March 4, 2026

Fr. John Riccardo

Jesus came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there. Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well. It was about noon.

A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” His disciples had gone into the town to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?”— For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.-- Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink, ‘ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep; where then can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself with his children and his flocks?” 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.”

Jesus said to her, “Go call your husband and come back” (John 4:5-16).

We have arrived at that moment in Lent where each year we hear the same three Gospel passages. They’re all long! They’re directed, in a particular way, to those who have been prayerfully discerning for a number of months now whether or not they desire to receive the sacrament of baptism at the Easter Vigil on April 4. That is to say, they’re directed at those who are considering making a real break with how they once lived and to transfer their allegiance to Jesus. Next week, we’re going to hear the encounter between Jesus and the man born blind in John 9. The week after, we’ll hear from John 11 and the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Each of these three Gospels, starting with today's, is meant to help better understand what it is that happens in baptism. And while they may be especially directed at those soon to be immersed in the waters of the font, they speak also to those of us who have already died and been raised in those same waters. What might the Lord be saying to us this week as we pray with His encounter with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well?

Two things stand out to me. The first flows from the verse that immediately precedes the Gospel this Sunday. There we read, ”And He had to pass through Samaria.” Uh, He didn’t. In fact, because of the mutual hatred – and not infrequent violence – that took place between the Jews and the Samaritans, Jews simply didn’t go through Samaria when they were traveling from Galilee to Jerusalem or vice versa. It was far too dangerous. Jesus did. When it says “He had to pass that way,” it means Jesus went there for the express purpose of meeting this woman, twice outcast – first by the Jews because she was a Samaritan and then by her own people because of her messy marital situation.

What are we to make of this? This Gospel reminds us of the shocking, scandalous truth that far more than we desire God, God desires us! Not out of need, not out of lack, not because He doesn’t know what to do now that football is over and March Madness hasn’t started yet. Because He is Love. This wasn’t just true for that woman. It’s true for you and for me. God, the Creator of the universe, desires you! That’s why He created you. That’s why He became a man for you. That’s why He went to the cross for you. That’s why He gives Himself to you and me in the Eucharist. And on and on. How desperately most of us need to know this. Not intellectually. Experientially. In an increasingly anxious, lonely, isolated world, most people long to know they matter, that they’re seen, that they’re loved. And here’s the reality: you are! I am!

Here’s the second thing that stands out to me. I have long loved Tim Keller’s observation on this scene in his book Encounters with Jesus: Unexpected Answers to Life’s Biggest Questions. He calls the exchange at the end of the passage above one of the greatest non-sequiturs of all time. Or so it would seem, he says. After explaining to the woman that whoever drinks the water He will give will never thirst again, she begs Jesus to give her that water. Jesus responds by telling her to go call her husband. Huh?

As we keep reading, we discover that the woman has in fact had five husbands. Keller writes: “Why does Jesus seem to suddenly change the subject from seeking living water to her history with men? The answer is — he isn’t changing the subject. He’s nudging her, saying, ‘If you want to understand the nature of this living water I offer, you need to first understand how you’ve been seeking it in your own life. You’ve been trying to get it through men, and it’s not working, is it? Your need for men is eating you alive, and it will never stop.’”

For this woman, relationships were what she was chasing to fulfill her restless and aching heart, but they didn’t do it. They couldn’t do it, essential as friendship is, for we are made for communion. When we put anything in front of God, make anything more important than God, expect something from someone or something that only God can be, we’re in for a world of hurt and frustration.

Augustine famously wrote, “You have made us for Thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless. And they shall always be restless until they finally rest in Thee.” Let us pray this week that God will allow us to experience anew His thirst for us. Let’s also ask Him in His kindness to reveal those things we’re putting ahead of Him to our own misfortune. And let’s pray for the grace to truly put Him first.

The One Who Satisfies

The Restoration Begins