Gospel: John 4:5-42

So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.

A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink’. (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?’ (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that 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 have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?’ Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I may never 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 him, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said to her, ‘You are right in saying, “I have no 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 see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these 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 Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ). ‘When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am he, the one who is speaking to you.’

Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, ‘What do you want?’ or, ‘Why are you speaking with her?’ Then the woman left her water-jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, ‘Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?’ They left the city and were on their way to him.

Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, ‘Rabbi, eat something.’ But he said to them, ‘I have food to eat that you do not know about.’ So the disciples said to one another, ‘Surely no one has brought him something to eat?’ Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. Do you not say, “Four months more, then comes the harvest”? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, “One sows and another reaps.” I sent you to reap that for which you did not labour. Others have laboured, and you have entered into their labour.’

Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, ‘He told me everything I have ever done.’ So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there for two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, ‘It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Saviour of the world.’

John 4:5-42

Reflection:

Our gospel for today is from John 4:5-42 which tells us back again the story of the Samaritan woman. This gospel from the bible is being told hundreds and hundreds of times yet people don’t know it’s meaning.

The woman in our gospel for today is very lucky to have convened with Jesus the Messiah. Although at first, she is adamant and hesitant to believe Jesus, we can’t deny the fact of her being lucky. To see and talk to Jesus’ face to face is the greatest glory one can have on this world. John 4:5-42 once again is reminding us of the near coming of the Messiah.

On these days of Lent, we must already know withing ourselves the things needed to prepare. What do we need to prepare? Lenten Season is the time where we have to assess ourselves and cleanse our souls. This is the time to ask for forgiveness of the past wrongdoings we did. The time to open our heart and let God rule our souls.

The woman in the well is very hesitant to give Jesus a bucket of water. Jesus is reminding each and every one of us that whatever race or color we have we must all give love to each other. We must also share the good word of salvation as we are in the same flock as God’s children. In John 4:5-42, people were very eager to know more about Jesus so they ask Him and the disciples to stay.

This Lent, we must remind ourselves of that we still need to know God deeper than before. As Jesus revealed Himself to the Samaritan woman, there is a deep meaning to that. It means that Jesus will always reveal Himself to us to let us know that He is always within us. He will always reveal His powers to us so that we should lean on Him in times of difficulties.

This Lenten, we must try to assess ourselves so we can be worthy of the graces He will give us. Let us try to unfold our true meaning in this world. This is the message of the gospel from John 4:5-42. – Clea | Helpline PH