3rd Sunday in Lent 2026

Sermon: 3rd Sunday in Lent 2026

Texts: John 4: 5-42

Grace, Peace, and Mercy from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Are we ready to receive the living water? Part of our practice of Lent is to precisely recognize our need and to make space for God’s action in our lives, for God to quench our thirst. When we do not catch on to this activity of God in us, we can remain in the darkness of ignoring the blessing that beats so close to our hearts, as close as receiving a cup of fresh water that brings life to our bodies. As commenters have noted between our readings from last Sunday and today, we first heard about Nicodemus, in the thick of night and under the cover of secrecy, trying to understand the spiritual truths that Jesus was revealing to Him. Although he was a learned man, he could not catch on to Jesus’ meaning in that moment. But today we hear the story of the woman by the well, a delightful moment in John’s Gospel, where this Samaritan woman, belonging to a marginal and rival tribe, under the light of day, catches on to Jesus’ spiritual truths, so much so that she becomes one of our first evangelists in John’s Gospel. It goes to show, both in ancient and moderns times, how the Spirit “blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes”. Indeed, the Spirit seeks out the heart of human beings with no considerations for the limits we impose upon it; against all expectation for the time, it was the Samaritan Woman who “catched on” to Jesus’ spiritual truths, not the learned man. How foolish has the church been throughout its history to hide the voices of those, that like the Samaritan woman, the Spirit had called to preach and build the church. Like the disciples, we can be so skeptical and suspicious, asking “Why are you speaking with her?“ We often forget to see that the Spirit reaches beyond

borders and barriers, to reveal the truth that Divinity abides everywhere and sees in everyone someone who can manifest God’s glory.

How important it is to hear this message today. In a time where our world broils with war, with discrimination and apartheid, we need to hear the voice of God telling us that we are called to live in Spirit and in Truth. This means that we should seek out others who live in the same way, bound not by what divides, but rather like Jesus the Jewish teacher extending community with the Samaritan woman, to be bound by the divine love that seeks out every human being. I hear in my heart the question the Samaritan woman gives to Jesus: “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” This question reveals a history of conflict and exclusion. But Jesus, in His humanity, was simply tired, and He did not take into account this history as something that should prevent Him from reaching out to her. So He simply asked for this Samaritan woman’s help. And in that common bridge that is our shared human need and frailty, we can meet each other and receive God’s blessing. The Samaritan woman knew that something different was happening here, yet opened up to receive Jesus’ plea. In turn, Jesus did not withhold anything of what He came to the world to bring: “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” Water is essential to human life. It is a precious limited resource that we must do our utmost to protect. To give water to someone is to preserve their life. The Samaritan woman might have given Jesus the physical water that He needed to live another hot day, but Jesus gave the Samaritan Woman the water that preserves for eternal life and for all of life’s troubles, the one that is not still and limited like the one in the well, but the

water that springs up and runs to eternity. Jesus is showing to the woman how God’s gift of life is for everyone, it is for her, for her community members, for all who would seek God in the purity of His love and mercy. God’s living water is a gift for every human being, it can be found anywhere where the heart desires to drink from it, it is not the patrimony of a single nation, it is God’s love seeking us out beyond the confines. Notice how this gift is offered when someone like the Samaritan woman opens the borders of her own life and mind to converse and learn from Jesus the outsider in her own worldview.

Although many in Jesus’ own community would not receive Him, the Samaritan was open to receiving what Jesus was giving. The real community of Jesus is not simply those He was bound to by birth, but all people who sought the will of God and practiced it. Spirit and truth; indeed, worship of God is more than claiming “I’m a Christian”. Spirit and truth is an invitation to grasp the gift of grace and follow Jesus wherever you are. True worship is not simply about being at church for liturgy, its for the spirit of the liturgy to inhabit your daily life. As we learn to focus on God through Christ during our service, we learn to see God through Christ in our every day life. In your house as you clean, while you cook and take into account every ingredient, while you visit the sick, when you spend time with family and friends, when you work and act justly in the world. God’s spirit is present in every corner, we can bring our worship beyond the confines of church into the reality of your whole life. And this is what happens in our gospel today. The Samaritan woman receives living water while looking for water to drink at the well. God meets her at the humble well, not just at the mountain she worshipped in, not just in the temple. And then she goes out to her

community and invites everybody she meets “Come and See!”. So when we invite others to come and see Jesus, we are not just inviting them to church. We are inviting them into a transformation of life. We are inviting them to see the world differently, to enlarge their love and to deepen their prayers. We are inviting them to live spiritually as they provide for the material wellbeing of neighbor and self.

So Beloved, the Spirit calls you! It wants you to live in the truth that Jesus saves, and therefore you are free to love your neighbor without any sense of separation. Everywhere you go can be the well where you meet Jesus and He asks you for a cup of water, and in return you receive the living water of God’s love. Open the confines of your hearts, live in the Spirit and Truth that God is Love, and everywhere you can be a living sign by which you invite others to Come and See Jesus.

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, like the Samaritan Woman we ask you, give us your living water. Empower us so that we may live in the Spirit and in Truth, so that we may live authentically the transformation your gospel initiates in our lives. And also like our sister, the Samaritan woman, we may go out to the world and invite them to “Come and See” You as Someone who can satisfy their every need. Thank you for quenching our thirst, that we know we can confidently run to you and be made whole. In Your name we pray, amen.