Today’s readings: Exodus 17, 3-7; Romans 5, 1-2.5-8; John 4, 5-42.

We happen to live in times defined by some as a new spring for the Church and by others as times of confusion and interruption with tradition. I would define these times as ripe to see hopes and promises come true. Looking back, it seems to be in the Church’s nature to struggle on between differing visions and ways of being present in the world.

Matthew Fox, once a member of the Dominican Order and now a foremost proponent of the so-called creation spirituality, in his book A New Reformation, writes: “At this critical time in human and planetary history, when the earth is being ravaged by the violence of war, poverty, sexism, homophobia, and eco-destruction, we need to gather those who offer a future that is one of compassion, creativity, and justice to speak their conscience as never before. Religion ought to be part of the solution, not the problem.”

Today’s gospel account of Jesus talking to the Samaritan woman can be read as a parable of the contemporary Church. Like Jesus in this account, the Church too is somewhat “tired by the journey” of centuries of history marked by divisions, struggles, and internal disharmony.

Like Jesus, the Church too is faced with choosing between the food it nourished on for centuries and a different food. The Church at this juncture of history also needs to seriously rethink the prejudices that always made of it an inward-looking entity rather than an open reality.

The Samaritan woman stands for all those categories of people whom the Church has always been uneasy with. Jesus crosses the lines and attempts a conversation. It was not a teaching session, nor a lesson on morality. It was a conversation.

A true conversation can never be one-sided. The Samaritan woman knew very well her roots and what she believed in and what made up her daily routine. Her frame of mind could not grasp what Jesus was hinting at all the time. She seemed not that interested in going beyond all that made up her daily life.

As long as Jesus kept out of her private life and respected the boundaries, she seemed to have no problem listening. But when Jesus crossed the line and addressed her on a different and intimate plane, there she hesitated. She could have easily felt offended, but instead, at that moment, Jesus’ words triggered in her something that could not be stopped. Yet Jesus refrained from imposing anything on her.

It is precisely there where Jesus connected with her and it is that which made her realise that Jesus was not simply a stranger, a Jew who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. She herself then engaged more deeply in the conversation and took it to the religious level. Many a time it happens that people introduce themselves as unbelievers or agnostics, a way of setting boundaries immediately and telling off talk that might make one uneasy. We call that a defence mechanism.

The Samaritan woman had her own difficulties on religion, and the moment she brought them out was the green light for Jesus to proceed with the conversation. From then on, it was uncontrollable. Jesus had touched a chord that meant a lot for her and where probably she felt most vulnerable and in need.

Wisely, Jesus moves from the trappings of organised religion to genuine spirituality. That is the call for a radical transformation of the Church today. Organised religion, which unfortunately is still the mainstream type of Christianity we offer locally, can never touch people where they mostly need to be touched.

In the first reading from Exodus we read about the frustration of Moses asking the Lord: “How am I to deal with this people?” Because the people’s religion was unsatisfying and they kept grumbling and putting the Lord to the test, asking: “Is the Lord with us, or not?”

It is a new leadership through conversation that the Church needs to rediscover. The Samaritan woman was being led gently to discover her own self, and only then, the truth of Jesus’s words. Many people out there are thirsty for the truth of God and instead of being led gently, are simply faced from the start with diktats under the guise of spiritual teachings.