3.fasting Sunday A Joh 4, 5-42

Introduction

About one billion Christians worldwide recognize Christ as their Lord and Savior. Imagine what the world would be like if all these people lived according to the gospel, kept God’s commandments, and loved their neighbors as themselves. Certainly different than today. Nietzsche said: There was only one Christian in the world – Christ!

Predikation

Protect God from reaching out to someone who also observes us… In the Gospels, we encounter two categories of believers. Some go to Jesus massively and traditionally, but they can leave him happily, while others need only a chance encounter with him to be completely captured and captivated. Their sayings speak for themselves: Lord, help my unbelief… Lord, I am not good… Lord, depart from me because I am a sinful man… Lord, to whom we go, you have the words of eternal life… My Lord and my God… It was really the Son of God…

In today’s Gospel, we see this enthusiasm twice. Jesus began to talk to a woman, a typical little girl who had already lived with six men. At the well, they began to talk about a topic of utmost importance in Palestine – water. Jesus offers the woman living water that will guarantee her eternal life. At first she thought she was mocking her because every drop of water was expensive for her. Day by day, she had to walk far to the well to draw water, tie the rope to the bucket, and then pull it out of the heavy, already filled bucket. So she replied jokingly, “Lord, give me water so that I will no longer be thirsty and do not have to come here to draw!” For her ironic remark, Jesus waited because she allowed him to know him as a prophet who told her the truth about her immoral life.

Then came the final scene: the woman left a pitcher of water at the well and quickly ran into the city, where she publicly confessed everything she had done in her life. What inner shock she must have felt when she confessed her shame! From this, the inhabitants suspected that something extraordinary had happened, and so they too ran to the well; there, fascinated by Jesus’ appearance, they begged him to stay with them. Finally, their beautiful confession of Christ followed: We already believe not only in the woman’s word, but we have heard and know that this is indeed the savior of the world. The Savior of the World – an expression we have known since childhood, and we know that the Savior of the World knows everything about us, knows the most hidden folds of our heart, our guilt, sins, falls …

And yet he appreciates us so much that he underwent death for us and is always willing to forgive everyone’s guilt and sin. He is also the Savior of today’s world, who became human so we could become God’s children and be saved from all sinful self-deceptions. However, we have to say with pain that self-proclaimed saviors and rescuers are hiding behind Christ, who, like some competitors of Christ, mockingly ask where the world is saved, when millions of people have been innocently killed in the recent past, with flowing streams of tears and blood. They are convinced that Jesus is neutral to evil and therefore cannot be the Savior of the world. Let us therefore use this Sunday to reflect on my relationship with Christ, the Savior of the world. Do I serve him only? Or am I also looking for self-proclaimed saviors, according to my preference?

Father Tardif, in his book Jesus is the Messiah, gives many testimonies of Jesus’ miraculous work today. In one of them, he writes: I was very impressed by the healing of a 45-year-old Mohammedan. She was paralyzed on her right side. Her girlfriend invited her to the Mass for the sick, saying, ‘Today many sick will heal; come with us.’ This Mohammedan came, and the Lord healed her during prayer for the sick. After the final prayer, she gave the following testimony to the thousands present: Open your hearts to Jesus! Jesus is alive! I’m a witness! I had paralysis on the right side. I went to many hospitals, and they didn’t cure me, but my girlfriend brought me to holy mass for healing. I am a Mohammedan, but I came, and Jesus healed me. My name is Zanabo. From now on, I will be called Catherine because I want to be Christian.

This is Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world! And as the apostle Peter says, I truly know that God does not hold back anyone, but in every nation he is dear to him who fears him and acts righteously. A Samaritan woman, when she knew who she was before, confessed her faith. By her example, let us also confess it and know that Jesus is our Savior. He also offers us a source of living water – his grace and help and gives us everything we need on the way to the eternal kingdom. Let’s hold on to it and make it clear in our lives next week.