"The Samaritan Woman: A Woman Who Never Got ‘Stuck’ on Her Journey to Conversion."

Life is often compared to a journey—and rightly so!

The distinctively Christian insight into this matter is that life is supposed to be a journey to holiness and salvation. Remember the question in the old Baltimore Catechism: Why did God make me? The answer was—and is—"God made me to know him, to love him and to serve him in this life, and to be happy with him forever in the next."

But the problem we all face is that it’s very easy to get stuck on this journey to holiness, on this journey to heaven. It’s similar to what happened to the Israelites in the desert when they were on their journey to the Promised Land. Sadly, they got "stuck" on many occasions. We heard about one such incident in today’s first reading from Exodus 17. In this case, they got stuck because of their suffering. (Perhaps some of you can relate.) They were not long out of Egypt, and suddenly they ran out of water. Most of us—thankfully—will never know what that experience is like. We will always have fresh water available to us. We may not like the chemicals our town has put in our drinking water, but at least the water’s there—and if we’re thirsty enough, we’ll drink it.

The intense thirst of the Israelites got them stuck emotionally and spiritually, and so they began to grumble against Moses: "Why did you ever make us leave Egypt? Was it just to have us die here of thirst with our children and our livestock?" God, through Moses, then got the people "unstuck" by providing water for them from a rock. But that was not the last time that their suffering bogged them down. It happened a number of times over the next 40 years.

Which brings us to the Samaritan woman who meets Jesus in today’s Gospel story. What should make this woman an inspiration and a model for all of us is the simple fact that she never, ever got "stuck" on her journey to conversion. Although she easily could have—several times!

For example, when Jesus first encounters her at Jacob’s Well, he says to her, "Give me a drink." She responds, "How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman for a drink?" Here was the first place she could have gotten stuck: in the prejudice she had been taught from her youth. Jews looked upon Samaritans as ‘half-breeds’ whose religious faith had been corrupted by pagans; and Samaritans had no love for Jews. So here was a man, Jesus—a man who was a part of this group she had been taught to hate—asking her for a drink. If she had given in to her prejudice, she would probably have called him several nasty names—names which could not be said from this pulpit—and then stormed away in anger.

I wonder how many people in the 21^st century will lose their souls because of prejudice? As we all saw on September 11, it’s a force which is very much alive in today’s world. The Samaritan woman teaches us that we must make every effort to avoid that sticking point in our hearts, if we want the living water of Jesus to dwell in us now and in eternity.

Which brings us to the second possible sticking point that she overcame: pragmatism. She says to Jesus, "Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep; where then can you get this living water [you’re talking about]?" In other words, "Sir, you’re not being very practical. You say you want water, but you have no bucket!"

I submit to you today that this is where many contemporary Catholics are getting stuck—some permanently. The Church isn’t "practical" enough for them, especially on issues of sexuality. They’ll say things like this: "We need contraception and abortion because we have too many people in the world already. Our church is so impractical on these matters."

To her great credit, the Samaritan woman moved forward, in spite of the apparent "impracticality" of Jesus.

Our Lord says to her, "Everyone who drinks this water [from Jacob’s well] will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give them will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." She then asks Jesus for this water, as if it were a physical substance, because she doesn’t understand the nature of the truth he’s sharing with her. Which brings us to yet another possible sticking point: her incomplete understanding. This, of course, is the sticking point of the rationalists of our age. Their attitude is: "If I can’t understand it completely, then it can’t be true. If I can’t understand the Trinity perfectly with my human mind, then it can’t be true. If I can’t understand the divinity of Christ, then it can’t be true." Of course, many of these same people will take scientific theories which no one fully understands and happily presume them to be true; but they apply a different standard to matters of faith. And so their conversion never progresses.

But the Samaritan woman’s did!

Jesus then asks her to call her husband. She says, "I do not have a husband." Jesus responds, "You are right in saying, ‘I do not have a husband.’ For you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true." Here Jesus clearly convicts her of her sin. How many people do you know who have left the Church because they had a similar experience through a homily, or when they read the Bible or something the pope has written? It happens all the time! Being convicted of sin gets countless numbers of men and women stuck these days. Or they get stuck by getting angry with the messenger! "Why did that priest talk about that in his homily?" This, of course, is what the Israelites did to Moses in today’s first reading. Here’s poor old Moses—following God’s instructions, teaching the people God’s truth—and then, when the Israelites get thirsty, they immediately begin to point their fingers at him: "Why did YOU ever make us leave Egypt? . . . You’re the problem, Moses!"

The Samaritan woman responds to the convicting words of Jesus, not by getting angry and walking away, but by calling him "a prophet"! Incredible! She understood that the message she had just received was from the Lord—as unpleasant as it might have been for her to hear. That’s why she gave him the title of prophet. Remember, a prophet—biblically speaking—is not a fortune-teller; a prophet is one who speaks for God. So in effect she says to Jesus, "I may not like what you just told me, but I know it’s the truth. I know the tough message you just gave me is from the Lord. So I need to accept it, and make some changes in my life."

And—once again—she doesn’t get stuck! She moves on, and eventually comes to accept Jesus as the Messiah she and her people had been waiting for.

Two other possible sticking points in her story are worthy of mention today. The first occurs after the disciples return to the scene. St. John tells us that the woman went back to her hometown at that moment and "left her water jar." It’s interesting that he should mention that particular detail. Clearly, she had been preoccupied with her physical needs when she first came to the well (she came because she was thirsty!), but now she realized that her spiritual needs had a certain priority over the others; consequently, she left her water jar behind. Physical desires for comfort and pleasure are common sticking points for people in our culture right now. Consequently, their spiritual needs take second place—in some cases a very distant second place. The desire to have much more than they need keeps them from Mass, and prayer, and the nourishment of their souls.

They need to follow the example of this Samaritan woman, who put her priorities in order on the day she met Jesus.

The final potential sticking point she faced occurred when she encountered her fellow Samaritans. We’re told by St. John that "Many of [these] Samaritans . . . began to believe in [Jesus] because of the word of [this woman]." But please take note: many is not all! Some did not believe. They probably called her a nut: "You’re crazy, lady. You’ll believe anything, won’t you?!"

The woman was not deterred by their rejection. Peer pressure—that is to say, the negative reaction of others—did not cause her to get stuck. Praise God!