by the well; it was about noon. Now a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said
to her, “Give me a drink.” His disciples had just gone into town to buy some food. The Samaritan
woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan and a woman, for a drink?”
(For Jews, in fact, have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift
of God! If you knew who it is, who is asking you for a drink, you yourself would have asked me,
and I would have given you living water.” The woman answered, “Sir, you have no bucket, and
this well is deep; where is your living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave
us this well; he drank from it himself, together with his sons and his cattle?” Jesus said to her,
“Those who drink of this water will be thirsty again; but those, who drink of the water that I shall
give, will never be thirsty; for the water, that I shall give, will become in them a spring of water,
welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Give me this water, that I may never be thirsty,
and never have to come here to draw water.” Jesus said, “Go, call your husband, and come back
here.” The woman answered, “I have no husband.” And Jesus replied, “You are right to say, ‘I
have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband.
What you said is true.”
The woman then said to him, “I see you are a prophet; tell me this: Our
ancestors came to this mountain to worship God; but you Jews, do you not claim
that Jerusalem is the only place to worship God?” Jesus said to her, “Believe me,
woman, the hour is coming when you shall worship the Father, but that will not
be on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we
worship what we know, because salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming,
and is even now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit
and truth; for that is the kind of worshippers the Father wants. God is Spirit, and
those who worship him must worship in Spirit, and truth.” The woman said to
him, “I know that the Messiah (that is the Christ) is coming. When he comes, he
will tell us everything.” And Jesus said, “I who am talking to you, I am he.” At this
point the disciples returned, and were surprised that Jesus was speaking with a
woman; however, no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you talking with
her?” So the woman left her water jar and ran to the town.
READ: In Exodus, the Israelites complained against God because they lacked water,
forgetting his miraculous kindness in liberating them from slavery in Egypt. The Letter
to the Romans reminds us that our hope is grounded in Jesus’ death which saves us
from sin and brings us to everlasting life. The Gospel of John recounts Jesus’ encounter
with a Samaritan woman and the way this encounter changed her life.
REFLECT: Pope Francis has spoken of our call to be missionary disciples. Today’s
Gospel is a master class in becoming a missionary disciple, walking us step by step
through what we have to do.
Missionary disciples begin with an encounter with Jesus. We cannot follow one we
do not know. While the Samaritan woman encounters Jesus at the well, we encounter
him in the Church, the sacraments, and in others, especially those at the margins.
Having encountered Jesus, we begin the lifelong process of conversion, repenting
of our sins and conforming our lives to God’s will. Finally, we are compelled to go out
and share the good things God has done for us, saving us in Christ and opening the
doors to eternal life.
PRAY: Lord Jesus, help me to come to know you better and follow you more closely.
ACT: Look for an opportunity to share your faith with someone.
© Copyright Bible Diary 2023