Scripture Reflections for the Third Sunday of Lent
Year A, Lectionary 28
God is so mighty that God can make water flow from what we hold no value: a rock or an outsider like the Samaritan woman at the well. This water which God offers is Spirit and once we become a conduit, it can flow from us and reach others so that they too can come and have life in God.
Hate feeling lost on Sundays at church? Searching for a better explanation of the Bible than what you hear from your pastor's sermon? Check out the following collection of audio, video, and text commentaries from various Christian experts for a better understanding of today's scripture that deal with: Addiction • Baptism • Boundary • Church • Community • Compassion • Conflict • Connection • Conversation • Conversion • Desire • Discipleship • Encounter • Eucharist • Evangelize • Faith • Fast • Fearless • Grace • Growth • Healing • History • Holy Spirit • Hope • Identity • Journey • Judgment • Lent • Love • Marriage • Mission • Prayer • Prejudice • Presence • Reflection • Relationship • Resist • Resolve • Rules • Salvation • Samaritan • Seek • Shame • Sight • Sin • Suffering • Thirst • Water • Wedding • Well • Witness • Women •
“So baptism isn't just an act of forgiveness, it isn't just an act of cleansing, it's also an act of infusion. At our baptism God infuses his divine life into us. He gives us the indwelling gift of the Holy Spirit and he pours into our hearts the gift of his love as well as the gift of faith and the gift of hope.”
“Scripture says today that Jesus is tired. Perhaps he too is weary of the divisions and thirsting for a new community, the kingdom of God here and now. Here at the well, two tired, weary people meet and something miraculous happens. They don't judge one another.”
“The joy of finding Jesus automatically turns you into a missionary. The Samaritan woman immediately left her water jar, run into the city and began inviting everyone...to come have their share of the savior. Such was the mission of Jesus that humanity might be reconciled with divinity, that heaven might be wedded to earth.”
“Where the world makes us invisible, we are made visible again in Christ. This is the faith we are initiated into at the well of baptism...We are called to lead others out of a place of invisibility and into the light.”
“When the Apostles saw the Samaritans what do they see? A bunch of unclean, half Israelite, half pagans who they don't like and who don't like them...when Jesus looks at the town of the Samaritans, what does he see? He sees a field of souls, ripe and white and ready for the harvest.”
“The whole thing is a wedding between Christ and his bride, the Church, and then each individual member of the Church is becoming part of the bride through the living water of baptism. And that's what Jesus is promising to give to this woman at the well.”
“How do you and I experience the salvation that she experienced? It's by taking our own story to Christ.”
“And throughout his life and ministry Jesus broke all kinds of social boundaries. The things that we do to erect walls have no place in the eyes of God. Walls are man-made. God does not believe in walls, God believes in bridges and God gave us the best bridge in Jesus.”
“in going out and encountering the other we can have those moments where that person, that person who we might never have seen before and that person who we might never have listened to before, in fact is showing us the way to living water. Showing us the gift of eternal life.”
“See, church is more than a song, a sermon or a welcome and doughnuts afterwards. No, church is about the body of Christ, seekers, true believers who worship God in Spirit and truth and then go forth on a mission.”
“But the focus of the story is not on a sinful or loose woman, none of which is stated in the text, but rather on the deepening of the woman's faith, her growing desire for living water”
“There are no walls, barriers or fences in the mind of God”
“In the end, the gospel asks not whether we are thirsty but whether we will dare to drink from the one place where life is truly given”
“Indeed, we can be transformed by an encounter at the well...It could also happen that by being gifted with living water, we become that gift.”
“Isn't that true? When you and I encounter love, really, deeply, and profoundly, it changes us.”
“Society is quick to judge, quick to restrict, quick to categorize. Christ challenges us to see beyond these barriers, to seek the new thing God is doing in every life.”
“if we took the time to have a conversation with someone that we think we should not have a conversation with, like Jesus did with the Samaritan woman, then maybe we could leave our own jugs behind and recognize that there is something there, something good, something wonderful in all of us”
“May we always thirst for Jesus. May we always turn to him and say 'give me Jesus' and fill my heart, my soul, my whole being. And when you experience it don't keep it to yourself. Like the Samaritan woman did, share it with all whom you come in contact.”
“The point I'm getting is God provides, God gives life and in simply touching things it can exponentially provide life. Not just to that one object, not just to one person but from that can come abundant life. God is so gracious and powerful and gifting that it just abounds and it just, you know, flows.”
“sometimes when we encounter Jesus, the first thing we need Jesus to do is recognize us for who we are. Recognize us for our strength...but for our weaknesses too. Cuz once he recognizes the true person...then he can nourish us on levels like never before.”
“Jesus offers eternal life and Jesus offers us a witness to our lives”
“When we think about our faith, in our journey of faith, are we careful or are we careless?”