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Saturday, March 2, 2013

March 3, 2013 - Year A Scrutinies


Year A Scrutinies

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Third Sunday of Lent – Year A Scrutinies 

Read more about the Scrutinies

Lectionary: 28

Reading 1EX 17:3-7

In those days, in their thirst for water,
the people grumbled against Moses,
saying, “Why did you ever make us leave Egypt?
Was it just to have us die here of thirst
with our children and our livestock?”
The people of Israel were very demanding.  They expected to have water to drink.  But they could find none in the desert.  So they complained to Moses.

So Moses cried out to the LORD,
“What shall I do with this people?
a little more and they will stone me!”
Moses, in turn, complained to God.

The LORD answered Moses,
“Go over there in front of the people,
along with some of the elders of Israel,
holding in your hand, as you go,
the staff with which you struck the river.
I will be standing there in front of you on the rock in Horeb.  Strike the rock, and the water will flow from it
for the people to drink.”
God instructed Moses to take the staff with which he had struck the river and changed the water into blood.  And with this staff to strike the rock in Horeb.  Then this rock would provide water.  

This is a very interesting Rock.  Because in the New Testament, St. Paul says this:
1.  we discover that the Rock followed them around in the desert.
2.  we discover that the Rock is Christ.

1 Corinthians 10:4
And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.

This Moses did, in the presence of the elders of Israel.
The place was called Massah and Meribah,
because the Israelites quarreled there
and tested the LORD, saying,
“Is the LORD in our midst or not?”
Moses did so, in the midst of the elders and with Aaron.  But they must have done something wrong.  Because God was not happy with either Moses or Aaron on that occasion.  It is because of their behavior there, that they did not enter the Promised Land.  They died in the desert with the misbehaving Hebrews.


Deuteronomy 34:4-6
King James Version (KJV)
4 And the Lord said unto him, This is the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither.

Responsorial PsalmPS 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9

R. (8) If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;
let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us joyfully sing psalms to him.
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
When God calls you, listen and obey.  Sing joyfully and acknowledge the God of our salvation.  Give thanks to him and sing His praise.

Come, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Humble yourself before the Lord and adore His holy name.  Obey His Words and follow Him.

Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
“Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the desert,
Where your fathers tempted me;
they tested me though they had seen my works.”
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Learn a lesson from the disobedient Jews who died in the desert.  Learn a lesson from the unrighteous Jews who did not see the promised land.  Don't tempt God but obey His word and do good according to His Law.

Reading 2ROM 5:1-2, 5-8

Brothers and sisters:
Since we have been justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have gained access by faith
to this grace in which we stand,
and we boast in hope of the glory of God.
Dear brothers, since we have been born again in Baptism, reconcile yourself with God through Our Lord Jesus Christ.  It is through faith in Christ that we now stand upon Mt. Sion with hope of our salvation.

And hope does not disappoint,
because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts  through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
And this is a sure hope which we have.  Because through the Sacraments, God has poured His love, His sanctifying grace by the power of the Holy Spirit which now dwells in us.

For Christ, while we were still helpless,
died at the appointed time for the ungodly.
Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person,
though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die.  But God proves his love for us
in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.
And this is the truth.  Jesus Christ, God the second Person of the Holy Trinity, became flesh and died on the cross to free us from our sins.  And this while we were all still dead in our sins.

This is unheard of.  A man may offer his life for a righteous person occasionally.  But Christ died for us before we were reconciled to God.

GospelJN 4:5-42

Jesus came to a town of Samaria called Sychar,
near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.  Jacob’s well was there.
Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well.
It was about noon.

Jesus arrived at Jacob's well in Samaria around noon.

A woman of Samaria came to draw water.
Jesus said to her,
“Give me a drink.”
A Samarian woman came to the well and Jesus requested of her, water to drink.

His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.
The Samaritan woman said to him,
“How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?”
At this, the Samaritan woman was astonished.  Somehow she knew that He was a Jew.  And  Jews did not speak to Samaritans.  Nor did they use anything which Samaritans had touched as they were considered unclean.

—For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.—
Jesus answered and said to her,
“If you knew the gift of God
and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink, ‘
you would have asked him
and he would have given you living water.”
Jesus responded, "If you knew that I am God, you would ask me for eternal water."

The woman said to him,
“Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep;  where then can you get this living water?
Are you greater than our father Jacob,
who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself
with his children and his flocks?”

The woman did not, at first, understand and said, "Sir, you don't even have a bucket.  How can you get water for me?"

Jesus answered and said to her,
“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again;
but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst;  the water I shall give will become in him
a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
And Jesus said in reply, "I'm not talking about water from that well.  I'm talking about the water which is the Holy Spirit and which will give eternal life to any who drink of it."

The woman said to him,
“Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty
or have to keep coming here to draw water.”
The woman then said, "Sir, give me this water."

Jesus said to her,
“Go call your husband and come back.”
And Jesus said, "first, bring your husband."

