“Thirsting for Living Water”
Fr. George Wertin
Sunday, February 27th, 2005

I like today’s Gospel very much. It stretches us and draws us into the realm of the spiritual. We’re talking not just about ‘water’ but about ‘living water.’ That is the language of metaphor. It is the language of spirituality. And the Samaritan woman inevitably misunderstands Jesus. She takes his words literally. He means them spiritually, metaphorically. He will give her the living waters that will quench her spiritual thirst.

In the Scriptures we are the light of the world. We are the salt of the earth. In other words, we are ‘like’ light and salt. Jesus is the good shepherd, the alpha and the omega, the lamb of God, and so on. As the Little Prince says: What is real is invisible to the eye.” It is a vocabulary that we all need to learn.

The meeting between Jesus and the Samaritan woman is an awkward encounter. She is an outcast by virtue of her sex, her nationality, and her religion. She is a non-person in the eyes of practicing Jews. For Jesus to even address her is a breach of the purity code. And yet Jesus does not hesitate to ask her for water and enter into an encounter with her.

In 1923 the Jewish theologian Martin Buber wrote a very influential little book entitled “I and Thou.” The thesis of the book is quite simple: there are two ways of relating to people. We can see other people as objects to be used. Buber calls this an ‘I-it” relationship. Or we can see other people as having feelings, needs and dreams just like our own. In other words, we can enter into a relationship of intimacy with the other. We can enter into an ‘I-Thou” relationship which opens the door to dialogue and possible intimacy. Jesus enters into an ‘I-Thou’ relationship with the Samaritan woman at the well. He moves beyond the stereotype of the Samaritan woman. He addresses her as a human being. Jesus looks into her eyes. He speaks to her heart and shows he genuinely care about her. He doesn’t threaten, ridicule, insult or condemn her. He accept her just as she is. He respects her and she responds accordingly.

The categories are different today. But the relationships are similar. We talk about ‘the poor,’ ‘the handicapped,’ ‘the retarded,’ ‘the homeless,’ etc. Then, there are “those people” who are variously foreigners, immigrants, and others different from ourselves. And they resent it. Everyone wants to be recognized as a human being first and foremost. We have seen what happens when gay and lesbian people are categorized and stereotyped. They are condemned and treated like the Samaritan woman in Jesus’ time. But once we get to know each other – ah, the difference! All you have to do is to get to know our own Kathy Itzin to find out how compassionate and delightful she is. If only the minister in the first reading had looked the fugitive in the eye instead of reading his Scriptures he would have found the living waters of compassion!

One of the disappointments for me as pastor of St. Joan of Arc is that I don’t have the opportunity to truly encounter every parishioner. Practically, my relationship with so many parishioners is inevitably superficial because our parish is so large. But when I have an opportunity to spend time and truly enter into a relationship with parishioners, I am always in awe of what beautiful people you are. Thankfully, in our collaborative ministry it is not just my relationship with parishioners that is important. You encounter each other in Small Christian Communities, peace groups, Befrienders and countless other ways. You minister to each other. We discover the living waters in countless ways. We encounter each other.

Unfortunately, there are many people who experience a spiritual thirst today. And in our society most people attempt to satisfy that spiritual thirst with material things – we buy and dispose and get new things. But it is not fulfilling. It’s like trying to satisfy a physical thirst with salt water – it only makes the thirst more acute.

Our invitation today is to accept the living waters from Jesus. We need to enter into the special relationships that are born of compassion, justice and love. Lent is the time to enter into the spiritual relationships that quench our thirst and give us new life, new energy.

It has been said that we are cruelest to those we know least: strangers, foreigners, minorities and persons of the opposite sex. But we are also cruelest to those we know best: members of our own family and closest friends because we take them for granted. This Lent we are invited to enter into relationships that are respectful to strangers and real encounters with those we love. We are invited to let the living waters well up within us.