Reflection for Sunday – March 23, 2025

Denise MackSunday Readings Homilies

Readings: Exodus 3: 1-8a, 13-15; 1 Corinthians 10: 1-6, 10-12; Luke 13: 1-9 
Preacher: Deni Mack

Picture that Samaritan woman at the well.  Imagine you’re at that well.
You and your family have lugged water from this well for years.  Jesus approaches and asks you for a drink.

I watched that scene last Friday night.  Our watering hole was a local hospital emergency room.  

It was not the frantic place I anticipated.  A man asked for water. While bending to look into his eyes with compassion, an aide gave him water.  She asked him how he was.  She said she was glad to see him and asked how his mother was. Still bending towards him, she asked if he had seen his mother lately.  He told her of his mother’s comings and goings.  He spoke softly and kept a smile on his face the whole time we were there. After a few moments the aide turned to another waiting person.

The man offered my daughter and me all the snacks an aide had given him.  He asked our names and told us stories of this hospital and his family.  His voice was low. Around us was the soft hum of doctor and patient, of an aide with another patient, and of a nurse with another patient.

From the hallway a nurse told another nurse, “There’s chili in the fridge for you if you’d like some.”  He pulled the chili from the refrigerator, warmed it and brought it out to a woman in the waiting room who’d been quietly looking through her bags. She softly thanked him ten times.  Her sincerity caught my heart.

The doctor, nurses, aides, patients, security officers and three people who seemed to be there just to get out of the night were each given the living water of kindness, of attention, of respectful listening and of tender care.  

As I pray with this Gospel I want life giving water for the Venezuelans who were deported to Guatemala last Saturday.  The plane carrying them away from the USA where they’d hoped to find a home flew away even after a judge attempted to block its departure on legal grounds. 

I want life giving water for Gustavo.  His pastor posted this message she received from him yesterday. “Gustavo writes from Guatemala that planes are continuing to come … with deportees from all over Central America.  He says they expect it to get worse and that it will be a humanitarian crisis as there are not many shelters nor emergency first aide stations.”

The life giving water Jesus promised the woman at the well gave her the courage to bring his good news to her village. Many believed on the strength of her testimony.  Were we to give life giving water to asylum seekers and refugees their testimony would be heard for generations to come.  Were we to give life giving water to immigrants and migrants many would believe on the strength of their testimony. 

We hear that and see that in our families.  My Irish ancestors escaped forced starvation between 1845 and 1852.  The healthy crops grown in Ireland were shipped out of Ireland by those who grasped control of both laws and land. All that was left to eat were blighted potatoes.  Other countries experienced the same potato blight but the people could eat other locally grown foods as well as food brought to their land.  Not so the Irish.  The laws disallowed concern for the common good. My Ukrainian Jewish ancestors escaped pogroms.  Repeatedly, they were burnt out of their village and forced to run for safety.  

These folks, to their dying day, praised their newfound home.  They spoke with joy of those who helped them get a job, of those who rented them that space; of those who accepted their application to school, of those who were their neighbors.  The Irish loved their neighbor’s Jewish corned beef so much, that almost everyone feasts on it every March 17 thinking it is Irish!  Immigrants brought their faith with them.  They brought their hungers with them.  They brought courage, stamina, resilience and strong work ethics with them.  And they found life giving water here that they share to this day with immigrants from all lands who arrived with their hungers, talents and faith. 

Jesus is in both the migrant and the landowner, the immigrant and the landed gentry, the refugee and the one who provides refuge, the asylum seeker and the one who examines his papers, questions her story, checks their history, and listens to their fears.  At one time or another we get to carry out each of those roles.  And at one time or another we get to be both Jesus and the Samaritan women at the well.  Jesus asks us for water, nudges our inner core, questions our priorities, shows us how to love and looks into our souls and tells us everything we have ever done.  The Samaritan Woman questions the audacity of someone breaking the normal practices of the day.  A man talking to a woman in public was not the norm.  A Jew talking with a Samaritan was most unusual.  Even when she changes the subject and refers to their differences in worship and in practice he’s connected with her.  He is promising her life giving water.  She becomes so full of his presence, his power, his essence that she runs to the villagers telling them of this Prophet, this man of God, this man who knows everything about her.  She spiritually carries his life-giving water. It is not only for her but for all who thirst.  And “many believe on the strength of her testimony.” (John 4:39)   

Wherever life is happening there is Jesus telling us everything we ever did, promising us life giving water.  It is ours to share at the borders of our land and our hearts.

Denise Mack
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