3rd Sunday of Lent, Year A
3-6 year olds
(full reading: John 4.5-42)
In the middle of a hot day, Jesus rests by a well, a place where people come to get water to drink.
A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”
Jesus is thirsty. He must be glad to see this woman come with a jar to get some water from the well.
But when the woman wonders what is going on, Jesus says that she could have asked him for water and he would have given her something more:
“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.”
Living water!
Water that is alive!
What could that be?
Jesus is thirsty himself, but he is offering something even better to the woman so that she will never be thirsty. He wants to give her a kind of water that she will always have within her.
Isn't this the way of Jesus, the Good Shepherd. He always gives the best for the sheep!
We hear in the Holy Bible,
The Lord is my shepherd; I have everything I need.
He lets me rest in fields of green grass and leads me to quiet pools of fresh water.
Fresh water--only the best for the sheep! The woman from Samaria would agree. Jesus doesn't offer her ordinary water, but the best water! Living Water!
I wonder, who could that Living Water be?
We know that we need water to live. If we plant seeds, we know that we have to water them or else they will never grow. We know that water brings life.
But Jesus says,
I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. (John 10:10b)
Not just enough life, but more than enough life! So much life! Abundant life!
The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”
This Living Water brings eternal life so no one is thirsty. Life that will never end. Life with God.
Risen Life. Like Jesus has.
Does Jesus give this Living Water only to the woman from Samaria?
When we are baptized, water is poured over our heads. Or, we are plunged right into the water!
Do you think it is ordinary water that the priest uses?
Remember, only the best water for the sheep.
Living Water.
Before Baptism, the priest stretches out his hand over the water. His hand begins up high, and then moves low over the water. It is a prayer.
He is asking for a gift of God. Who does he want to come to fill the water? Who comes to fill the water, to make it holy?
The Holy Spirit!
Living Water!
Like the woman from Samaria, we rejoice! We have Living Water! We have the Holy Spirit gushing up inside us!
We will one day enjoy Risen Life with Jesus. Amen.
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