The Scrutinies

On this, the 3rd Sunday of Lent, we will scrutinize the scripture of "The Woman at the Well".  To scrutinize something means to study it closely, examine it in detail.  We call the readings on the 3rd, 4th and 5th Sundays of Lent "The Scrutinies" because we both examine closely the Gospel of our Lord Jesus AND examine our own hearts using the Gospel as the guide for our spiritual examination. 

A good segue into the Gospel is the first reading from Exodus which recalls for us the thirst of the Jews in the desert and their worry that they will die of that thirst and grumbling "Is God with us?"  The Jews are tired...they are thirsty...even though God is with them, they do not have faith that He will provide for them what they need.   They wandered in the desert for 40 years.  No one's sandals wore out.  No one's clothes wore out.  They didn't starve and they didn't die of thirst.  Someone was sure taking good care of them. So when they are thirsty, do they simply ask God, "God, we're thirsty.  Can you give us something to drink?"  No, they grumble and complain and accuse God of not caring about them, saying He will let them die of thirst and they'd be better off as slaves back in Egypt.  They sound so selfish...yet if you think about it, are we much better than they?  Hm...

Reading I

Exodus 17:3-7

In those days, in their thirst for water,
the people grumbled against Moses,
saying, “Why did you ever make us leave Egypt?
Was it just to have us die here of thirst
with our children and our livestock?”
So Moses cried out to the LORD,
“What shall I do with this people?
a little more and they will stone me!”
The LORD answered 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.”
This Moses did, in the presence of the elders of Israel.
The place was called Massah and Meribah,
because the Israelites quarreled there
and tested the LORD, saying,
“Is the LORD in our midst or not?”


The Psalm that accompanies the readings is Psalm 95: If Today You Hear His Voice
 

Moving on to the Gospel, according to John, concerning the Woman at the well, notice the progression of the woman's state of grace and how simply she arrives there.  She is a very sinful woman who must draw her water from the well at the hottest time of the day to avoid the other townspeople who do not want to be at the well with her.  She has been thirsting for salvation in her heart, desiring to change her life and heal her sinfulness. She meets Jesus.  At first what she sees is that he is a Jew, then an important man, then a prophet and at last she sees him for what he is, the Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah.  In the course of their short conversation she recognizes her sin, and accepts the UNCONDITIONAL LOVE offered for the asking and becomes a disciple of Christ who goes forth and converts many people!   

This is what our Elect are experiencing right now!  They are scrutinizing their own hearts, recognizing their own sinfulness and embracing that as a part of their humanity and thirsting for the water that will quench their spiritual thirst!  This is a very important time in the life of our Elect.  A very personal and deeply emotional time.  We join them in this prayer to add our strength and faith to support and encourage them on their final journey to total acceptance of what Jesus has given them; unconditional love and eternal life!

This Gospel illustrates for us the simplicity of obtaining salvation through Christ Jesus.  It illustrates for us the common progression of faith that we have all experienced and perhaps still experience on our way to achieving the fullness of our faith and a deeply personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.  Please notice that although this woman is notoriously sinful Jesus does not treat her in any way different from how he would treat a righteous person.  The love of God does not discriminate on any grounds!   

Gospel

John 4:5-42 or 4:5-15, 19b-26, 39a, 40-42

[bracketed comments below are mine]
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.
    [Samaritans and Jews do not get along.  Jews do not usually travel the road past Samaria but Jesus specifically chooses to do so this day.]

A woman of Samaria came to draw water.
    [This woman is of lowly stature.  She is a sinful woman and is notorious in Samaria and comes to the well when no one else is there to avoid the gossips and sniping.  No one else would go to the well in the hottest time of the day and they would not want to visit at the same time as she.]
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.—
    [It is socially unacceptable for Jesus, a Jew, to be speaking to 1) a woman (especially this one!) and 2) a Samaritan; it's the double jinx!  God's love has no borders; He loves ALL mankind including sinners.]
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.”
    [As in the reading from Exodus, water is a source of life...but this isn't simply water that will quench the thirst and keep the body from dying that Jesus speaks of but LIVING WATER that will refresh the SOUL that is parched, quench the spiritual thirst. Jesus doesn't tell her she has to DO anything, except ASK and she would be given 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?”
    [And here the Woman begins to find understanding of WHO Jesus is by first identifying how great he is      compared to Jacob.]
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.”
    [Water that gives eternal life...you will never thirst again...the thirst that Jesus refers to is the thirst this woman has to find salvation from her sins.  She is thirsting for salvation...her soul is parched...and Jesus has the water that will quench that thirst and she only need ask...]
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.”
    [She has recognized and admitted her sinfulness.]
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.”
    [Her understanding of who Jesus is has been elevated from an important man to a prophet.  He can "see"
     her sin, he knows everything about her...she is beginning to wonder if he IS the ONE!]

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.”
    [It seems odd that a Samaritan woman, particularly this one, knows that the Messiah is coming AND believes in Him.  Jesus has said that her people "worship what you do not understand"  But here we witness  the truth revealed to the Woman at the well that this man, Jesus, to whom she has been speaking, is the Christ.  And she accepts that truth, and the love and mercy she has done nothing to earn but receives, graciously, gratefully.]

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?”
   

Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him.
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.”