Third Sunday of Lent

In Today’s Gospel, Jesus boldly and intentionally pursues an encounter with a woman on the fringes of society. The Samaritan Woman is someone well aware of her sin, her social status, and her past. She knows her own story, and as she makes her solitary way to draw water in the heat of the day, she does not seem interested in any new chapters or new encounters. But Jesus is unperturbed: he wishes to know her, and to show her the new life that is possible for her. And even though she has her own hesitations and objections to his approach, she ultimately lets him in and allows Jesus to reveal who he is, and who she is in light of that. At the beginning of the story, she is isolated from her community, not even wanting to draw water at the same time as her neighbors; by the end, she is going to every person she can find and sharing about her encounter with Jesus.

Jesus seeks us out just as intentionally, and even when sin and shame cause us to hide or isolate, he is unbothered. He sits down beside us, meets our gaze, and invites us to new life. And if we, like the woman, allow him to encounter us and change us, then we too become living monstrances, springs of living water, eager evangelists who cannot help but point to the One who has saved us. 

Sometimes during Lent we feel this guilty need to “make up” for our sin, to earn our way back to God’s good graces by giving things up and seeking out Jesus after we’ve drifted away. But these days aren’t about our search for God and proving our love for him, they are about his pursuit of us. He comes after us so specifically and so boldly: no matter how distant or unworthy we feel, he finds us and encounters us in the very places we try to hide. This Lent, as we journey toward the Cross, let us make room and allow Jesus to pursue us and reveal himself to us. And as we sacrifice, let it be to deepen our spiritual thirst for that Living Water that truly saves and satisfies.

Jule Coppa, Penn Campus Minister