3/15/20: 3rd Sunday of Lent: What We Are Really Thirsting For

When we read from John's Gospel, it's helpful for us to know that there are layers of symbolism found in nearly every line. In today's Gospel, the story of the Samaritan Woman, the woman's going to the well in order to draw water is literally for the purpose of quenching her physical thirst. But symbolically her physical thirst represents a deeper thirst within her: Her thirst to be known and loved. It's no unnecessary detail but also deeply symbolic that, after her close encounter with Jesus at the well, she leaves her water jug there. Her deep thirst for life and meaning quenched, she no longer has need of the jug. May we all find in Jesus the living water who desires to quench that for which we ultimately thirst!