Feb_27_2005

Homily for February 27, 2005
Liturgical Year A-Cycle I
3rd Sunday of Lent
by Fr. John Carney
Topic: Our Spiritual Thirst
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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.

A woman of Samaria came to draw water. 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.-- 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." 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?" 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." 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." 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." 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."

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?" The woman left her water jar and went into the town and said to the people, "Come see a man who told me everything I have done. Could he possibly be the Christ?" They went out of the town and came to him. Meanwhile, the disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat." But he said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know." So the disciples said to one another, "Could someone have brought him something to eat?" Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work. Do you not say, 'In four months the harvest will be here'? I tell you, look up and see the fields ripe for the harvest. The reaper is already receiving payment and gathering crops for eternal life, so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together. For here the saying is verified that 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap what you have not worked for; others have done the work, and you are sharing the fruits of their work."

Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me everything I have done." 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."

That’s quite a gospel. You could easily take that scripture, the gospel account from John that you just heard and make that a Bible study for a year. Did you find yourself, as Gerry was reading the gospel, saying, “Wait, I didn’t get that last part, hold it.” Yet John’s gospel goes on, and on, and on, and on. Every sentence is pregnant with meaning.

It’s overwhelming but it’s a beautiful story and one that we’re familiar with--Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well. Let me give you just a little background that you may already be aware of: the Jews and Samaritans did not get along. It was shocking for a Jew to speak to a Samaritan as she reminds Jesus in this account. The area of Samaria at one time was Jewish. The ten tribes lived in that area but in the eighth century before Christ, the Assyrians took them into captivity. The Assyrians took some of the Jews away and replaced them with peoples from other nations that had their own gods. There was syncretism within the religion. The Jews considered them heretics, worse than non-Jews. Also, they brought in intermarriage with other peoples, which was also anathema to the Jews. Even today, in parts of Israel, even in parts of New York City, where there are very strict Orthodox Jews, if one of their children marries a non-Jew, they hold a symbolic funeral for that child. That child is then out of the family and considered dead.

Knowing all of this, it’s amazing that Jesus even encounters this Samaritan woman at the well. He also did that, of course, with the “Good Samaritan". And then for Jesus to speak to a woman was as shocking. Religious Jews did not speak to women. As a matter of fact, rabbis didn’t even speak to their wives in public. They typically tried not to speak to them at home either. They wouldn’t speak to their daughters or their sisters in public. There was even one group of Pharisees called the “Bruised and Bleeding Pharisees”. Whenever they saw a woman, they closed their eyes and would bang into buildings and walls and they were called, “The Bruised and Bleeding Pharisees”. Imagine if they lived in this day and age, in summertime, with the Britney Spears fashions, driving around in Albuquerque. We would have fatalities like you wouldn’t believe.

Now, with that background, this encounter is especially interesting and therefore especially important. I just want to focus on one aspect of this gospel and that’s the simple word of thirst, the simple words of “I thirst.” That woman came to that well thirsty but she was thirsty for more than water, although, she probably didn’t know it. She came to the well thirsty for meaning in her life. Jesus met her. He came to the well thirsty also, thirsty for her soul, for her faith.

Throughout his life, Jesus thirsts for us and continues to today. One of his last words on the cross, “I thirst.” but not for water, he thirsts for you. He thirsts for your faith. It’s a lovely thought how God needs and has a thirst for us. How much he loves us. He confronts the woman at the well. Jesus knows she can’t have that spiritual need filled until she cleans up her act. That’s why she knows he’s a prophet when he says, “Well, go get your husband.” It’s very playful, isn’t it? And she says, “Well, I don’t have a husband.” He says, “You’re right. You’ve had five husbands and the man you’re living with now is not your husband.” You see, that used to be a sin. (Laughter) This woman was not happy. Imagine ladies having five husbands? I’ve had a lot of wives tell me, “One’s just plenty.” She was miserable but she was good. There was goodness about her. She was steeped in sin but God loved her, Jesus loved her. So, he confronted her and she accepted the confrontation. She didn’t deny it and she was attracted to him. How did he know that? Then he tells her of course, “Well, I am the Messiah.” She believes him and her life is changed.

