“I Have Pop-Tarts to Eat of Which You Do Not Know” by Brian Flanagan
Third Sunday of Lent
Throughout the Gospels, Jesus has some great one-liners. In this week’s Gospel, the disciples had gone into the town to buy food, and when they come back and offer him lunch, he says, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”
He goes on to give a beautiful explanation of what that really means, but the disciples’ first thought is, “Could someone have brought him something to eat? He has a secret stash of Pop-Tarts in his briefcase, doesn’t he?! I knew it! That would explain so much. It’s probably because of that time Philip and Bartholomew went up for seconds on boneless buffalo wings before we had all eaten and Jesus had to settle for the celery sticks.”
The Apostles, as usual, didn’t quite “get it” yet. When they got back from ShopRite, not only were they surprised that Jesus was figuratively munching away on Toaster Strudels, but also that he was talking to a woman. A Samaritan woman at that. We commonly refer to her as “The Woman at the Well”, or the “Lady at the Cistern” if you’re a hipster. Most of us hear this Gospel passage every year during Lent.
Lent is a unique time in the Church year for a lot of reasons. One of them that often gets overlooked is that these few weeks are an intense time of preparation for those people going through RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults), or in other words those people who are becoming Catholic and receiving the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and/or Eucharist. At the Easter Vigil, they’ll be brought into full communion with the Church.
That’s important knowledge for all Catholics to have. This next bit of info is slightly nerdier. For parishes that have RCIA candidates and catechumens, we always read the same set of readings for the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Sundays of Lent every year (regardless of which year it is in the normal cycle of readings). These three Gospel readings are from “The Gospel According to John: Greatest Hits” album; “The Woman at the Well”, “The Man Born Blind”, and “The Raising of Lazarus”.
This week’s Gospel for most of us (if we have RCIA folks in the parish) is about Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well. You’re probably familiar with the story – Jesus shows up at the well at midday and finds a Samaritan woman there drawing water (which is odd to begin with because most of the time that’s done in the cool of the morning or evening). It turns out she’s somewhat of a social outcast and is trying to avoid everyone. In their conversation, Jesus calls her out on her life of sin, but also offers her something better – the living water that only he can give – and explains that he is the Messiah that both the Samaritans and the Jews have been waiting for. She is struck by his regard for her (which she apparently doesn’t get a lot of), and she runs to tell the whole town about Jesus.
Why do we make sure that the RCIA candidates hear this reading leading up to the Easter Vigil? Whether we’re a “Cradle Catholic” or we’re coming into the Church this year, every one of us is called to encounter Christ. To encounter him and be changed.
If you remember back to the story of the magi in Matthew’s Gospel, they visit Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, and then “having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their country by another way.” Ven. Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen used to say about this passage, “Well of course they went home by another route – it is impossible to encounter Christ and return home the same way.” Encountering Christ changes us.
Jesus calls the Woman at the Well (and us) to a deeper conversion of heart. To turn away from all that’s not-of-God in our lives, and turn toward what we’re really searching for and thirsting for – God himself. In order to be changed, however, we need to encounter Christ! We need to place ourselves in his presence, whether that’s in the Mass, in serving others, in daily prayer, in fellowship in the Christian community, or better yet in all of the above. As we continue this Lenten season, let’s make time to encounter Christ, so that with the RCIA candidates and catechumens, we might receive Christ into our lives in a deeper way by the time Easter comes around.
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