Today’s gospel is the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. It is, of course, Matthew’s way of demonstrating to us, the mercy of God. Yet, I think it is an opportunity for us to look at that in light of our own personal world today and our own world today.

First let’s look at the woman at the well. She is, of course, a Samaritan. This means that she belongs to a race of Jews, who also trace their heritage back to Abraham and even Moses, but who were separated  by political events in the Middle East around the 8th Century BC and developed their own style of Judaism from their lack of contact with the rest of the Jewish community. This led them to  be rejected by the Jewish community as outsiders. It is for this rejection that the Samaritans play an important part in Matthew’s Gospel as the outsiders who shame those closer to the community.

Sinners Are Healed; The Self-Righteous Are Not by Frbob Carr on Mixcloud

However, in her case, she is indeed outside. Scripture scholars tell us that her presence at mid-day at the well, is important for it indicates that she wants to go to draw water, when others are not there, for fear of feeling the sting of their rejection. She is not living a moral life and is ostracized because of this.

However, we need to look deeper. Jesus convicts her of having more than one husband and indeed she is on her sixth. That means that you can bet she has a group of children all with different last names.

She is therefore living with others and that may be called liberation, but usually it is actually exploitation as sin usually is.  So she is a woman who has suffered ostracization and exploitation. She is being used by the Homme de Jour. She is clearly outside what is considered moral Jewish behavior and she defines the world “sinner”. Hence, the fruit of sin.

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However, it is to her that Jesus speaks. Why? He came to seek out the lost. He does not reject the sinner, he seeks  to heal the sinner. He accuses her of her sin, not to attack her, but to get her to recognize it, so that He can heal her. Heal her He does and she begins to testify to the world  of His words. You can bet her sixth boyfriend will soon be moving out. He won’t tolerate this new woman who is not the one he moved in with.

But look at the elements. There were probably many moral women who lived in the village, but Jesus comes to the most immoral, the most rejected, the least holy and the greatest sinner.
This brings to us an important lesson.

It is the sinner who finds Jesus, not the righteous. This is an important lesson for us, because, we as people of faith need to understand that principle applies to us too.

If we want to experience Christ, we have to acknowledge our sinfulness. If we do not have a good sense of sin, then we will never encounter Christ.

This is a great problem for us in the United States today, because we have lost a sense of sin.

It is easy to forget about sin, because we look at sin as that which shows us our weaknesses and failings and we usually don’t like to think about either. However, the one who recognizes his or her sinfulness is the one who is healed and made whole. The one who rejects a sense of sin is the one who is neither.

The same thing works physically, if you refuse to acknowledge a physical problem, you will not be healed and may die because of it. One of the sources of someone dying of heart attacks is to dismiss the pain as  indigestion until it is too late.

When we don’t acknowledge our sinfulness we cannot receive the grace of repentance and healing.

This is one of the greatest problems we have in our country today, it is a loss of a sense of sin. Nothing is a sin anymore. Calling sin an old fashioned concept that is no longer relevant today does  not liberate us, it isolates us from God and more importantly from ourselves.

It was the woman who had sex out of marriage who was living together and who was living a life of multiple partners who is sought out by Christ. But the Catholics who embrace that lifestyle and walk away from the Church cannot encounter the true Christ who calls them to be fully human and fully alive in a relationship that is more profound and life giving. If they recognize their errors they will find not only a Christ willing to welcome them back, but a Christ willing to give them a healing the likes of which they could not imagine.

The same goes for those in the gay lifestyle, it is the same principle. If you want to find Christ, seek Him and His life giving grace. Then temptation becomes an avenue of grace and a keystone to holiness. Mostly likely they will not be healed  of their orientation, but the struggle with the orientation can become an avenue of grace that would not be open to them otherwise.

This is the same for  all forms of sin and temptation. Christ can transform them into avenues of grace and holiness as He does with the Samaritan woman, by recognizing sin as sin and seeking grace to encounter Christ despite and because of the sin.

But we make a mistake if we define sin only in those terms. Remember, idolatry is the greatest form of sin and Americans are loaded with it in the form of seeking prosperity over all things and at all costs. Have we fallen into that trap? We have if we have lost a sense of vocation to a poor sense of careerism. If our prosperity means turn your back on the poor so you may enjoy the fruits of your financial labor.

But we need to look more deeply at it. If we as a community and a nation want to grow in holiness we need to get in touch with our sin and sinfulness.

This past week, Russian President Vladimir Putin again addressed the concept of American Exceptionalism, which he first did six months ago in the New York Times. If you understand the concept of exceptionalism, it means that America was given a unique opportunity in the history of its founding. Some have interpreted it to mean that we are a superior nation. That is a poor understanding. However, if we believe in it, that means that we must believe that we have a unique role in this world. Are we living as people so gifted by God or are we taking both our baptism and our citizenship for granted as Catholic Americans. This is the week to ask ourselves that question because this is the week we learn that if we bring to the Lord an honest assessment of ourselves as Catholics and Americans we can grow closer to Him. If we miss this opportunity, we remain isolated from the Lord in a superficial Catholicism that does not challenge our personal life nor our role in the world nation or to the world as Catholic-Americans.

Where do we stand in relationship to Christ. Do we see sin as an old-fashioned concept and our role as Americans as a police force  for the world. Or do we see our need to be obedient to God that we may properly bring the gift we have as Americans to the world stage in a way of sharing our gifts and not lauding them over others.

Let us look at our life honestly this week and make a good confession. I am hearing confessions on Wednesday night at MBS from 6:30-8:00 for that opens our door to the graces God gives us to live more closely in His love.