The first two Sundays of Lent are dedicated to contemplating the mysteries of the Temptations and the Transfiguration of Jesus, which signify our current situation in life and our final call, respectively. To arrive at our final destination, we need some direction from Him who knows (and is) the way. Hence, we are given further input through the three remaining Lenten Sundays.
This year, the Liturgy brings us the Gospel readings that belong to the traditional catechumenal path, that is to say, the readings used for the proximate preparation of those who are about to receive their baptism during Easter Vigil.
Because the spiritual realities we deal with are not immediately visible (or evident) to us, we need to approach them by way of symbols and signs. This Sunday, the element used as the symbol is water.
Water’s symbolism is very rich because it is an element that appears in many contexts, all of which contribute to our perception of the invisible reality that it symbolizes. Firstly, we have the anthropological aspect. Our very existence begins in water, in the womb of our mother. The human body consists of roughly two-thirds water; its presence is essential for all kinds of functions necessary for our life (chemical reactions, transportation of substances, etc.). In a sense, we may say that our existence unfolds with water.
Secondly, we have the biblical tradition. The origin of life appears related to water in Genesis 1:2: “the earth was formless and empty … and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.” In Genesis 2:7, God is portrayed as a potter molding the human body out of earth, an image that involves the use of water to work with clay. An abundance of water is used to drown and purify evil (see Genesis 7).
Another element to ponder is that water was very valuable in the Promised Land, which is notorious for its absence of rivers, fords, creeks, and the like. Hence, rain was vital for many activities. Several times we read in the Bible episodes that show shepherds drawing water for their animals (Gen 24:19-20; Ex 2:16-19), which stresses the importance of wells.
Then we have Jesus’s expression in today’s gospel: “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” (Jn 4:10).
In the Bible, “living water” is a metaphor for the Holy Spirit, divine grace, and the eternal life offered through Jesus Christ to satisfy spiritual thirst. It represents a constant, flowing, and inward source of spiritual nourishment, contrasted with stagnant water.
Isaiah 12:3 had already prophesied “You will draw water joyfully from the springs of salvation,” which Jeremiah 2:13 identified with God: “Two evils my people have done: they have forsaken me, the source of living waters; they have dug themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” Later Jesus claimed, “Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture says: ‘Rivers of living water will flow from within him.’ He said this in reference to the Spirit that those who came to believe in him were to receive. There was, of course, no Spirit yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified” (Jn 7:37-39). This symbolism is present in the vision of the Heavenly Jerusalem in which there is “the river of life-giving water, sparkling like crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb” (Rev 22:1).
Today’s first reading provides another connection. The rock struck by Moses to provide water for the Israelites is understood as a type or symbol of Jesus Christ, who was “struck” (crucified) to provide the water of life (see Jn 19:34). The Apostle Paul explicitly identifies this in 1 Corinthians 10:4, stating, “…for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.”
It is ultimately the Good Shepherd he who leads the sheep to the waters:
“They will not hunger or thirst anymore … or the Lamb who is in the center of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of life-giving water”
(Rev 7:16-17; see Ps 23:2)
All those aspects, and others that could have been mentioned, are well summed up in the verse before the gospel, which should be our prayer: “Lord, you are truly the Savior of the world; give me living water, that I may never thirst again.”