Daily Archives: March 19, 2017

This “Jesus Today” reflection is dedicated to my friend Don Welker (a.k.a. Donny W.) who made it to heaven a few days ago and is now encountering Jesus in a most profound way.

Today we hear one of the great “encounter” stories of the gospels.

We hear of the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well (John 4:5-42).  We hear how Jesus offers this sinful woman the gift of himself – his “life giving water”.  We hear how the woman slowly comes to realize who Jesus truly is and what he is offering her.  We hear that, as the woman’s sin is exposed, she doesn’t shrink from the encounter, or get bogged down in shame.  Rather, the woman expresses awe in Jesus and then runs off to tell others about him, leaving her empty water jar behind.

This episode parallels the encounter that we have with Jesus.

Similar to his encounter with the Samaritan woman, Jesus first reaches out to us to plant seeds of faith.  He waits with loving patience as those seeds take root and a passion is stirred in us.  Jesus then slowly reveals himself more and more to us as we open our hearts and minds to him and respond to him in faith, trust, and obedience.  And like the Samaritan woman, we don’t need to shrink from this encounter, or get bogged down in shame or guilt.  Like her, we embrace the love, mercy, and forgiveness that Jesus extends.  Like the Samaritan woman, we are afforded an opportunity to look truthfully at ourselves and our lives, and recognize what we might be missing.  Like her, we accept Jesus’ gift of himself, his gift of faith, and his gift of salvation.  And like the Samaritan woman, we find ourselves so awestruck by Jesus’ love that we are then compelled to share our encounter, and that love with others.  Like her, we leave behind those things in our life that don’t really matter, those things that can separate us from fully embracing Jesus.  Like the Samaritan woman we discard our empty water jar and allow ourselves to be filled with the life giving water that only Jesus can provide.

Our spiritual life is all about our encounter with Jesus – an encounter initiated by Jesus.  Jesus is always reaching out.  He is always inviting us into relationship with him, inviting us to surrender ourselves to him.

We hear this in in a subtle point that seems to get lost in this gospel story.

At the onset of the exchange between Jesus and the Samaritan woman, Jesus asks the woman for a drink.  Now, I don’t think that this was just a conversation-starter or an ice-breaker.  Jesus himself was thirsting.  He was thirsting for this woman’s conversion.  He was thirsting for a faithful response to his call.  He was thirsting for her love.

And it is the same for us.  Jesus thirsts for all of us. He is the relentless lover – the “hound of heaven” – always searching us out and offering us, over and over again, a chance to encounter him and come into deeper and more intimate relationship with Him.

As we continue forward this Lenten season, we once again are given a great opportunity to turn ourselves toward Jesus and accept his most generous and loving offer.