Scripture Reflection, 3rd Sunday of Lent (2 Options) March 23, 2025

Cycle A - Readings for Scrutiny Sunday

Exodus 17:3-7 Romans 5:1-2, 5-8 John 4:5-42

Cycle C - Standard Readings

Exodus 3:1-8a, 13-15 1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12 Luke 13:1-9

Today those of us celebrating a Scrutiny with our Elect who plan to be baptized at Easter will hear the gospel of the Samaritan woman at the well from John’s gospel. The rest of us will hear from the gospel of Luke, the story of the barren fig tree. In solidarity with our Elect, let us take this time to focus on our own baptism, which we can do as we reflect on each of those gospel stories. But first a history lesson.

After World War II, theologians around the world struggled to make sense of the Holocaust. Most of the those who gathered Jews into railroad cars and took them to the death camps to be exterminated were themselves baptized Christians . How could baptism into Jesus fail to motivate those soldiers to resist such evil?

And now, the gospels for today. I suggest they both tell us that our relationship to Jesus it's not simply a private affair. It is supposed to bear fruit.

The Samaritan woman at the well, after her conversation with Jesus acts on what she has heard. John tells us that after the disciples returned, "The woman left her water jar and went off into the town. She said to the people: “Come and see someone who told me everything I ever did! Could this not be the Messiah?’ And they set out from the town to meet him…. Many Samaritans from the town believed in him on the strength of the woman's word of testimony.” Her experience of Jesus moved her to action.

In the gospel from Luke, the poor barren fig tree was in danger of being cut down until the gardener begged for a brief reprieve: Please let it live one more year while I fertilize it. If it still doesn't bear fruit, then cut it down, he suggested.

Most of us who will hear these gospels today are baptized into Christ Jesus. Let us ask ourselves some hard questions. If we can hear about civilians being targeted by bomb-carrying drones and do nothing… If we learn about individuals who have had their livelihood imperiled without due process and do nothing… If we know about life-saving food and medicine rotting in warehouses while poor people die outside those doors and do nothing… then, my baptized brothers and sisters, what fruit has our baptism born in us?

by: Pat Schnee