Daily Reflection: 3rd Sunday of Lent

Posted by Karin on February 24th, 2008 filed in Lent

So much to talk about in the readings today…

The psalm (95:1-2, 6-9) is beautiful, and we will be singing it today…

If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;
let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us joyfully sing psalms to him.
If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Come, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.
If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
“Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the desert,
Where your fathers tempted me;
they tested me though they had seen my works.”
If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

This is one of my favorite psalms, and I want to share the first few verses with you in the New International Version, because it’s the version I have memorized and it’s truly beautiful:

Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD;
let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with music and song.
For the LORD is the great God,
the great King above all gods.
In his hand are the depths of the earth,
and the mountain peaks belong to him.
The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.

The Rock of our Salvation. The great King above all gods. In his hands are the depths of the earth. Let us extol him with music and song. Those words speak to me every time I read them. They inspire me. They give me peace and joy. What more can we ask from scripture than that?

The second reading (Romans 5:1-2, 5-8) is an example of the awesome writing of the apostle Paul:

Brothers and sisters:
Since we have been justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have gained access by faith
to this grace in which we stand,
and we boast in hope of the glory of God.

And hope does not disappoint,
because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
For Christ, while we were still helpless,
died at the appointed time for the ungodly.
Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person,
though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die.
But God proves his love for us
in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.

The lenten readings tell us over and over again that Christ died for us while we were still sinners, that God loves us even when we turn away from him. It’s awe-inspiring and humbling to realize that someone was willing to die for me. For you. For our children and our children’s children.

And finally, the gospel today (John 4:5-42) is a long one, so I’ll just highlight my favorite part. In this reading, Jesus is talking to the woman at the well:

Jesus answered and said to her,
“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again;
but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst;
the water I shall give will become in him
a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
The woman said to him,
“Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty
or have to keep coming here to draw water.”

The imagery of living water is so beautiful - so striking. Imagine water that allows you to never be thirsty, a spring of water welling up to eternal life. Water, is of course, not only a recurring theme throughout Lent, but throughout the entire Bible. We are baptized in water. Even Jesus was baptized. Jesus turned water into wine. Moses parted the Red Sea to get his people to the promised land. We bless ourselves with water when we enter and leave the church. Water water everywhere.

Water is the sustenance of life, so it’s not so farfetched for it to be a symbol of eternal life as well. There is a song we sing called “Come to the Water”:

Oh let all who thirst, let them come to the water.
And let all who have nothing, let them come to the Lord.
Without money, without price
Why should you pay the price, except for the Lord.

And let all who seek, let them come to the water.
And let all who have nothing, let them come to the Lord.
Without money, without strife
Why should you spend your life, except for the Lord.

And let all who toil, let them come to the water.
And let all who are weary, let them come to the Lord.
All who labor, without rest
How can your soul find rest, except for the Lord.

And let all the poor, let them come to the water.
Bring the ones who are laden, bring them all to the Lord.
Bring the children, without might
Easy the load and light, come to the Lord.

Christ is light, life, living water. Beautiful words.

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for being our living water, for letting us never be thirsty, for letting your Son die for us that we might have eternal life. Your blessings are so many, and sometimes we don’t feel we deserve them, but you love us enough to make sure our sins are forgiven. Help us to strive for perfection, that we might truly deserve to drink of the spring of eternal life.
In the name of Jesus the Christ,
Amen

Questions for reflection: What would you think if someone told you, like the woman at the well, “everything you had ever done”? Would you be frightened or would you run to tell everyone you knew about this man?