The woman answered and said to him,
“I do not have a husband.”
The woman said, "I don't have a husband."

Jesus answered her,
“You are right in saying, ‘I do not have a husband.’
For you have had five husbands,
and the one you have now is not your husband.
To which Jesus responded, "you are correct.  You have had 5 different husbands and the man with which you are living is not your husband."

What you have said is true.”
The woman said to him,
“Sir, I can see that you are a prophet.
Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain;
but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.”
The woman was astonished that Jesus knew so many details about her.  And she called Him a prophet of God.  Then she made an objection.  She said, "You people think the only place to worship is in Jerusalem."

Jesus said to her,
“Believe me, woman, the hour is coming
when you will worship the Father
neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
You people worship what you do not understand;
we worship what we understand,
because salvation is from the Jews.
Jesus replied, "Assuredly, I tell you that the time will come and is now here when God will be worshipped in the entire world.  The Samaritans do not understand God but the Jews, from whom salvation proceeds, do understand.

But the hour is coming, and is now here,
when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth;  and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him.  God is Spirit, and those who worship him
must worship in Spirit and truth.”
The time is coming when God will be worshipped all over the world.  Because God is worshipped in spirit and truth not in the letter which kills.

The woman said to him,
“I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Christ;  when he comes, he will tell us everything.”
The woman said, "I know that the Messiah is coming."

Jesus said to her,
“I am he, the one speaking with you.”

Jesus said, "you are looking at Him and speaking with Him."

At that moment his disciples returned,
and were amazed that he was talking with a woman,
but still no one said, “What are you looking for?”
or “Why are you talking with her?”
The Apostles returned and were amazed that Jesus was talking to a Samaritan, but said nothing.

The woman left her water jar
and went into the town and said to the people,
“Come see a man who told me everything I have done.
Could he possibly be the Christ?”
Then the woman left her water bucket and ran to tell the townspeople that she had met the Messiah.
They went out of the town and came to him.
And they came out to see Him.

Meanwhile, the disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat.”
But he said to them,
“I have food to eat of which you do not know.”
So the disciples said to one another,
“Could someone have brought him something to eat?”
Jesus said to them,
“My food is to do the will of the one who sent me
and to finish his work.
Do you not say, ‘In four months the harvest will be here’?
I tell you, look up and see the fields ripe for the harvest.
The reaper is already receiving payment
and gathering crops for eternal life,
so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together.
For here the saying is verified that ‘One sows and another reaps.’
I sent you to reap what you have not worked for;
others have done the work,
and you are sharing the fruits of their work.” 
Then the disciples, who were concerned that He had not eaten, urged Him to eat.  But He said, "I am satisfied by doing the Will of my Father.  I am seeking sinners and calling them to repentance.  I will not stop to eat until my work is done.  You also will share in this work and receive great glory from God for your participation."

Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him
because of the word of the woman who testified,
“He told me everything I have done.”
When the Samaritans came to him,
they invited him to stay with them;
and he stayed there two days.
Many more began to believe in him because of his word,
and they said to the woman,
“We no longer believe because of your word;
for we have heard for ourselves,
and we know that this is truly the savior of the world.”
The Samaritans also believed in Him because of what the woman said.  But when they met Him they said to her.  First we believed you.  But now we see for ourselves.

The alternate reading is a subset of the primary reading.  Therefore, I will simply post it without comment. 

OrJN 4:5-15, 19B-26, 39A, 40-42

Jesus came to a town of Samaria called Sychar,
near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
Jacob’s well was there.
Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well.
It was about noon.
A woman of Samaria came to draw water.
Jesus said to her,
“Give me a drink.”
His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.
The Samaritan woman said to him,
“How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?”
—For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.—
Jesus answered and said to her,
“If you knew the gift of God
and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink, ‘
you would have asked him
and he would have given you living water.”
The woman said to him,
“Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep;
where then can you get this living water?
Are you greater than our father Jacob,
who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself
with his children and his flocks?”
Jesus answered and said to her,
“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again;
but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst;
the water I shall give will become in him
a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
The woman said to him,
“Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty
or have to keep coming here to draw water.
“I can see that you are a prophet.
Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain;
but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.”
Jesus said to her,
“Believe me, woman, the hour is coming
when you will worship the Father
neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
You people worship what you do not understand;
we worship what we understand,
because salvation is from the Jews.
But the hour is coming, and is now here,
when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth;
and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him.
God is Spirit, and those who worship him
must worship in Spirit and truth.”
The woman said to him,
“I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Christ;
when he comes, he will tell us everything.”
Jesus said to her,
“I am he, the one who is speaking with you.”
Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him.
When the Samaritans came to him,
they invited him to stay with them;
and he stayed there two days.
Many more began to believe in him because of his word,
and they said to the woman,
“We no longer believe because of your word;
for we have heard for ourselves,
and we know that this is truly the savior of the world.”

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