Third Sunday in Lent 'A'

Friday March 5, 2010

Conduits of Grace

What would we do without water? Sixty percent of the composition of our body is water. We can live for several weeks without food but without water for only several days. We are well on the path to dehydration at the first sign of thirst. Healthy people drink six to eight glasses of water daily!

Several years ago during a long New Jersey drought, I had the opportunity to banter about the weather with a few friends. One of our them suggested that I initiate some special prayers for rain at daily Mass, to which I responded, ‘tongue-in-cheek’ of course, “So God doesn’t know we need rain?” We all chuckled but agreed that perhaps it would not be a bad idea to remind God about our dire thirst!

Of course, God really does not need the reminder; we do. That is, we need to be reminded that our partnership with God endures in good times and bad, in the rainy months and in the dry seasons. We rejoice when the garden yields a rich harvest as if success is the work of our hands rather than God’s. But when the drought occurs, we turn to God for a miracle or at least for a direct intervention instead of investing even more heavily in our partnership with God. In dry seasons, we need to use less water so that others may have sufficient. Although we cannot control the laws of nature, we can control our use of the earth’s resources and we can respect the earth’s watersheds and flood plains by not putting God to the test with structures that cannot withstand the ravages of hurricanes and floods.

The Israelites complained about their thirst in the desert. They assumed that God had hardened his heart toward them and they blamed Moses for leading them out to the desert to die. In fact it was the ungrateful Israelites who had hardened their hearts against God so quickly forgetting their liberation from Egypt and the cruel pharaoh.

The storyteller appreciated the natural drama provided by nature and took advantage of the occasion to teach a lesson not only to the Israelites but also to people of all ages. God did indeed hear their grumbling but did not hold it against them, and through Moses led them to water at the rock. Despite Moses’ hesitation, God provided water that not only quenched their thirst but also healed them of their self-absorption. God knew of their thirst before their grumbling. The rock was a metaphor for God and the water a metaphor for divine life.

In the gospel story, Jesus knew of the thirst of the woman long before she arrived at the well. The interesting exchange between Jesus and the woman so cleverly woven by John into the journey of Jesus to Jerusalem makes it quite clear that the narration is not about water but about living in God’s grace through the Spirit that has been poured out on all humanity. Jesus becomes the rock from which flow the living waters of God’s grace. In the words of the psalmist, “He is the rock of our salvation.” [Psalm 95]

The story is full of signs and metaphors. Water is a rich symbol in both the Old and New Testaments. In the 12th chapter of Isaiah, the prophet states, “With joy, you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” And in chapter 44, “I will pour water on the thirsty land.” And in chapter 55, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the water and drink without cost.” Ezekiel and Zechariah also speak of water flowing in the desert.

The Samaritan woman represented a race and cast rejected by the Jews. The five husbands were the religions imposed on the Samaritans by foreign powers. There is a clear progression of faith in the woman as she and Jesus conversed about water. She came to see in Jesus what his disciples failed to see and she became a conduit of grace to the other members of the Samaritan community.

As the conversation continued with his disciples, it became clear that Jesus’ agenda was quite different from that of his disciples. They had not yet caught on that God’s word was his food and God’s will was his drink. His rebuke of Satan in the desert was reinforced by his total submission to God’s will.

These scriptural texts were selected for this weekend to support the progress of catechumens toward baptism and entrance into the Church, the living Rock, the Body of Christ. During Lent, catechumens and candidates already baptized in another Christian assembly begin their final ‘ascent’ toward baptism and/or entrance into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil. How appropriate that they should spend this remaining time reflecting on how God’s grace has been working in their lives over an extended period of time—for some, many years! This speaks of the relentless energy of a life-giving God, the ‘hound of heaven’ as it were, leaving no ‘rock’ unturned to raise us to a consciousness of our connection with him. Baptism will be for catechumens a re-birth. The renewal of vows and Confirmation will be for candidates (already baptized in another Christian tradition) will be a kind of re-birth, a fresh start, the re-ignition of the Spirit that they received at baptism.

We, who were baptized into the Church one ten or a hundred years ago also take advantage of this period of scrutiny to search our souls and allow God’s grace to prevail in our lives. We are challenged to allow God to unleash the saving graces that perhaps have lain dormant or covered over by our grumbling and complaining; by our self-absorption in our own picayune agendas. The word ‘scrutiny’ does not mean obsessive introspection. It is rather an honest inventory of our lives—our intentions and motivations in the light of God’s love, not God’s anger. We are slow learners. We find it difficult that God should respond to our feeble efforts and our grumbling with compassion and even more graces, but the Scriptures verify this categorically.

We do not need to “pray for rain” or for sunshine. We need rather to allow God to raise our consciousness to the partnership that we enjoy with God, a partnership which began at birth, the moment when we were loved into existence.

In his letter to the Romans, Paul states: “Since we were justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand and we boast of our hope of sharing the glory [i.e., partnership] with God.”

The corollary to all this, of course, is that day by day, we are becoming ‘conduits’ of God’s saving grace to others, God working through us, as it were, bringing mercy and compassion to troubled hearts and warring nations.

As we enter the church each Sunday during Lent and dip our fingers into the holy water font, we find no water. In fact, the fonts are covered with a purple strip to remind us of our thirst for divine grace and mercy.

Whether we pray or grumble, God will be there for us. Jesus provides living water each time we come to this table.

We are also to be there for others who are thirsty for God’s love whoever they are, wherever they live, whatever their story.

In Christ, we have become conduits of God’s grace.

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