The Gospel yesterday for the 3rd Sunday of Lent presents the story of the Woman at the Well and her encounter with Jesus. Encounters with others are often unanticipated, surprising, and at times mysterious. Encounters can either be strange and unsettling, or friendly and enriching. Throughout my life as a priest and now as bishop I have been blessed to meet so many tremendous people whose lives have blessed my own. Over the years I have noticed the pattern when an initial encounter leaves us mutually interested in each other, and the initial encounter leads to more.
This passage of the Samaritan Woman at the Well is one of the best examples in the gospels of an encounter with Jesus. In an unanticipated way, this woman, doing what she always does, encounters Jesus, a Jew, who asks her for a drink at Jacob’s well. Because Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans, she is surprised by this initial encounter. In their ensuing dialogue, Jesus draws the woman deeper into the encounter. As that happens, the conversation moves beyond the issue of getting water from the well and becomes more personal for the woman when Jesus said to her, “Go call your husband and come back.” In the dialogue, Jesus reveals to her his knowledge that she has had 5 husbands and the one she has now is not her husband.
As the encounter goes on, she acknowledges her belief in the Messiah, the one called the Christ, saying that when he comes, he will tell us everything. Then Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one (who is) speaking with you.” The woman then left her water jar and went into the town and said to the people, “Come see a man who told me everything I have done. Could he possibly be the Christ?” Notice how her encounter with Jesus stirred up faith in her and led to her giving testimony about him to others.
Encountering others often touches something deep within us and causes us to talk about the encounter with others. After having met someone in our lives, how often have we said to our friends, “You have to meet this guy.” How many times have men or women, even after a first date, said to their friends, “I think this might be the one I will marry.” The encounter is profound and leaves one or both thirsting for more time, more conversation, more knowledge and more trust and soul-sharing with the other. As wonderful as it is to grow in friendship with others, this is precisely what Jesus wants us to experience when we encounter Him.
Sadly, most of us remain satisfied with knowing about Jesus rather than knowing him personally. Yet the Lord waits for us to move beyond knowledge of him to relationship with him. It is through prayer that we dispose ourselves to encounter our Lord and allow him, as did the woman at the well, to “do a number on us.” By that I mean, to take the lead in moving into the secret places of our hearts where we most need his love and mercy. Like the woman at the well, our Lord desires to affect us in a way that will transform us and renew us. He wants so much more for us than we do for ourselves.
To begin this encounter, we have to place ourselves quietly in his presence and ask him to draw near to us. Then, we simply pray for the grace we desire. An example might be to say something like, “Lord, heal anything that is broken in my life.” Or we might pray, “Lord, show me when you have been most pleased with me.” The more we grow accustomed to letting the Lord be “in charge” of our relationship, the more we give him permission to do for us what he did for the Samaritan woman at the well – that is, he met her where she was at in life and the encounter touched her deeply, leaving her moved and healed by grace.
In these days of Lent, we might ask the Lord to simply come close to us, to reveal more of himself to us. We might ask the Lord to reveal what the obstacles might be to a more personal relationship with him. For example, knowing Pope Leo XIV personally would be so much more amazing than reading a biography about him. So please believe that our Lord wants to reveal his saving tender love for you right where you need it most. Just as the Samaritan woman received mercy around her shame, so the Lord has more joy and healing and vitality to offer us, but for the asking.
Truly, there is no better and more fruitful encounter with anyone in this world than the one Jesus desires to take up with each of us. For Jesus knows us utterly, and he knows what would be most life-giving for us if we would accept the movement of the Holy Spirit to encounter him. So, ask the Lord for what you desire. Ask Jesus to enter the most intimate places of your heart with his healing grace so that you, too, can go to others and share with them the riches you have encountered in Christ.