Really, I think the story, the parable here, of this encounter is that every human person has a spiritual need that only spiritual things, only God, can fill. Every one of us, we’re born with that need. It’s part of our wiring. It’s how we’re created. In fact, what I’m saying is that we’re created incomplete. There’s a part of us missing and that part is where God belongs. Psalm 42 says, “As a deer longs for running water so my soul longs for you my God.” We have a thirst; we have a hunger for God. Not knowing what the source of the hunger or thirst is, many people plunge themselves into other things in an attempt to quench that thirst. The woman at the well plunged herself into dysfunctional relationships. We all know about that. Every family, indeed most of us has made a mess of some relationship at some time in our lives. All the time, looking for that fulfillment of “I want to be complete.” “She’ll make me complete.” “He’ll make me complete.” “This is the one.” Of course, it’s not because it’s not a relationship that can fill the need for God. Only God can do that. Others surround themselves with materialism, with stuff. “If I have enough stuff, I’ll never die.” I say, “You never see a hearse pulling a U-Haul trailer.” Imagine showing up at heaven with your stuff? St. Peter says, “What’s all this?” “This is my stuff. I can’t let go of my stuff.” St. Peter says, “Leave it here. We got new stuff for you in here, better stuff.”

Some people, we mentioned last week, work. They substitute this need, this thirst, and this hunger for God with work and accomplishments; others with pleasure; others with addictions. Now, the new one in New Mexico is gambling addiction, a very serious problem. “If I could only win the jackpot, oh, I’ll be happy then.” It doesn’t work that way. The thing that they don’t understand, that we don’t understand is that this hunger we have is for God and only God can fill that hunger. How foolish we are. Trying to quench this spiritual hunger, this need we have for other things, material things or pleasures or relationships, is like trying to quench a physical thirst with salt water. You only get thirstier and then you get sick. We need a relationship with the ultimate reality, with that first cause, uncaused, but with that personal God who loves us. Therefore, we are not happy or complete in this life.

St. Augustine says, “Our hearts are restless until they rest.” Someone else said, “Our hearts have a God-shaped hole in them that only God can fill.” You may say, “If I know Christ, if I love Christ, if I pray everyday, read the scriptures and go to mass everyday, then I’ll be happy, then I’ll be complete.” NO. Any religion that promises that is a fraud. We will never be complete this side of heaven but at least we know what’s wrong with us. We’re incomplete and that’s okay because we’re working on being complete. We are God’s children now. What we later will be has not yet come to light but when it comes to light we shall be like God, complete, for we shall see God as he is.

We buried a man yesterday, John Walsh. Some of you probably know his son, Bob. John lived here the last few years. His wife had died a couple of years ago. He was from The Greatest Generation, as Brokaw would say. He was 84, a retired New York City cop and a veteran of WW II. I saw him a week before he died and I said, “How’re you doing?” And he said in his Brooklyn accent, “Father, I’m tired but I’m doing okay. I’m very blessed.” He knew where he was going. He was about to be completed and he was not sad. His family is, of course, but he wasn’t for he knew where he was going. I hope that’s what I say when I’m a week out from seeing God face to face.

I’d like to conclude with St. Augustine’s poem. You know the story of Augustine. He didn’t do things right for a long time. His mother, St. Monica, prayed and prayed for his conversion and he went his own way with pleasure, with success in Philosophy. It proved to be all wasted. Finally, he embraced the living God, Jesus Christ and he wrote these words about his life:

"Late have I loved you,
O Beauty ever ancient, ever new,
Late have I loved you!
You were within me,
But I was outside, and it
Was there that I searched for You.
In my unloveliness I plunged
Into the lovely things which You created.
You were with me, but I was not with You;
Created things kept me from You;
[yet if they had not been in You they
would not have been at all.]
You called, You shouted and You
broke through my deafness.
You flashed, You shone and
You dispelled my blindness.
You breathed Your fragrance on me;
I drew in breath and now I pant for You.
I have tasted You; now I hunger and
thirst for more. You touched me,
and I burned for Your Peace."
(St. Augustine, The Confessions, Book X).