Shikrot Mpwi - Sunday Synopsis with Fr. Justine J. Dyikuk
Third Sunday of Lent, Year, A – March 19, 2017
Readings: Ex 17:3-7; Responsorial Psalm Ps 95:1-2.6-7abc.7d-9(R7d,8a);
2nd
Rom 5:1-2.5-8; Gospel Jn 4-5-42 OR Jn 4:5-15.19b26.39a.40-42.
Theme: The Living Water:
Marketing for Christ!
Friends in Christ, our readings present Jesus as a marketer per
excellence. Perhaps business scholars were guided by biblical principles in
formulating the Awareness, Interest, Desire and Action (AIDA) marketing model.
According to this theory, one has to be aware
of a product before he begins to develop an interest
in the product. This is followed by the desire
to acquire the product and the actual action
of buying it. Marketing moguls use this principle as a bait to entice customers
to buy their products.
The encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman presents a scenario
which brings out the AIDA principle. Jesus was aware of all this woman had gone through. He became interested in saving her. As such, he
ignited the desire for “living water” in her. The good news is that she fell
for his “product” because we are told, she left her water jar and ran back to
the village where she told the people: “Come, see a man who told me all that I
ever did. Can this be the Christ?” She becomes the first herald of the gospel
in her city.
It is important for us to pay attention to details in this narrative. A woman
who goes in search of water, meets a stranger who takes her through the worship
of the true God in Spirit and in Truth and also tells her all that she has ever
done; at the jaw-breaking encounter, she throws her jar of water and goes to
the city to give a testimony of her experience. And “many Samaritan from that
city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony” as the Johannine text
records.
The woman’s testimony was not sufficient for her fellow citizens as their
curiosity for an eye-witness account pushed them to the scene of the incident.
The motto of Young Catholic Students, SEE, JUDGE and ACT comes to play here.
The people went to see things for
themselves. After having a personal encounter with him, they begged Jesus to
stay with them for two days – which he did. That sound-judgement would lead to a positive act(ion) namely, as evident in their testimony to the woman about
their personal experience of Jesus: “It is no longer because of your words that
we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed
the Saviour of the world.”
