Christ At The Well And In The Desert: Living Waters

Third Sunday of Lent 2026

Today’s Gospel from St. John is so striking and so long that one could ignore the other readings. That would be short-sighted, because the preparatory lessons really help us to understand better that incident between Jesus and the “woman at the well.” It’s one of those stories from the early years of Christ’s ministry that give us a panoramic view of what He wanted for His people, Israel.

Our story from Genesis makes sense when we think about what a wise and forward-looking leader would have considered as he had one evening to prepare for a journey that would take at least a week and indeed lasted for over forty years. Almost instantly we’ll recognize that Moses was neither wise nor forward-looking.

From our account in Exodus 17, we see that Moses, the prophet par excellence in Israel, had to endure the same rejection the later prophets like Ezekiel and Jeremiah experienced later. The people Moses led out of Egypt probably took water skins with them, but we see that they went dry quickly. The people were thirsty. The Sinai desert had water holes, but there were a huge number of people (and cattle) to slake. “Why did you ever make us leave Egypt . . . just o have us die here of thirst?” Moses was in dread of his life, and that of his family. He feared being stoned to death. So he turned to the Lord in prayer and received God’s saving word gratefully. He obeyed God, striking the rock at Horeb and God fulfilled his request for water.

Today’s psalm (95) reminds us not to harden our hearts, especially during this time of Lent. The Hebrews showed themselves to be hard of heart in the desert and then did so again and again through multiple generations. They saw God’s work day by day in the desert, enabled by Him to eat nutritious, miraculous food that kept them alive for all forty years of their wandering. They should not have been surprised at God’s loving design for them to have the water they craved. In fact, the rabbis taught that the rock kept them free of thirst year after year by following them through the desert. And Paul adds that "the Rock was Christ."

Is this not true? Consider what the Lord has done for your own family. Have you ever been unable to put any food on your table? In a marriage of ten or twenty years, can you not give thanks for one or more times in which the Lord’s power was manifest to make a mortgage payment, keep the vehicle running, pay a medical expense? Have you ever doubted the consistent love of Christ, and had real evidence to support that claim? Let’s listen to the words of Scripture: If today you hear God’s voice, harden not your hearts. And harden not your heads either. What we all need is a soft heart and a tough cranium. We must see and acknowledge the mighty power of God, and His will to save us.

God’s physical water kept Israel from death. Our baptism does the same miraculous work in our lives as we reap the fruits of our baptism and confirmation every week in the reception of the Eucharist. As we prepare our minds and hearts for the great paschal celebration just about three weeks away, we should give daily thanks that the Father sent the Son and the Holy Spirit to change our destiny. We didn’t deserve those gifts. Indeed we are reminded of that fact—that we were sinners before our conversion—every time we approach the sacrament of reconciliation, which is a kind of renewal of the initial miracle of our baptismal regeneration. May God be blessed forever for His great gifts.