Homily Notes Third Sunday in Lent
Most Conversion stories are complicated. In some Christian circles believers point to a moment when they were saved. St. Paul had such a story. As we remember, it happened on the road to Damascas. He seems to have been hit by lightning. He was blinded. He was baptized. He could then see things clearly for the for the first time. But for most of us, coming to a deep faith in Jesus Christ is not a onetime event. No, it is a gradual process.
The stories that we read in the Gospel of John this year on the third, fourth and fifth Sundays of Lent emphasize that point. John’s conversion stories are painstakingly slow.
We see this dynamic played out for us in the story of the woman at the well. The woman that is introduced to us, in the story, is a woman who lived in shame. Greek Christians have given her the name Photine. Photine considered herself a sinner who was beyond redemption. We sense this because of several aspects of the story. She came to the Jacob’s well to draw water. She came in the middle of the day when no one else will be around. Phontine traveled to a well in the countryside because she does not want to go to draw water in town.
What had she done that is so horrible? Jesus conversation with her reveals that she has been married five times. She now lives with a man who is not her husband. All this seems odd given the strict marriage laws among the Jew. But there is a custom found in the 21st chapter of Exodus in Jewish religious law that allows a poor family to sell their daughter to another family. The enslaved daughter could be taken as a concubine. The woman had very probably been bought and sold her whole life. As a concubine, she did menial tasks. Her husbands also had the right to have sex with her. She would then bear their children. In return she received room and board. Is it any wonder that she thought of herself as degraded? She had been used by every man she ever met, until she met Jesus. Jesus did not want anything from her. He gives her something. He wanted her to have a relationship with God. Someone once speculated that this passage of scripture is an abbreviated rendition of a much longer conversation. We can imagine this woman pouring out her heart to Jesus with Jesus reassuring her that she could trust in God even though life had been cruel to her. She had a complicated story, but Jesus did not just chase her away from the well as almost every other Jewish man would have done. A Jewish man was not even supposed to talk with Samaritans because they were considered racially inferior. A seriously religious Jew did not talk to any woman in a public place. Jesus’ behavior was shocking.
Most of us, again, have complex conversion stories. The Catholic Church does emphasize once in a lifetime conversion, but it teaches about ongoing transformation which seems more common. Such an idea is helpful for other reasons.
I remember a suggestion I received from a spiritual director, one time, that helped me to see this. I was getting ready to leave seminary. I was young. I was idealistic. My spiritual director said to me, “I want you to read a book before you leave - The Power and the Glory by Grahm Greene.” I thought this was a strange request. What was reading a novel going to teach me? But I dutifully read the book.
The book was about the persecution of the church in Mexico in the early 20th century. The main character is a priest who is hiding from authorities. Priests could be put to death so the priest lied about being a priest when asked. He was a drunkard. He struggled with celibacy. He uses the priesthood when it is to advantage. He denies he is a priest to stay alive.
In the end, he is captured. He admits he is a priest. He is questioned about how he can function, when he is a priest with so many faults. He says, “I have come to see that it does not matter so much that I am a coward and all the rest. I can put God into a man’s mouth just the same-and I can give him God’s pardon. It would not make any difference if every priest in the church was like me.” In the end, when the priest dies before a firing squad he holds up the crucifix on a rosary and shouts, “Long live Christ the King.” Over the years, I have come to appreciate my old spiritual director’s suggestion. I have seen that I am far from perfect, but somehow God still works through imperfect instruments like me.
The Gospel we have read has a similar theme. The story of the woman at the well is not just the story of a conversion, but it is also the story of the call of an evangelist. The Greek name Photine means light. The woman who came to a well ashamed of her reputation leaves the well desiring to tell anyone she meets about the love God has for her. She becomes the light of Christ for others. Legend has it that Photine founded a church in North Africa. She died a martyr at the hands of Nero. What a story to ponder! Conversions are ongoing, they are messy. If we recognize that, we never are hopeless, we also come to see that life is about growing in holiness day by day.
Please note this is a rough draft, grammar may not be prefect.