HOMILY FOR THE 3RD SUNDAY OF LENT — YEAR A
HOMILY THEME: THE ‘WOOING’ JESUS AND THE SAMARITAN WOMAN!
BY: Fr Oselumhense Anetor
Exodus 17:3-7, Romans 5:1-2.5-8, John 4:5-42
Something the chief celebrant said at Mass, many years ago, while I was still a student at the Catholic Institute of West Africa, got me wondering. He said “Jesus was such a great wooer.” Think about it dear friends. Here was a Jew, not just any Jew, but a Rabbi; a teacher of the Law, sitting by the well, all alone with a woman; not just any woman, but a Samaritan woman. In Jesus’s day, this was an absolute abomination. But you see, Jesus had a target and he went right ahead to masterfully woo the Samaritan woman, and through her, many others, back to God.
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Friends, there is a sense in which evangelisers today must be able to woo successfully. Jesus knew the woman had had five husbands, and was now living with the Sixth who was not her husband. Yet He stopped and took time to lead her back to God. He was not condescending as many of us get. He genuinely sought to help her without seeking anything in return. The woman must have been amazed by the sheer love of the Jewish Rabbi. She therefore saw no reason to lie about her past. She was willing to take a leap of faith and go beyond her past of sin, to a future of living water, where she’d never thirst again.
God help us to take the same leap of faith today. Good morning dear. Happy Sunday!
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