HOMILY FOR THE SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT – YEAR A On this Second Sunday of Lent, we proclaim at Mass the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well (John 4:5-42). The message for us this Sunday is that “You cannot come to a complete certitude on a decision before you make the move”. Indeed, what is needed in decision making is a good will than certitude, in order to see the activity through. The Samaritan woman hardly reached complete certitude about the person of Jesus, yet since she had good will exhibited in her willingness, openness, enthusiasm and passion to act, she not only came to faith but led others through her witnessing to faith, even though she was still without certitude about whether Jesus was the Christ or Messiah (John 4:29b). Therefore, do not wait any more on coming to a complete certitude about your decisions in all spheres of life before acting. Have the good will; act and everything will fall in place for you. As, Catholic Christians, we cannot wait to have a complete knowledge of our faith, the Bible and doctrines before we begin to witness to Christ and the faith. With a good will translated into action, we may be surprised about how much we can share with others and how our witnessing will bring so many to Christ and the Church although we are yet to reach a complete certitude in faith. Now, this long and extensive story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman revolves around three issues. These are “water”, “husbands” and “food”. These three issues were the main topics that produced this long discourse in the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman. This long discourse could therefore be broken into three parts with the three issues in view after the introductory setting (John 4:5-6) and the conclusion on the response to faith of the Samaritans (John 4:39-42). These three parts are “the metaphor of water” (John 4:7-15), “the metaphor of husbands” (John 4:16-30) and “the metaphor of food” (John 4:31-38). The three issues are appropriately designated as “metaphors” since a cursory reading of the text revealed a misunderstanding of these otherwise familiar words by the characters engaged by Jesus. This is a major tool that the Fourth Gospel employs in its narratives. Thus, earlier on in John 3, Nicodemus came to Jesus and Jesus used the familiar phrase “born again” and Nicodemus interpreted it on the level of being born biologically a second time whereas Jesus employed the phrase as a metaphor with another level of meaning. The Fourth Gospel therefore abounds in familiar words and phrases but with double meanings which are not to be understood on the first level of meaning but on the second level of meaning, as an irony or a metaphor serves in order to avoid misunderstanding as many characters in the Fourth Gospel stories do with Jesus’ words. The “metaphor” of water, which commences with Jesus’ request of the Samaritan woman to give Him “drink” and He giving her “living water” to which the Samaritan woman understood Him only on the familiar level of “drinking water”, has Old Testament scriptural undertones and therefore secondary meaning. Thus, the scene of a man and a woman at a well recalls the betrothal stories of Isaac (Gen 24:10-61), Jacob (Gen 29:1-20), and Moses (Ex 2:15b 21). Jesus at the well therefore refers to the symbolism of Jesus the Messiah as a bride. The woman is the symbolism of all non-Jews. Hence, Jesus at the well with the Samaritan woman reveals Him as the Messiah who comes not only for Israel, but also to those whom Israel marginalizes and despises. Also, unlike the Old Testament well scenes, Jesus does not come to the well looking for a woman to be His bride, but for a witness who will recognize the Him as the Messiah and bring the despised people to him (vv.34-38). Now, Jesus offers the Samaritan woman “Living water” (hydor zon). The woman, however, hears only the meaning “running water” in Jesus’ words and so responds to His offer of living water with protests of logical and material impossibility. Jesus then clarifies the meaning of the expression “living water” by stating that the water He offers gives life and that those who drink from His water will never thirst (or literally “will not be thirsty forever”), because His water will become “in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life”(v.14). Consequently, John 7:37-39 associates Jesus’ gift of living water with the gift of the Spirit. The Samaritan woman responds enthusiastically to Jesus’ words (v.15a) that she would no longer have to come back to the well (v.15b) but her enthusiasm misses the point. She does not understand the meaning of Jesus’ “living water.” The Samaritan woman recognizes neither Jesus’ true identity nor the fullness of His gifts, but in verse 15, she is willing to receive what she thinks He is offering and hence to acknowledge her need of Him. Jesus now invites her to go and bring her husband. The “metaphor of husband” is employed with double meaning. The familiar meaning is not that the woman is unfaithful but that with the custom of levirate marriage where a woman with the demise of her husband is given to the brother to marry to produce children for the deceased (Luke 20:27-33), then like Tamar in Genesis 38, although the five husbands would have been brothers who died and the last male in the family line has refused to marry her (Deut 25:5-10). However, on a deeper level the five husbands symbolize the five nations that settled in Samaria after the fall of the Northern kingdom and their gods (2 Kings 17:24). That is, in ancient Hebrew the word for husband was baal. The term baal therefore means “husband”, “lord”, or “master”, and thus became a word for “gods”. In Genesis, Hagar, the slave wife of Abraham refers to him as baal; Sarah, the free wife, speaks of him as adon - both indicating a marital relationship. Thus, “husbands” is reference to the Samaritan history which the woman symbolizes and that the god they currently worship is not the husband spoken of in Hosea that “On that day, says the Lord, she (Israel - 10 northern tribes) shall call me, ‘My Husband’ and never again ‘My Baal’ “(Hos 2:18). Hence, the woman’s response, “I can see that you are a Prophet.” In the light of her recognition of Jesus as a prophet, the woman puts before Him the most dividing problem that stands between Jews and Samaritans: What is the right worship site, this mountain (Gerizim) or Jerusalem (v.20)? Jesus offered clarifies with eschatological categories but the woman could not grasp Jesus’ words. Yet, she abandons her jar and goes into town and bears witness to what she has heard. The disciples then returned and asked Jesus to eat the food that they had brought from town (v.31).Here, we find the “metaphor of food”. The disciples understood Jesus’ use of the word “food” on the familiar level whereas He had meant another meaning. The disciples were therefore confused by Jesus’ words and assume that He must be referring to food that someone else had brought him (v.33; cf. vv.11-12). But, Jesus clarified the meaning in John 4:34 that the food that sustains Him is His vocation: to do the will of the One who sent Him and complete God’s work. He further clarifies what he meant by completing the work of God with the imagery of harvest and the distinct roles of sower and reaper. Finally, the witness of the woman brought the townspeople to Jesus and of Jesus to stay with them for two days. This woman, who hardly reached complete certitude about the person of Jesus, brought so many to faith in Jesus. What we need most to journey in life with is goodwill and certitude otherwise we will continue to mark time in life as exemplified by the people of Israel en-route to the Promised Land in the First Reading (Exodus 17:3-7). Let us during this season of Lent take actions more than marking time with indecisions and decisions, for as the Second Reading (Romans 5:1-2,5-8) points out, God even took steps in Jesus to prove His love for us even whiles we were sinners. Shalom and a Blessed Week!
Posted on: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 19:53:23 +0000
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