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on
this mountain; but you people say that the place to worship is in
Jerusalem." Jesus said to her, "Believe me, woman, the hour is coming
when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You
people worship what you do not understand; we worship what we understand, because
salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true
worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father
seeks such people to worship him. God is Spirit, and those who worship him must
worship in Spirit and truth." The woman said to him, "I know that the
Messiah is coming, the one called the Christ; when he comes, he will tell us
everything." Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one speaking with
you."
At that moment his
disciples returned, and were amazed that he was talking with a woman, but still
no one said, "What are you looking for?" or "Why are you talking
with her?" The woman left her water jar and went into the town and said to
the people, "Come see a man who told me everything I have done.
Could he possibly be
the Christ?" They went out of the town and came to him. Meanwhile, the
disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat." But he said to them, "I have
food to eat of which you do not know." So the disciples said to one
another, "Could someone have brought him something to eat?" Jesus
said to them, "My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to
finish his work. Do you not say, 'In four months the harvest will be here'? I
tell you, look up and see the fields ripe for the harvest. The reaper is
already receiving payment and gathering crops for eternal life, so that the
sower and reaper can rejoice together. For here the saying is verified that
'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap what you have not worked for;
others have done the work, and you are sharing the fruits of their work."
Many of the
Samaritans of that town began to believe in him because of the word of the
woman who testified, "He told me everything I have done." When the
Samaritans came to him, they invited him to stay with them; and he stayed there
two days. Many more began to believe in him because of his word, and they said
to the woman, "We no longer believe because of your word; for we have
heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the
world."
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Reflection:
Do you seek out the
lost and those who do not believe?
Considering that
Jews and Samaritans were not supposed to be near each other much less talk with
each other. Why did Jesus talk to the Samaritan woman and conversed with her at
Jacob’s well?
Jesus wanted to
introduce Himself as the living water and obviously Jesus wanted the woman from
Samaria to convert and become His believer and follower.
It was Jesus who
patiently initiated the conversation with the woman from Samaria it was never
the Samaritan woman who went to that well. The woman from Samaria never had any
idea about the identity of Jesus but she listened and even conversed with
Jesus. Why? This is for the reason that Jesus did not condemn or belittle her.
In this very long
gospel episode we get lessons from Jesus on how to seek out the lost and
unbeliever. First is we have to be patient and gentle with those who do not
believe, second is we should never judge them for who they are and third is we
should be willing to listen to their own life story.
If we are patient
and gentle if we are not judgmental and if we are willing to listen to those
who do not believe or to those who have scant belief. We draw out from their
inner world or even sinful world those who do not believe.
We therefore lead them to their own Jacob’s
well and there they will finally meet up close and personal Jesus our living
water. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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