The Samaritans Meet Jesus

Thank God that we know that Jesus came not only to be born within the Jewish community, but that He came to save all people.  In today’s gospel, Jesus meets a Samaritan woman and begins to talk with her.  This was unusual because Jews and Samaritans at that time went through great lengths to avoid each other.  The Jews believed that the proper place to worship God was in Jerusalem.  The Samaritans believed that the proper place to worship God was Mt. Gerizim located near Shechem (known in modern times as the Palestinian city of Nablus in the Northern West Bank).  The Jews destroyed the Samaritan Temple in 128 BC.  This is just one of the reasons for the animosity between the Jews and the Samaritans.  Another is that the Samaritans only believed that the first five books on the Old Testament were God inspired, while all of the Old Testament was sacred to the Jews.
Jesus was in Jerusalem and decided to travel to Galilee.  To get there, Jesus had to travel through Samaria.  For the reasons I already mentioned, Jews would normally go to the other side of the Jordan River to avoid contact with the Samaritans.  But Jesus was determined to take the most direct route.  At noon, He was tired and stopped at a well where he met a Samaritans woman.  Another unusual thing about this meeting is that Jesus spoke with this woman.  He told her of the living water that He could provide if asked.  He was talking about spiritual refreshment that could satisfy the soul, not the body.  This gift would make sure that whoever received it, their soul would never thirst.  The Samaritan woman could only understand the physical nature of water and thirst.  But Jesus was talking about her immortal soul.  She desired this water because she thought that she would thirst no more and would no longer have to lug jars of water to and from the well.  But Jesus continued to engage her in conversation.  When Jesus told her of everything she had ever done, she  assumed Jesus was a prophet.  The Samaritan woman told Jesus of worshiping God on Mt. Gerizim while the Jesus worshiped God in Jerusalem.  Jesus told her that there will come a time when neither location will be the place to worship God.  True worshippers will worship God in spirit and truth.  God is spirit and Jesus is the Truth.  The Samaritan woman tells Jesus that the she believes that the Messiah will come and explain many things to the people.  Jesus tells the woman that He is the one people have been waiting for.  The first person that Jesus identified Himself as the Messiah to was the Samaritan woman.  She left behind her water jar and went to her town to tell the people there that she thinks she has found the Messiah.  They return with her to see and hear for themselves.
They disciples had gone to town to get food for themselves and Jesus.   When they got to Jesus, he says that he has the food he needs.  Jesus is again talking about heavenly things.  Jesus’ food is doing the will of God.  Do you know how you feel when you are really into working on a project?  Food and even sleep may not be of much interest until the goal is accomplished.  That is how doing God’s work is for Jesus.  It is His all consuming mission.  But Jesus knows that the disciples do not understand.  So He talks to them in agricultural terms that they might understand.  He talks to the disciples about sowers and reapers.  The sowers is generally understood as God, while the reaper is understood as Jesus.  Jesus is harvesting the work that His Father has begun.  The disciples are encouraged to do the same.  They will reap and harvest what Jesus has sown here on earth.
The Samaritans from town came to believe in Jesus because of the testimony of the woman from the well.  However, they came to see Jesus for themselves and invited Jesus to stay with them for two days.  They were fortunate to have Jesus in their presence and came to believe in Jesus not because of a third party testimony but because they heard and experienced Jesus for themselves.
Brothers and sisters, the mission of Jesus is to do God’s will here on Earth.  In order to accomplish His mission, he spoke to Jews and non-Jews.  Because Jesus was fully divine and fully human, He knew the hearts and intentions of the people He spoke with.  It was always interesting to see who Jesus would select to help with His mission.  In this case, Jesus selected a Samaritan woman to testify about him to other Samaritans.  It was to this woman that Jesus revealed who He really was.  She believed in what she heard enough to go to the people of her town to tell them of her experience.  Even though Jesus revealed to her who he was, she was not one hundred percent convinced.  Yet if Jesus was the Messiah, this was news that she had to share.  She brought people back to meet Jesus and they became convinced.  
In many ways, I thought Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman was a good example of what the disciples were supposed to do.  They were supposed to suspend whatever beliefs they had, meet the people where they were, tell them about Jesus, and have them meet Jesus for themselves.  Jesus showed the disciples how devoted they should be in doing God’s will.  Even their own physical hunger should not stop them from doing God’s will.  All would be welcome to come to know Jesus for themselves.
The good news of today’s gospel is that Jesus will find us wherever we are.  Jesus will send people into our lives who will invite us to know Jesus for ourselves.  All we have to do is to be open to doing God’s will and helping others do the same.
St. James family, as we continue our Lenten journey contemplating, reflecting, and repenting, we should also consider getting ready to answer God’s call to do His will.  We never know when or how we will be called into action and where that call will take us.  Are we ready to suspend judgement and our prejudices in order to see others as children of God or maybe even as God’s messengers.  We truly will never know who God has put into our lives to assist in doing His will.  It could be our best friend or our worst enemy.  It could be a stranger.  Can we be like the Samaritan woman an be open enough to see the possibilities?  Jesus did not pick who most would see as the obvious choices as His disciples.  We heard to day that a Jew spoke to a Samaritan woman and revealed that He was the long awaited Messiah.  She was open enough to consider that this could be true and invited others to see for themselves.  This is but a brief example of what we are to do with our neighbors.  Your very introverted priest knows that this is not an easy task.  But if we can keep the faith, we may be able to turn St. James around with lots of effort, prayer, and God’s help.   May God bless and support our efforts.  Amen.