On this Third Sunday of Lent, the Church invites us to drink in this beautiful encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman. Thirsty after a long walk, with no bucket to draw water, Jesus asks this “woman at the well” for a drink, while awakening in her a thirst for something He alone can give: “The water that I will give will become in you a spring of water, gushing up to eternal life.”

The Samaritan woman is hardly a model disciple. She is there drawing water at noon, the hottest part of the day. Shunned by the respectable matrons who draw their water early in the morning, the woman with “five husbands” is there alone. She is shocked that Jesus – a man, and a Jew – would have anything to say to her, a Samaritan woman living “on the edge.” But Jesus engages her in dialogue. At first she is defensive, then distracting, then political. But through the directness of Jesus and her own deep desire for the “living water” offered by this stranger, her shame and reluctance are eventually overcome. She becomes the first person to whom Jesus explicitly reveals his identity as Messiah. She becomes not only his disciple, but his apostle and evangelist, spreading the “good news” of this saving encounter to all her people.

Today still, Jesus encounters us: in the person who asks for a drink, a favor, a loan, a few moments of our precious time. He awakens in us a thirst for something “more”: something no drink – cool water or sweet juice or full-bodied wine – can ever quench. What is it that we thirst for? A secure personal identity? Health in mind, body, and spirit? Meaningful work? Intimacy in our relationships? A life-giving spirituality? Whatever it happens to be, it is what we thirst for, what we most deeply desire, that shapes our growth, prompting our quest for the One who alone can satisfy.

Let us bring to our Lenten journey all the thirsts we carry deep within.