The Third Sunday of Lent
Year A

By the Rev. Ann M. Smith

Based on the readings from
Exodus 17:1-7 and John 4:5-42

The search for clean drinkable water is a critical issue for much of the world. Physical thirst is a daily problem. In recent times, with events like Walkerton's ecoli situation, it is even a growing concern for us in Canada, a land of abundant resources. Although for the most part we trust our water supply we still have lots to complain about – too much chlorine for example.

Water was definitely a practical concern for the travelling Israelites. Listen to the list of complaints they made to Moses as they made their journey through the wilderness. They thirsted, and, true to form, they took it out on their leader. At a time of thirst, of longing, of insecurity and loss, true to human nature, they focused their fear and confusion on their leader who bore the brunt of their feelings. And God graced them with water there in the wilderness. The water from the rock was a sign that God understood the people's thirst. God's grace was more than a physical meeting of their needs, for the people of Israel thirsted spiritually as well. They needed to experience God's grace washing and refreshing them in the midst of all the loss and confusion that they were feeling. They needed to know that God was with them, leading them through that desert time, abundantly gracing their lives.

Are we experiencing such a time in our community? As a congregation, we have certainly gone through a time of uncertainty. In fact it sometimes seems that uncertainty is the normal way of life in this parish. It is difficult to begin to trust the leadership, either clerical or lay when time and again we have been faced with disappointment. It is frustrating to hear constantly that the church has needs; more difficult still to decide whether to shore up the leaky hull once again or to simply abandon ship. It is difficult to come to church looking for spiritual answers to our thirst and hear the ongoing litany of woe that seems to be such a part of our church life. How do we begin to share the good things that are happening in this place? How do we get our spiritual needs met? How do we put our trust in God and know that God's abundant grace is there for us to access?

It never ceases to amaze me how the stories of Jesus relate to me and my immediate needs. In his humanity Jesus touches me. He feels the things that I feel. In his daily life, he experiences the things that I experience. Take thirst, for example. Jesus experienced thirst as he travelled the dusty roads of Israel. One hot day while the disciples went off to look for food, Jesus headed for the well to quench his thirst. His throat was dry and his tongue hard. He looked into the well. There was lots of water there. But without a bucket how was he to get any. He had no choice but to wait until someone came along.

It was a Samaritan woman – an outcast even in her own society – who finally arrived at the well. Jesus watched as she lowered her bucket and brought it up overflowing with clear, sparkling water.

"Give me a drink," he requested. She was surprised that he would make the request of her. A Jewish man speaking to a Samaritan woman! Any self-respecting Jew would have endured his thirst. But she passed the bucket to him. He sank his head in and took a long drink.

"You were thirsty," she remarked.

"Yes, but thanks to you, my thirst is quenched. You are thirsty too," he added.

"That's why I've come to the well for water," she explained.

"Not that kind of thirst," Jesus said.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Yours is the kind of thirst that everyone experiences – an inner thirst, a longing, an emptiness."

"How does one satisfy this thirst?" she asked.

"With the water that God gives," Jesus told her.

"What do I have to do to earn this water?"

"Nothing. It is a gift – a gift that God gives to thirsty people. I can give it to you," he told her.

"Please do. Then I will never have to come here for water again," she said.

"You don't understand," Jesus replied. "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."

The Samaritan woman left home to draw water. She found water of a very different sort. She met Jesus at the well and became a new person.

Are we thirsty enough to meet Jesus at the well? Do we with David say, "My soul thirsts for the living God?" Our journey through this wilderness time of Lent is an opportunity to acknowledge our thirst for God. Out of that kind of thirsting, out of the kind of acknowledgement that the Samaritan woman made, out of the acceptance of our need for God, out of our reliance on God's mercy, comes that gift of grace that quenches our spiritual thirst.

"If you knew the gift of God..." Do you know the gift of God? Marvellous things happen when people begin to awaken to the gifts God has for them, to the gifts God has placed within them. Those gifts of grace! The gifts that make each one of us God's graceful ones. Such gifts are central to our life as Christians. Gifts that help us to face the crises in our lives, to find meaning and purpose. Gifts that help us to feel understood as the woman at the well. To understand such gifts is to begin to understand God's grace at work in our lives.

So what exactly is this gift of grace? Maybe some of you learned about grace in your preparation for Confirmation when you memorized the Catechism where it is defined in the following way. "Grace is God's favour towards us, unearned and undeserved; by grace God forgives our sins, enlightens our minds, stirs our hearts, and strengthens our wills." Grace is undeserved favour. It is not given to us as reward for our knowledge or any of our abilities. It is simply given.

I have been asked as you no doubt have many times, "What would you like for your birthday?" Now I am never quite sure what to say. Somewhat tongue in cheek I will sometimes reply, "Oh, just some love and understanding I think." But when pushed, and when I begin to take the search seriously, I come up with a list no one could ever begin to fill. For instance, there are past moments from my life that would make great gifts. The time I spent with a good friend in wonderful conversation around the fire. The first morning in spring when I stepped outside and heard the birds back from their exile and smelled spring in the air. The first glimpse of autumn as the leaves take on their beautiful hues. The wonderful day when I was ordained a priest. Those would make wonderful gifts.

A new friend would also be a gift unsurpassed if you could give such a gift. There is something exciting about a new friend. About discovering whom that person is. About dismantling all the walls and barriers one by one until you really are friends.

Then there are the Murphy's Law type of gifts. To choose for once the fastest line in the supermarket. To catch green lights all the way to the meeting I am certain I will be late for. To find a free parking space. To be forced by the heavy traffic to turn right when I wanted to turn left and then to find that I am heading in the right direction after all.

Life is scattered with such gifts, such graces. You see, there are moments when it does seem that life carries us and turns us into what we would have rather chosen had we thought of all the possibilities – except that we didn't and God did. And suddenly we find ourselves gifted with utter generosity, a whim of contradiction and delight. Such is God's grace, God's free and undeserved gift to us. All we need do is what the Samaritan woman had to do. Accept the gift. Come in to relationship with God. Allow God to walk with us.

Grace affects all of our relationships beginning with our relationship with God. But most important, it manifests itself in action in our lives. Our lives become focused on others. We learn to share the grace by which we have been graced. Not by looking for Brownie points. First of all, God doesn't give them. But even more important, we don't need them. Grace is free. We share grace by offering Christian service, the kind of service that is always offered by practicing Christians. It is the kind of service that the world needs to see us doing, because it offers Christ to the world. It is seeing God's grace manifested in us that will change the world. People will begin to say for real, "See these Christians – how they love one another!"

Marvellous things happen when we begin to awaken to the wonderful things that God has in store for us. Let us put our trust in God's promises. God has the answer for our spiritual needs. God has the answer for our physical needs too. Let us pray that God will give us the grace and the vision to be everything that God is calling us to be.