Everything I've Done

Everything I've Done
March 12, 2023     3rd Sunday in Lent - A
by Dcn. Bob Bonomi    1st Scrutiny

"Come see a man who told me everything I have done."

How would you react if a stranger came up to you and told you he knew everything you had ever done?  Especially the “bad” parts? (That is, someone besides your mother – we know that SHE knows everything.)

In today’s age of technology, this might not seem to be such a big deal – after all, there are many ways today to invade one’s privacy. But still, I wonder: if Jesus came today, would he be considered a “hacker”?

In any case, today’s Gospel is the story of the Samaritan Woman at the Well, which is only found in the Gospel of St. John.  It is a journey in faith, as the woman progresses in her understanding of Jesus:

•    First, as a Jew
•    Then, a Prophet
•    Maybe the Messiah? The Christ?
•    Finally, with the rest of the villagers, the Savior of the World

It is also the first of the three Scrutinies which help prepare the Elect, those seeking baptism through the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (formerly called RCIA), to enter the Catholic Church.  All three Scrutinies take place in Lent during the period of formation known as Purification and Enlightenment, leading to their baptism at the Easter Vigil.  We will celebrate this first rite during the 11am Mass.

Back to the story.  We’ve all heard this story many times, and we usually focus on certain aspects of it: how tired and thirsty Jesus is; how Jesus breaks down social barriers in speaking with a woman; how he’s willing to drink from a Samaritan’s vessel; how he tells his disciples that he has food of which they are not aware.

But today I would like to focus on what I consider are two often-overlooked key points: (1) the knowledge that Jesus has of the Samaritan women’s life, and (2) the underlying foundation and strength of the woman’s faith.

First point, the woman’s life.

We all know that Jesus encounters the woman alone at about noon, during the heat of the day, and that she is there because she has been ostracized by the other women who would normally come during the cooler hours of the morning.  We assume that she is a loose woman because of the many broken relationships she has experienced, and we probably wouldn’t be too wrong.

But the woman’s off-hand confession that she didn’t have a husband and Jesus’ response showing that he already possessed an intimate knowledge of the circumstances of her life, allowed Jesus to initiate a deeper conversation with her.  When you don’t have to defend or hide a secret, it is easier to have a conversation.

And notice, while Jesus condone her sins, he doesn’t brand her a sinner either.  After all, under Jewish law she could be stoned to death – remember the woman caught in adultery?  But Jesus doesn’t condemn her – in fact, he affirms her for speaking the truth – even if she didn’t mean to reveal it.

I think this is one of the most powerful aspects of the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  How often do we allow the barriers of our sins to keep us from having a true conversation with God?  While we might know in our minds that God knows everything we have ever done – even our thoughts – in our heart we still fight to keep secret those very things which we know, deep down, we need to expose in order to receive God’s healing grace.  We see a priest, in his humanity, and forget that, in the confessional, he is the face of God in His divinity.  Once reconciled, we can be open to not only receiving the living water of the Gospel, but to His Spirit in order to share it with others.

Second point, the woman’s faith.

The second point is actually more important, for it points to the woman’s strong, if imperfect, faith in God.  There is a sense of hope in her comment about the coming of a Messiah someday – and that little spark of faith is enough for Jesus to work with.

For those of you who are fans of “The Chosen”, the story of the Samaritan woman is portrayed in Episode 8 of Season 1.  One of the things that this episode reminded me of is that the Samaritans were also “people of the promise”, because of Jacob’s Well.  I know I tend to forget that God renamed Jacob as Israel, and from him came the 12 tribes which were the foundation of the Jewish people, including the Jews of Jesus’ time.  Jewish scholars point out that the Samaritans included descendants of the 10 northern tribes of Israel, left behind during the first Babylonian exile because they were too old or feeble to be of value, and of the foreigners brought in by the Assyrians.

Jesus not only knew about the woman at the well, he knew HER.  In John’s Gospel, Jesus controls the shots and so it would be no accident that he encountered her there, alone, after having dismissed all of his traveling companions to go in search of food.  He WANTED to talk with her.  He knew her faith and he sought her to evangelize her people.  

She is us.  We are living in a flawed society today which thinks that it can be just and moral without God, without Jesus.  Through our Catholic faith we must not only hang onto our beliefs and traditions, but we must be willing to carry that faith into the world that is in desperate need of the life-giving water of Jesus.

Jesus already knows everything we have done, all of our own faults and sins. He still wants to talk with each and every one of us. We are here today, like the villagers in today’s Gospel, to listen to Him speak.  The question is: Can we say that, like them, we believe that He is truly the Savior of the World?