Lent 3A (RCL) – A Preacher’s Ponderings

The water of life

Third Sunday in Lent; 12 March 2023; Lent 3A (RCL); Exodus 15:1-7; Psalm 95; Romans 5:1-11; John 4:4-52.

I’m convinced that John uses marriage as a metaphor for the new kinship established by the eucharist in the Christian community. Jesus’ first miracle in John, after all, was changing water into wine at a wedding feast. And, here we have Jesus meeting a woman at a well, where Isaac (or Abraham’s servant on Isaac’s behalf), Jacob, and even Moses all met their wives. And they met them by asking for water. And water becomes an unending supply of wine.

Living water

Third Sunday of Lent; 15 March 2020; Lent 3A (RCL); Exodus 17:1-7; Psalm 95; Romans 5:1-11; John 4:5-42.

This is one of the most complex dialog scenes in John’s Gospel, and rather befuddling. By the time we arrive at the end of the scene, Jesus has not received his drink of water, and the woman has left her water jar there at the well. Clearly, John is pointing us beyond the initial exchange.