From Outcast to Disciple: The Samaritan Woman at the Well
Readings and Virtual Homily for March 8, 2026, Third Sunday of Lent; Virtual Homily; Lent at O'Dowd; March Schedule (Second Half)
Readings for Mass this Sunday:
Exodus 17:3-7
Psalm 95:1-2, 6-9
Romans 5:1-2, 5-8
John 4:5-42
Dear Friends and Family,
The Gospel passage is that of Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well. This encounter is the longest conversation in the New Testament yet you know we are getting only the bullet points. John tells us that Jesus was with several of the disciples, who went into town to get lunch (and bring it back). Meanwhile the woman comes to the well and Jesus astonishes her by asking for a drink of water. This starts a conversation that likely lasted the better part of an hour, maybe more. For all that John gives us only the highlights, it is, as I say, the longest conversation in the New Testament.
When I teach this passage to my sophomores at O'Dowd, I underscore the fact of the woman's astonishment that Jesus would have asked her for water, that he would have spoken to her at all. She is a woman. In first century Israel men and women who did not know each other did not speak to each other. She is a Samaritan. In first century Israel Jews did not speak to Samaritans if they could possibly avoid doing so; and they absolutely did not share utensils with them. The woman would have had a cup attached by a chain to her water jar; it is from this cup that she gave Jesus a drink.
The woman expresses astonishment that Jesus would ask her for a drink (vs. 9). But his breaking this taboo is the invitation that leads to their long conversation. All her life the woman has lived with the prejudice Jews held against her ethnicity; she likely intuited that there was something different, something special, about this Jewish man from that very first question.
It is clear from the passage that Jesus is thirsty for more than just water. He is thirsty for the woman's faith, which he draws out of her the way she draws the water from the well. He takes her into deep water, so to speak (no accident that this conversation happens at a well) early on in the conversation, when he introduces the concept of living water, the kind of water he would like to offer her in return (vss. 10-15).
Well into the conversation, Jesus suggests that the woman go and get her husband. The premise for this suggestion was likely that, if their conversation were to continue, it should probably be in the presence of her husband, since after all, men and women who did not know each other did not speak to each other in ancient Israel (well, in this case, in ancient Samaria).
But of course, the real reason Jesus suggests she bring her husband to the well is what happens next. "Sir, I have no husband," the woman replies. And Jesus approves of her reply, telling her that what she has said is true. And then he tells her that she has had five husbands and the man she lives with now is not her husband. Again, he commends her for speaking the truth (vss. 17-18). There is no indication of judgment, let alone condemnation, in the way John portrays Jesus' reply. Just the opposite. Jesus goes out of his way to reassure the woman of his ongoing approval: "You have spoken the truth."
Astonished, and at the same time, encouraged, for after all, Jesus has revealed her past and at the same time refused to condemn her for it, the woman draws closer to Jesus, not away. "Sir," she says, "I can see you are a prophet," and then she asks him where she should go to worship God, Jerusalem or Mount Gerizim, which was sacred to the Samaritans (vss. 19-20).
That she draws closer to Jesus rather than away is in itself one of the really amazing moments in the conversation. When I ask my sophomores how they would feel if some near-stranger, someone they had just met, had just entered into a conversation with, suddenly revealed to them that s/he knew their entire past, all their sins, the usual response is that they would be shocked, embarrassed and angered. They would pull away, not pull closer.
The reason, of course, that the Samaritan woman does not pull away is precisely that she does not feel judged -- for indeed Jesus has gone out of his way not to judge her. We may confidently assume that at this point in the conversation the woman has developed a level of trust in Jesus that tells her, "He sees everything about me and it does not matter. Because in and through all of that, he sees ME. And he values me. I am more than my circumstances. He sees that."
Married five times and now living with a man not her husband, the Samaritan woman at the well is clearly a rebel, an independent thinker and actor; for whatever reason, she has not thought it necessary to conform to societal expectations. We need not impute any ill will in this assessment; the woman in her conversation with Jesus appears to be genuine, open, determined and -- thirsty. Thirsty for the living water that Jesus wants to give her. Thirsty for the freedom from judgment and condemnation that she has likely been exposed to all her adult life, owing to her being a Samaritan, and at that, owing to her being a Samaritan woman who has led a scandalous life. Even among the Samaritans this gal is an outcast. That is why she is drawing her water at noon, in the heat of the day, rather than at dawn, when the majority of the women from town would go to get water, exchanging greetings and the news of the day along the way.
The passage ends with the woman returning to the town where, despite the fact that she has likely endured years of judgment from them, she invites her fellow townsfolk to come to the well and meet "a man who told me everything I have ever done," suggesting that he may be the Messiah (vss. 28-30). The woman, now herself an evangelist, an apostle to her own people, has been given a new understanding of herself, in the conversation with Jesus. She has experienced, perhaps for the first time, the depth of her own worth and dignity; her many failures and scandalous past do not matter to Jesus -- SHE matters to Jesus. And in that realization she experiences a transformation. She becomes a disciple.
The Eastern Orthodox have canonized the woman at the well; she is known in the East as St. Photina (the name is associated with light). Tradition says that she evangelized Carthage (the second greatest city of the empire, in what is now Tunisia) and eventually went to Rome where, among others, she converted Nero's daughter, and was ordered martyred by the outraged emperor. In any event, the passage of the woman at the well in today's Gospel is instructive for us and our own discipleship for numerous reasons, but one of the most important is that it helps us remember that Jesus sees past all our failings, all our faults, mistakes and outright sins. He sees the saint he is calling us to become, and he wants only to encourage us, in that becoming.
Well, as mentioned, last e-mail, I am plunging into Lent with no fewer than five retreats in three weeks. The number increases to six if I include the parish Confirmation retreat at Redwood Glen next weekend. I am only on duty to help with our teens' confessions Saturday evening. Our Confirmation program here at SC is large and Fr. Jesus and I will be hearing confessions for about 70 of our teens next Saturday evening. I am planning on a three-hour gig, not counting drive time (about 75 minutes each way -- it is always a long night).
I heard confessions meanwhile at Bishop O'Dowd, this week. During Lent we make two full days available to the students (and to the faculty and staff) for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Two days where I do not teach; just hear confessions. Early on in my years at the high school these days could be somewhat hit and miss, in terms of students, or staff, taking advantage of the opportunity to experience the sacrament.
Not this week. I lost track of how many confessions I heard. It was a full day of providing the sacrament to the O'Dowd community, and it charged me up, as our priest and chaplain.
Then, just this evening (Thursday), we had our Lenten Stations of the Cross, led by students and attended by families of students in our Confirmation program. (Other folks can attend as well, but this prayer service is something we offer specifically as a part of Confirmation prep.) I have loved the Stations since I was a little guy in Marysville, standing with my mother and grandmother in the pews at St. Joseph in Marysville on Lenten Friday evenings. I was taken back to my boyhood love for this devotion this evening, listening to my O'Dowd teens as they led us in naming and defining the station, showing its relevance to our lives today, offering prayer and then singing verses from "Were You There" tailored to elucidate the meaning of each station. O'Dowd has come a long way, in my eleven years there, in terms of a joyful and confident expression of our Catholic identity. I am...proud...of O'Dowd.
Gonna leave it at that!
Take care. God bless. My best wishes for a serene third week of Lent.
Love,
Fr. Brawn
The Rest of the March Schedule:
Sunday, March 22
8 AM, 1115 AM (both English)
Saturday, March 28 (Palm Sunday Vigil)
5 PM (English)
Sunday, March 29 (Palm Sunday)
630 PM (English)