He Quenches Both Our Physical and Spiritual Thirsts 

Fr. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara CSsR

Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Lent, Year A

Sunday, March 23, 2014

St. Gerard Majella Church, Baton Rouge, LA

Dearest beloved, today is the 3rd Sunday of Lent. Today’s first Scriptural reading taken from Exodus 17:3-7 tells us of the experience of the Israelites as they were being led out of Egypt by God through Moses. As you already know, they were slaves in Egypt for about 400 years, and during those long years, they experienced untold and unspeakable suffering in the hands of their host- the Egyptians. They lamented all day as they were made to engage in hard labors, and cried all nights due to harsh dictates of Pharaoh, the Egyptian leader. Eventually God heard their cries and sent his servant Moses to lead them out of the land of slavery and misery.

On their way to the Promised Land, the Israelites found themselves without water and they complained to Moses their leader. But this was not the first time they had complained. First, they complained that the water they had to drink was bitter. Then, they complained of not having enough food to eat. God had provided for them in the past but that didn't keep them from complaining. They were fine as long as they had what they needed. But when it appeared that they lacked the necessary resources to survive, they became anxious. They quarreled with Moses and said, “Why did you ever make us leave Egypt? Was it just to have us die here of thirst with our children and livestock?” Because of momentary thirst, the Israelites preferred remaining well fed slaves to hungry free people. Because of thirst, they preferred going back to Egypt. Because of thirst, they forgot that the same God who performed great miracles through his servant Moses as they made their exit and escape from Egypt and the Egyptian army is also able to provide even water for them. Because of thirst, just a little problem on the way, they forgot that the same El Gibbor (The mighty God) of Isaiah 9:6 is also the Yahweh Jireh- God our provider of Genesis 22:14.

But God is ever faithful. He never brings a person out of trouble, and then abandons the person half way. When God leads you through the dark with his light, he does not turn off the light half way in the journey. Even in our unfaithfulness, he remains ever faithful. Despite the complaints and anger of his people, the Israelites, God still remained unshakably faithful. That is why St. Paul in 2 Timothy 2:13 says, “Even if we are not faithful, God remains faithful because he cannot be false to himself.”

As the freed people were heaping their blames on Moses, the servant of God went to God in prayer, “Lord, what shall I do with these people? A little more they will stone me.” Of course God never disappoints. He does not overlook his people. And when God sends you on a mission, he does not leave you by yourself; he accompanies you as you carry out his injunction.

The Israelites suffered an identity problem. They were God’s chosen people. How could God let them go without water? They suffered a loss of memory. They failed to understand that the same God who divided the Red Sea to enable them walk through to the other side is omni-benevolent and omnipotent enough to provide water for them. They had forgotten the fact that they were slaves before the Exodus. They were living in bondage and now they were liberated. Rather than be grateful for their freedom they complained when they encountered some hardship. What they really needed was some Living Water, a fresh stream of faith. The Israelites were experiencing a collective hysteria. They thought that God was letting them down. But God said to Moses, “Go over there in front of the people, along with some of the elders of Israel, holding in your hand, as you go, the staff with which you struck the river. I will be standing there in front of you on the rock in Horeb. Strike the rock, and the water will flow from it for the people to drink.”

Sisters and brothers, the Rock that was struck, from which water gushed out to satisfy the thirst of the Israelites is Jesus Christ whom 1 Peter 2:4 regards as the living stone rejected by people as worthless but chosen by God as valuable. From this rock will come forth springs of living water; from this rock will burst forth the fountain of life; from this rock will emerge a new life, a new dawn, a new era, a new history and a new experience. Jesus is the Rock that was struck; Jesus is also the Water that flowed from the rock. Jesus is the water of life. In the gospel of John 7:37 he says, “Whoever is thirsty should come to me and drink. As the scripture says, ‘whoever believes in me, streams of life-giving water will pour out from his heart.”

In today’s gospel taken from John 4:4-42, Jesus asked a Samaritan woman for a drink, “Give me a drink.” But realizing that Jesus was a Jew, the woman replied, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman for a drink.” In those days, Jews used nothing in common with Samaritans. But Jesus had seen a woman, a daughter of God in dire need for salvation. Her life was dry. She had five failed marriages. Her self esteem had reached an all-time low. She was alienated from society and any thought of her thirst being quenched was hopeless. Her life was so bad she had to go to the Well when no one else was around in order to escape her feelings of guilt and the ridicule of others. The unnamed Samaritan woman was thirsty. A thirst could be physical or spiritual. Often it is both as in the case of the Samaritan woman who met Jesus by Jacob’s Well. Physically she was thirsty, thirsting for water, and that brought her to the Well day after day. But spiritually she was also thirsty, an inner thirst which drove her from one man to another and for which she hasn’t found any satisfaction. By the time she met Jesus she was in her sixth marriage, and yet she said to Jesus “I have no husband,” indicating that she was probably already looking for the seventh.

In biblical interpretations, numbers are often significant. According to the biblical symbolism of numbers, six is a number of imperfections, of lack, of deficiency. The woman in her sixth marriage was therefore, in a situation of lack and deficiency. On the other hand, the number Seven symbolically is a number of perfection, completion, finality and sufficiency. Jesus came to her as the Seventh Man in her life. She encounters him and finally experiences the satisfaction her soul thirsts for. Jesus made her feel good about herself because he believed in her and forgave her. She felt unworthy, but Jesus restored her sense of worth by asking her to help him. She thirsted no more as she became whole again. The Seventh Man, Jesus opened up a new era for her.

Dearest beloved, I want us to understand that by engaging the Samaritan woman in a conversation Jesus broke two Jewish laws, one, a man must be in the company of others before he can talk to a woman. This is the reason why his disciples, on returning from buying food, were perplexed that he was talking with a woman all by himself. The second law also forbade a Jew from talking to a Samaritan, a Gentile. Jews did not regard the Samaritans. They avoided sharing anything in common with them. That’s why the woman’s reply to Jesus was, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman for drink?” But Jesus broke those two laws anyway in order to accomplish a higher good. He disregarded a discriminatory racial law that looked down on others for not belonging to the so called superior race. He also disregarded the gender law that disfavors women. And by this single action, the Lord demonstrates that all human beings- male and female are equal. He demonstrates that all men and women are God’s children. He demonstrates that though we are many and different-different racial origins, difference backgrounds, different tongues, skin-color etc, we are one human family, God’s family, God’s children created in God’s image. Jesus demonstrates that he is the fountain of life by giving new life to the Samaritan woman. He engaged her in a discussion which was against the law; asked her for a drinking water which was against the law, forgave her sins which was a blasphemy to the Jews who claimed that only God can forgive sins. Jews did not believe in the divinity of Jesus. Finally, the Lord upheld her dignity as a woman and upheld the dignity of all women.

Jesus also broke another law by going into the Gentile city and spending few days with the Samaritans. He was not supposed to do that. Remember that Jews had nothing in common with the Gentiles. But the Lord broke all racial barriers and put up residence with those considered as “outcasts;” he ate with them, slept in their homes, lived in their neighborhood, preached to them, performed miracles among them, quenched their thirsts, restored their human dignity, and offered them salvation which the Jews considered to be exclusively theirs. Jesus broke these Jewish laws for a higher law. He broke the human law in order to keep the divine law. He is indeed the Fountain of life. The Samaritan woman found the Lord and thirsted no more. Are you thirsty? You too can encounter the Lord. Encounter him today first at the proclamation of the Word and in the Eucharist and thirst no more! In Revelation 21:6, the Lord says, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.”