Homily For The 3rd Sunday Of Lent, Year A.

Exodus 17:3-7; Psalm 95:1-2.6-9; Romans 5:1-2. 5-8; John 4:5-42.

“LENT: A SEASON OF HEIGHTENED “THIRST”

By: Rev. Fr. Charles Onyeka Ezejide.

·       Fasting, Prayer, and Almsgiving are the three pillars of Lent. While fasting, a lot of people employ various models of fasting, especially from food and drink. Those who fast from food and drinks or embark on “dry” fasting, that is, fasting without drinking water, are not aliens to what being thirsty is. The tongue can be really dry and yearning for a drink. The question is, what do you thirst for when you thirst?

·       Today, the church celebrates the third Sunday of Lent. Our journey with Jesus in the wilderness is far spent. We are almost halfway into the journey of self-denial and self-discipline. And because the journey is halfway done, our temptations are gradually becoming unbearable.

·       In the first reading (Exodus 17:3-7), the people of Israel, in their long journey from Egypt (slavery) to the Promised Land (freedom), did not find the journey easy. At some point, because of their various challenges and difficult encounters during the journey, they preferred slavery in Egypt to freedom in the promised land.

·       The people of Israel had grown used to the life and practice of sin, which Egypt represented for them. It was not easy for them to break even. However, you see them constantly complaining, murmuring, and wishing to go back to Egypt.

·       This is what was seen in their revolt against God and Moses in the wilderness. They were “thirsty” to the point that they longed for life in Egypt again rather than go through the bitter experience of the wilderness. But God had an alternative plan for them. God provided for them and quenched their “thirst”.

·       Dearly beloved in Christ, during this Lenten season, the Lord invites each of us to journey with him in the wilderness. Being in this wilderness allows us to look inwards and get rid of all worldly passions and sinful inclinations,

·       While in this wilderness (Lenten season), we are not immune to temptations. Sometimes the hardship of the wilderness becomes unbearable to the extent that we begin to ask ourselves if making this journey of faith was worth it in the first place.

·       The “thirst” the people of Israel experienced in the first reading was not a physical thirst, but a thirst and a strong desire for all that they had given up to journey with God. They left their sinful ways behind, and they are focusing on God and hoping for the best in the Promised Land.

·       Dear friends, we, too, during this Lenten season, will thirst for many things. As the journey of faith continues to progress, so also do our passions and desires continue to heighten. Things that were usually not a source of temptation for us will now become a serious distraction and temptation for us. But we must not complain or lose focus. We must continue to journey with Jesus, knowing that where he is leading us is better than where we are coming from.

·       In the gospel reading (John 4:5-42), we see that it is the same thirst that brought the Samaritan woman to the well of Jacob. She had an insatiable passion and thirst for many things, which made her have about seven husbands. Her encounter with Jesus became a life-changing experience for her.

·       Jesus gradually engaged her and journeyed patiently with her, moving from the known to the unknown. The journey of faith and self-discovery is not an easy one, but if we completely surrender to Jesus, he will lead us to our destination.

·       Jesus ensured that he turned her thirst and passion for worldly things into zeal and passion for things that eternally endure: “give me some of that water, so that I may never get thirsty and never have to come here again to draw water” (John 4:15).

·       The Samaritan woman, from thirsting for worldly things, became an evangelizer who brought in a lot of people to come to witness what Jesus had done in her life: “Come and see a man who has told me everything I ever did; I wonder if he is the Christ?” (John 4:29).

·       Dear friends in Christ, we too like the people of Israel and the Samaritan woman, “thirst” for many things in life and some of those things are the things we have resolved to give up during this Lenten season, but rather than complain or go all out to get them and offend God, we must continue to keep up the struggle and trust God.

·       We must let our encounter with Jesus today at this mass become a life-changing experience for us, so much so that rather than continuing to wallow in sinful passion, we may now turn around our lives completely for good.

·       Today, let our “thirst” be transformed into holy desires, let it be a thirst for righteousness, justice, and peace. Let us be transformed into evangelizers having encountered Jesus. Let our lifestyle and not our word of mouth become a source of conversion for others.

·       Let people encounter Jesus through us so passionately that they will say to us, “Now we no longer believe because of what you told us; we have heard him ourselves, and we know that he is the saviour of the world” (John 4:42).

·       Friends in Christ, there is no better day to allow Jesus to transform our various “thirsts”, passions, and inclinations to sin than now. Let our encounter with him today become a complete turnaround for us. Make that decision today, especially as the psalmist tells us today, “O that today you would listen to his voice! Harden not your hearts” (Psalm 95:7-8).

·       May the Lord give us the grace to accept his word today and to change our thirsts and desire for sin into a restless passion for holiness and true worship through Christ our Lord, Amen!

·       Happy Sunday!!!