Seen and Set Free

A Reflection on the Gospel for Sunday, March 8th, 2026:
Third Sunday of Lent

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John
4.5-15, 19-26, 39a, 40-42

Jesus came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.

A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.)

The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his children and his flocks drank from it?” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but the one who drinks of the water that I will give will never be thirsty. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”

“I see that you are a Prophet. Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.”

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming” (who is called the Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”

Many Samaritans from that city believed in Jesus.

So when they came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Saviour of the world.”

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

It was a day like every other as the Samaritan woman travelled alone to draw water from the well. I imagine her wrestling with her thoughts on the long, hot road to get there. I envision her pausing as a strange man comes into her view just before she arrives. It’s too great a distance to turn back now. Does she remain in the heat of the sun, waiting for Him to leave? She has had some difficult and painful encounters with men in her life. And yet, water is a necessity, and she has things to get back to, so she bravely continues on.

Jesus encountered a tender and guarded heart at the well that day. The heart of a woman who was drowning in shame and longing for mercy. I know this woman. I have met her countless times throughout the course of my life. I’ve seen her in her childhood desire for autonomy, as she clumsily asserted it through one rebellious act after another. I’ve seen her on busy streets, dressed to both stand out and fit in simultaneously. I’ve seen her in my places of work, employing someone else’s persona in an effort to have her voice heard. I’ve seen her behind the pages of a book, both attempting to remain hidden and hoping to learn something about why she is the way she is. I’ve seen her on sports fields, questioning if her athleticism is too masculine, and then embracing aggression as a shield against the internal and external judgments. I’ve seen her sitting alone in a church pew, quietly wrestling with the lie that she doesn’t belong. I’ve seen her tucked up in a ball, forehead to knees, begging for healing, begging to be seen.

I see her every morning as I stare scrupulously into the mirror. 

And then, Jesus comes onto the scene. 

The story of the woman at the well is one where Jesus flips cultural norms on their heads: Jews don’t share with Samaritans, men don’t serve women. But Jesus, a man, asks a woman to help Him change the culture. He offers to share a drink together. He offers to serve her a drink that will quench thirsts she didn’t even know she had. He gave her a voice of authority to share the news that both Jews and Samaritans alike had been waiting to hear for generations. The voice of a woman, oppressed by the lawmakers of that time. A voice that would unify nations, ignite hope, spark joy, heal wounds, and break free the bonds of oppression because Truth Himself sent her, and then soon after, verified her word. 

“If you knew the gift of God ….”

If I knew the gift of God, perhaps I would question the culture rather than His voice calling out from within me: “The water that I will give [you] will become in [you] a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” A water that cleanses shame, self-doubt, and the burden of an unforgiving heart. A constant spring of life-giving Love, from whom my identity has been reborn.


Lori MacDonald

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