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:
What do you see in
the encounter of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at Jacobs well? Do you see the
desire of Jesus to evangelize the Samaritan woman? Yes, Jesus obviously desired
for the conversion of the woman to become His follower. But Jesus did not do
His evangelization the conventional way.
Jesus evangelized
the Samaritan woman using the water at Jacob’s well as His vehicle for her to
be evangelized. Jesus asked the woman to
give Him a drink (John 4:7) and after that their conversation went on until the
Samaritan woman was convinced by Jesus to believe in Him.
Evangelization the
Jesus way is very different from our way of evangelization. He evangelizes
using some characters, in this gospel episode the characters of well, water and
His desire to drink the water from that well.
From thereon, Jesus
opened another conversation until it delved to the personal background of the
woman. Jesus did His evangelization with gentleness, diplomacy and humility.
And the result was, He eventually converted the woman to become a believer and
follower. After which the town mates of the woman became also Jesus followers
courtesy of the personal witness of the woman herself.
We therefore have to
follow the out of the box method of evangelization of Jesus using gentleness,
diplomacy and humility. Let us not like be the others who evangelize by means
of memorized yet
selective bible passages. Bible passages that serves their own ends to denounce
other Christian religions.
How do you
evangelize? - Marino J. Dasmarinas
