Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Third Sunday of the season of Lent all of us are reminded on the need for us to put our trust and faith in the Lord, to hold on to hope that we have in Him because regardless of how difficult our respective situations and conditions in this world may be, with God everything is possible and there is nothing too difficult or impossible for us all to overcome as long as we put our faith and trust in Him. We must remember that from the Lord we can receive the perfect assurance and support which will never fail. Anything of this world, all of our means and abilities can fail us, but if we hold on firmly in the Lord, He will provide for us, strengthening us with His Spirit and Wisdom against all the challenges facing us.
In our first reading this Sunday, we heard from the Book of Exodus in which the story of the rebelliousness of Israel and their stubborn attitude at the place known as Massah and Meribah was told to us. This place of Massah and Meribah was rather infamous in the history of God’s people because it was there that they openly rebelled against God, and it was at the latter place where even Moses himself, so frustrated at all the demands of the people, their stubborn attitudes and behaviours, disobeyed God by not following His instruction faithfully. And all of these highlighted to us the people’s lack of faith in their Lord and God, despite them having clearly seen everything which He had done for their sake.
Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, even though they themselves had witnessed the great works that the Lord Himself had done for their sake in striking against their Egyptian slavemasters and in bringing them out with great miracles and signs from the land of Egypt, among other things He has done. In fact, God has also provided His people amply with lots of food, sustenance and drink throughout their time and sojourn in the desert. But the people as we heard in our first reading this Sunday complained against the Lord and alleged that the Lord Himself had led them to the desert to perish, and those ungrateful people compared themselves with what they used to have in the land of Egypt, and how they preferred their previous status despite being in slavery.
And yet, as we also heard, God was still so patient with His people, caring for them and providing for them what they needed, instructing Moses what he ought to do in order to give the people the food and drink to sustain them even despite their constant and annoying complaints and grumbling, their constant lack of faith and trust in Him. God still truly loved His people, and still provided for all of them nonetheless even as He chastised them for their sins and disobedience. We can see indeed how if we put our trust in the Lord, His love and ever present and generous kindness ever provided to us all, and we should really trust that He knows what is best for us in our respective lives.
Then, from our second reading this Sunday, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful people of God in Rome, we heard of the Apostle’s words to the people reminding them all that we have received true peace and hope from the Lord our God, from Him Who is the Source of all Hope and strength, courage and providence, and Who will not fail us no matter what. As St. Paul famously said, which was also the theme of our previous year’s Jubilee Year of Hope, ‘Hope does not disappoint’, linking this Hope to the trust which all of us ought to have in the Lord, because in God alone we will not be disappointed and we will be strengthened and empowered through the difficult challenges of life.
And we are reminded by St. Paul how the Lord has given His love to us so generously and wonderfully, through the Incarnation of His Son, the Divine Word of God, the Logos, incarnate in the flesh and showing us all the infinite and most amazing love of God manifested in the flesh. Through Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, we have seen the perfect manifestation of God’s love made tangible for us, that God Himself has indeed walked in our midst, and we can behold His loving gaze and the reality of His love being made approachable to us. And because of this, each and every one of us can now have sure hope and assurance in God’s many promises, because God has indeed delivered everything that He has promised to us, even if it may take some time to happen.
Lastly, from our Gospel reading this Sunday, we heard from the Gospel according to St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, in which the story of the interactions between the Lord Jesus and a Samaritan woman was told to us. In that occasion, as the Lord and His disciples were passing through the region of Samaria between Judea and Galilee, the lands of the former northern kingdom of Israel, He was stopping by a spring and while His disciples left Him for errands, He encountered a Samaritan woman who came by the spring to take water. That spring was also known as Jacob’s well, because the Samaritans believed that their forefather Jacob was the one who found and established that spring, which provided water to the people living around the region.
For the context, we must first understand who the Samaritans were, the Samaritans were descended from the people living in the areas that was once the central parts of the northern kingdom of Israel, the lands of the former tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, and where the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel, Samaria once stood. When the Assyrians defeated and conquered the northern kingdom of Israel, they also supplanted its people partly with the people they brought in from various parts of their empire, while bringing quite a significant number of the Israelites to exile in distant lands, in Assyria and beyond. Then, those people who lived in the land of Samaria, both some of the Israelites and the people brought in to dwell in the land, likely intermingled and from their descendants came about the Samaritans.
The Samaritans and the Jews in Judea and Galilee were often very suspicious at each other, and they were locked in bitter rivalry and even hatred for each other, especially because each of them accused the other of having corrupted and changed the Law to suit their own agenda, and with each group having different places that they considered as sacred, which was mentioned in our Gospel passage today in the conversation between the Lord and the Samaritan woman. To the Samaritans, Mount Gerizim in Samaria was the sacred mountain of God where they ought to be worshipping Him as opposed to Mount Zion where the Temple of God stood since the time of King Solomon, the place considered sacred by the Jewish people.
And the Samaritans also considered themselves as the true descendants of Jacob, while the Jews themselves also took great pride in their identity as those mainly descended from the people of the southern kingdom of Judah and some of their northern Israelite neighbours, and because of this, and historical frictions, conflicts and misunderstandings, eventually led to both groups becoming very hostile at each other. And that was why the Samaritan woman was surprised, even shocked when the Lord initiated conversation with her, which was something that no Jew or Samaritan would likely do to each other, given their extensive animosities.
The Lord however approached her with great patience, kindness and love, and with genuine intentions, revealing the truth about what God Himself has planned for all of His people, and not limited only to the Jews or the Samaritans, but to all of mankind. The Lord told her that if she listened to Him and kept His words, then His Word would become the Spring of living water which would far surpass the spring of Jacob which she had been taking her water regularly from. And the Lord also revealed truth about the woman which convinced her that He was indeed the One that God had promised to all of His people through the prophets, and that was how she then went to proclaim about Him to the Samaritans and many more people came to believe in the Lord.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, through what we have received in this Sunday’s Scripture readings, we are reminded that God’s love for His people has indeed been so great and He has shown and manifested it throughout all of history, even when the people bickered, grumbled and complained against Him and even as they became divided and bitterly set against each other, He still patiently loved them and wanted them to be reconciled not just with one another but also with Himself. And that is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we all continue to progress through this time and season of Lent, let us all continue to embrace the love of God, His mercy and compassion, doing our very best to live our lives faithfully in accordance to His ways, His Law and commandments.
May the Lord continue to guide us all in our journey of life, in our perseverance in faith at all times, and may our Hope in Him continue to flourish, as we recall what St. Paul had said, that Hope in God does not disappoint, because God will surely provide for all of us what we require and need, and He will vindicate us all, and bring us all to the ultimate triumph, joy and satisfaction with Him if we remain truly faithful and committed to Him even through our greatest challenges and trials in life. May God bless us always and bless our Lenten journey moving forward, and help us all to continue to persevere in faith, now and always. Amen.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 