Mar 13., 2020 / Features, General, Soul Food
Stranger No More
A Reflection on the readings of the 3rd Sunday of Lent 2020 by Srs. Ria and Rose, nc.
Would you find it strange receiving a friend request from someone you do not know, without both of you having even a single mutual friend?
Jesus and the Samaritan woman in today’s Gospel reading were not only strangers to each other, but their own ancestors hated each other and did not relate with each other for ages. While the woman waited until noon time before she could get water from the well so nobody would notice her, Jesus was there by the well, under the scorching heat of the noon sun, waiting for her. Jesus, the stranger, initiated a conversation with the woman by first expressing a basic need: water, for he was thirsty. Give me a drink [John 4:7], perhaps Jesus meant, We can relate to each other. Yes, we can be friends. The conversation deepened, the trust was built, and turned into an encounter of hearts – from a thirst for water to a deeper thirst for freedom, for love, for God. The encounter speaks of barriers being broken. Jesus destroyed the barriers that divided them – gender, role, status, race. Jesus came not only for the Jews but for all. The love that Jesus offers is an inclusive love. The salvation He offers knows no boundaries. This profound experience of the woman being fully known yet accepted and truly loved by the One she encountered restored her sense of dignity and gave her a new perspective. Jesus was a stranger no more.
He told me everything I have ever done [John 4:29]. The Samaritan Woman went back to the town to tell everyone about Jesus and the encounter that freed her. Her heart was transformed by the encounter and made her transforming as well. She was never the same again. Mindful of what happened in her past, the Samaritan Woman was renewed by the acceptance and the love Jesus she experienced from Jesus. She was not condemned with what she did but loved with who she truly was in the eyes of God. Having met Jesus, she remembered that she was loved through and through; she realized her worth; she celebrated the life she was given; she gave witness to the person and the encounter that changed her and her life forever.
We, too, have our past but God waits for us to reveal ourselves to Him and to share with Him our own stories. No matter where we are and what we have done, God will meet us where we are and invite us to return to the journey with Him and begin again.
Let us earnestly seek Him, who seeks us first and perhaps, we can make this prayer of Anselm of Canterbury our own: Let me seek you in desiring you; let me desire you in seeking you. Let me find you in loving you; let me love you in finding you.
As we continue our Lenten journey through Easter, let us beg for the grace of trust and openness to approach and to encounter God by our own well, where He has been waiting for us. Take courage in accepting God’s friend request and know that we have a mutual connection and that is love.
Let us listen to this song and allow it to lead us to prayer: Till I Met You – Laura Story (Youtube Link).
Till I Met You by Laura Story
I’ve known pain and deep regret
I’ve known the weight of my mistakes like the back of my hand
I’ve known deception and all its games
I’ve known the way it feels to drown in my own shame
But I never knew love
I never knew truth
I never knew peace, the sweet release that brought me through
I never knew freedom, what grace could do
The broken chains, the hope that saves, a life made new
Till I met You
I’ve known rejection, I’ve bought the lie
That I could never overcome the hurt inside
With arms of mercy
You reached for me
Tore the veil away and gave me eyes to see
You’re all I need
And I never knew love
I never knew truth
I never knew peace, the sweet release that brought me through
I never knew freedom, what grace could do
The broken chains, the hope that saves, a life made new
Till I met You (I was empty, I was hopeless)
Till I met You (I was stumbling in the darkness)
I never knew love
I never knew truth
I never knew peace, the sweet release
You’re the one Who brought me through
And I never knew freedom, what grace could do
The broken chains, the hope that saves, a life made new
Till I met You (till I met You)
Till I met You (till I met You)
Till I met You
