Dear Parish Family, 

Praise be Jesus Christ now and forever! 

Today, we see the symbolism of water at the heart of some significant changes. A woman with a mysterious past honestly reveals her deep thirst, not only for water, but for spiritual fulfillment. So she is given the invitation to become a disciple to the people around her, a proclaimer of the truth of Jesus Christ. And she grabs it with both hands and runs with it. 

It’s almost impossible for us in the 21st century to get how incredibly shocking Jesus’ actions were in this gospel. First, it was unheard of for Samaritans and Jews to associate—they were the “Hatfields” and the “McCoys” of Jesus’ time. They hated each other so much, they would not even use the same water dipper, much less stop and chat around the same community well. 

But even more shocking was Jesus approaching a woman in public for a conversation. Even the apostles “were astonished” to see it. So, in one conversation with the woman, Jesus has broken through the barriers of ethnic race and gender. 

By treating the Samaritan woman as a respected person, and a beloved child of God, Jesus defeats the hatred and injustice of the past: he tells one of the excluded forgotten people that she is valuable, and that she belongs. He makes her his disciple. 

Why? Because she is willing to admit that she is thirsty. She asks for the living water, and is open to receiving it. She has hope in her heart about Jesus: “Could he be the Messiah?” She is not full of the pomposity, the certainty, and the arrogance of those who think they know it all. 

Do we have the vulnerability to include the stranger and the outcast? If so, never fear to ask Jesus for his living and extreme water!