“Look up and see the fields ripe for the harvest… as the reaper gathers crops for eternal life.”
The field is always ripe for the harvest. There will always be hearts and souls looking to be harvested, or in need of being harvested. Whenever I speak with someone who is trying to get a family member to return to the practice of their faith (and in Catholic terminology, we know what that means), or speak to someone who mentions how they really feel the need to get back to Church, I always wonder how well that thought will finish. Will it result in no attempt at all, finishing at the good thought? Or, will there be a lukewarm attempt, not finding satisfaction enough to sustain them? Or, will it result in them finding the level of hope that St. Paul so beautifully writes today that “hope does not disappoint?”
I always wonder where it will end up in the long run, remembering that we have only one life to do this. Even if someone falsely believes in reincarnation, we have just one life at perfecting and embracing our faith in Christ our Savior.
Where will it end for them? Will they go into town to buy some food, or will they end up at the well to converse with Jesus, who seems to know it all, including the number of husbands she had?
Of course, the desire of those seeking to bring loved ones and friends back to their most natural place in life of worshipping our Savior in his Body, the Church, is always the goal. We want them to have in this life what we know we have; that being Gospel and Eucharist. The highest form of Good News in this life, and the food that endures to eternal life. Right here.
I don’t know of any priests or deacons who stand on a busy street corner saying to passers-by, “Excuse me, you want a Eucharist? Would you like to receive the Body of Christ and become one with him?” Unless one is ill or homebound, it happens only here. Here at the well. If we’re out shopping for food in the town, then it’s a very different conversation from Good News and Eucharist.
The conversation the 12 Apostles are having in this incredible Gospel is the shopping conversation. They went into town to buy food. On their way in, their talking was about the Red Sox, Patriots, why Butler didn’t play, will Gronk return, how’s your job going Joe, let’s stop at the Irish pub for a quick one, and who’s your daughter getting married to. All good topics. But it’s not the conversation at the well, where Gospel and Eucharist come together to form the foundation of the faith that wells up to eternal life.
If we want our life to well up to eternal life, then at some point we have to meet him at the well. Yes, we know he’s with us all the time, the Spirit who is truth. But we must have the hard encounter where the conversation is deadly serious with Him, and then we can go out and play, and relax, and laugh and enjoy the lighter things, such as going to town to shop for food. Let’s all go to Wegmans! The difference here in this Gospel between the Samaritan woman and the Disciples is found in the difference between eating a bag of nachos while dropping some salsa on our shirt, and the words, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work.”
How can we not be struck by the sharp contrast in the first half of this Gospel of where the Samaritan woman is, and where the Disciples are. It isn’t by chance that she’s standing at Jacob’s Well with this thirsty-looking Jewish man. Such encounters don’t happen by chance. You think you met your spouse or your best friend by chance? No, you didn’t. She’s at the well because God has a big plan for her, just like his plan for us.
Do you know why she’s at the well talking to Jesus while the Disciples are off in the opposite direction, far away from the well, talking sports and family life while they search for donuts and orange juice? The reason is, because she’s ready, and they’re not. They will become ready, but that time is not yet. They will become ready to embrace the food he talks about, but now is not the time for them.
The Apostles in the Gospel are like all the good souls that want to return to the Body of Christ, but they just don’t yet know how to be in the right place, at the right time on the Sabbath of the Risen Lord. Like the Apostles, we pray they get there spiritually, and arrive at the serious understanding that life is too quick to stay in Samaria all day long looking for food. Food that will lead to hunger and thirst again, providing momentary satisfaction.
The Samaritan Woman is at ground zero of salvation. Whether it’s Jacob’s Well, or anywhere else where the intimate conversation can be had with the Lord. She takes the same route back into Samaria the Disciples took, but her conversation is radically different from that of the Twelve. She’s not talking sports. She’s ready to preach his name as the Christ. Are we ready for the same? She’s filled with zeal to bring those she knows to the Messiah. She interrupts their day so rudely and lovingly, and says to them “Come with me. Put that fork down and I want you to meet him. Right now!” Do we have a portion of the same zeal of the unnamed lady of Samaria?
Two very different places. One crew looks for food that Jesus seems to be uninterested in when they return. He says, “Let me tell you where my food is.” It’s right here! This is where it is. This isn’t just Immaculate Conception Church. This is Jacob’s Well. This is where he feeds us in a way that doesn’t happen on a busy street corner.
And the other person, the individual lady… she’s in the perfect spot. She’s in the Garden of Eden, just outside Samaria. Life is too quick and unpredictable to not find that spot every Sabbath of the Risen Lord.