Homily 3rd Sunday Lent 2026 – Fr Jeremiah Browne (National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies #southafrica #Botswana #eswatini #Swaziland)
The Gospel for this Third Sunday of Lent, from the Gospel of John, presents one of the most beautiful encounters in all of Scripture: the meeting between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. It begins as a simple, almost ordinary moment. A weary traveller sits beside a well at midday and asks a woman for a drink of water. Yet what appears to be an everyday conversation slowly becomes a life-changing encounter.
Jesus begins with a simple request: “Give me a drink.” In that moment he crosses several boundaries. Jews did not normally associate with Samaritans. Rabbis rarely engaged women in public conversation. This woman herself seems to live on the margins of her own community, coming to draw water at the hottest time of the day, perhaps to avoid the judging eyes of others.
Jesus, however, sees her differently. He sees her story, her pain and her longing. Rather than condemning her, he invites her into a deeper conversation. He speaks about “living water” – the life of God that can satisfy the deepest thirst of the human heart.
Gradually the woman begins to realise that this man is not like anyone she has ever met. He knows her life. He understands her searching. He speaks with authority and compassion. In the presence of Jesus she discovers something extraordinary: she is known, yet still loved.
One of the most discussed parts of this passage is Jesus’ reference to her five husbands. Some scholars read this purely as a personal history of broken relationships.
Other biblical scholars suggest that there may also be a symbolic meaning connected to the history of Samaria. After the Assyrian conquest of Samaria in 722 BC, the Assyrians settled several foreign peoples in the region. These groups brought with them five different pagan religious traditions. In that sense, the “five husbands” can symbolise the many spiritual influences that had shaped Samaritan life and distanced it from true worship of God.
Whether personal or symbolic, the message remains the same. Jesus meets people exactly where they are, even when their lives are complicated, wounded, or spiritually confused. He doesn’t begin with condemnation. He begins with invitation.
What happens next is perhaps the most important part of the story. The woman leaves her water jar behind and runs back to the town. The jar symbolises the reason she came to the well in the first place. After meeting Christ, her priorities change. She is no longer focused on drawing water. She has discovered something far greater.
She becomes a missionary. “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done!” she tells the people of her town. Her testimony is simple and honest. She does not preach a long sermon. She simply shares her encounter.
Her words are powerful enough to draw others toward Jesus. Many Samaritans come to meet him because of her witness. Later they say something remarkable: “Now we believe, not because of what you told us, but because we have heard him ourselves.”
This Gospel reveals something important about the Christian life. Encounter leads to mission. When someone truly meets Christ, the experience cannot remain private. Faith naturally becomes something that is shared.
Every Christian is invited into that same pattern. Lent offers us the opportunity to sit again beside the well with Jesus. Many people carry hidden thirsts – thirst for meaning, forgiveness, belonging, hope. Christ alone offers the living water that satisfies those longings.
The Samaritan woman reminds us that the most effective evangelists are often those whose lives have been transformed. She was not a religious leader or a scholar. She was simply someone whose heart had been touched by Christ.
Her story encourages each of us to ask a simple question: when we encounter Jesus, do we keep the experience to ourselves, or do we invite others to “come and see”?
Sometimes the most powerful mission begins with words as simple as hers. Come and see. Come and meet the one who changed my life.
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Please consider praying a decade of the rosary on a daily basis for the evangelising Mission of the Church and the Pope’s intentions.
The pope’s prayer intention for March is “For disarmament and peace”
Let us pray that nations move toward effective disarmament, particularly nuclear disarmament, and that world leaders choose the path of dialogue and diplomacy instead of violence.
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Blessed Pauline Jaricot, Pray for us. 🙏🏼🙏🏼
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