Fr. Foeckler’s Lecture Note- March 10th, 2026

[Michaela]

Fr. Foeckler’s Lecture Note- March 10th, 2026

 

Third Sunday of Lent,

Gospel

John 4:5-42

Jesus came to a town of Samaria called Sychar,
near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
Jacob’s well was there.
Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well.
It was about noon.

A woman of Samaria came to draw water.
Jesus said to her,
“Give me a drink.”
His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.
The Samaritan woman said to him,
“How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?”
—For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.—
Jesus answered and said to her,
“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.”
The woman said to him,
“Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep;
where then can you get this living water?
Are you greater than our father Jacob,
who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself
with his children and his flocks?”
Jesus answered and said to her,
“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again;
but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst;
the water I shall give will become in him
a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
The woman said to him,
“Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty
or have to keep coming here to draw water.”

Jesus said to her,
“Go call your husband and come back.”
The woman answered and said to him,
“I do not have a husband.”
Jesus answered her,
“You are right in saying, ‘I do not have a husband.’
For you have had five husbands,
and the one you have now is not your husband.
What you have said is true.”
The woman said to him,
“Sir, I can see that you are a prophet.
Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain;
but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.”
Jesus said to her,
“Believe me, woman, the hour is coming
when you will worship the Father
neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
You people worship what you do not understand;
we worship what we understand,
because salvation is from the Jews.
But the hour is coming, and is now here,
when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth;
and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him.
God is Spirit, and those who worship him
must worship in Spirit and truth.”
The woman said to him,
“I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Christ;
when he comes, he will tell us everything.”
Jesus said to her,
“I am he, the one speaking with you.”

At that moment his disciples returned,
and were amazed that he was talking with a woman,
but still no one said, “What are you looking for?”
or “Why are you talking with her?”
The woman left her water jar
and went into the town and said to the people,
“Come see a man who told me everything I have done.
Could he possibly be the Christ?”
They went out of the town and came to him.
Meanwhile, the disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat.”
But he said to them,
“I have food to eat of which you do not know.”
So the disciples said to one another,
“Could someone have brought him something to eat?”
Jesus said to them,
“My food is to do the will of the one who sent me
and to finish his work.
Do you not say, ‘In four months the harvest will be here’?
I tell you, look up and see the fields ripe for the harvest.
The reaper is already receiving payment
and gathering crops for eternal life,
so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together.
For here the saying is verified that ‘One sows and another reaps.’
I sent you to reap what you have not worked for;
others have done the work,
and you are sharing the fruits of their work.”

Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him
because of the word of the woman who testified,
“He told me everything I have done.”
When the Samaritans came to him,

they invited him to stay with them;
and he stayed there two days.
Many more began to believe in him because of his word,
and they said to the woman,
“We no longer believe because of your word;
for we have heard for ourselves,
and we know that this is truly the savior of the world.”

 

19th Feast of St. Joseph is coming up.

3rd Sunday of Lent, Year A’s gospel is John 4:5-42.

Jews and Samaritans were hostile between them. Samaritans are mixture between pagans and Israelites.

 

Samaritan woman came out to take water in the noon time shows that she is a pariah.

“Living water”, she mocks him, saying “You don’t even have a bucket.” She knows He’s a Jew, by seeing Him, but don’t know His identity. See how gentle Jesus treated her. He doesn’t respond angrily or threateningly. He doesn’t react like she does. His attitude was very gracious and generous, and it was obvious that He’s reaching out to the woman.

 

Living water like a stream of water, flows and purifies everything in the path. It’s usually reference to a flowing water. The cistern, on the other hand, does not flow, just a pool of water. The water He’ll give will well enough to make you never get thirst again. Super natural gift. He is now talking about a super natural gift that elevates our whole life.

 

She asked for that water, thinking it in the natural level. She was told to bring her husband, where she answered she doesn’t have one. But Jesus shows her He know all the past and now, with a gentle manner. She changed the topic, upon hearing He know her things.

 

Jesus told her that “I am He”. She has no credibility among the villagers.

She leaves her water jar at the well. She’s converted. She trusts Him. She hasn’t responded with her desire to follow Him, but her action is.

 

Water 1 purifies our sins, 2 it will fill us with infusing grace, new life in God. Sprit of Love, Faith, and Hope.

 

Samaritans hosted Jesus’s group for 2 more days.

There are so much more down to the surface.

 

Jesus talked to woman all the time. But this event reminded us other main characters who met a woman at a well, eventually married her in the Old Testament. Abraham made his servant finds Rebekah at a well, to make her marry Isaac, Jacob met Rachel at a well, Moses met a priest’s daughters at a well, marries Zipporah. That’s one reason why His disciples were wondering why He is talking to a woman. Jesus talked to the woman like a bridegroom talked to his bride with love. People of Israel is His bride. The Samaritan woman represent both Israelites and Gentiles.

 

Hope that doesn’t disappointed. Love of God is poured into our hearts, is baptism.

 

Jesus was searching for one lost lamb, leaving 99 behind.

Jesus started the conversation by making Himself lower, asking her water.

 

Why did He asked her to bring her husband? He calls her attention to her sin, she needs to repent. He was drawing the sin out from her. He has to get that out her soul so she can receive the living water.

 

What’s God relationship with humanity? God wants to save all human beings. He told Abraham that his descendants will be as many as the stars in the sky. He went about saving the humanity by choosing one person, Abraham. All the humanity was lost at the sin of Adam. They became servants of Satan. All the Kings of Israel became all the prophets. Preaching of the prophets, before Christ, that’s about New Kingdom of God. Jesus is the One inaugurates it. Prophets in the Old Testament prepared Israel to have Christ. Miracles, what He said, what He suffered. Isaiah’s book is called the 5th gospel. Passion and the resurrection. Jesus became Savior of the World. Jesus fulfilled over 360 Old Testament prophecies, proving His divinity and mediating salvation for all humanity.

Israel. They were unfaithful with God. People asked Aaron to make god to them while Moses was on the Mount Sinai. Aaron made a golden calf. God promised David that his kingdom will last forever, but his son Solomon was unfaithful, David’s kingdom divided into 2.

Jews were not exceptionally faithful to God, but God always was. Current Israel is not the Israel as Kingdom of David.

 

 

 

Catechism(CCC) 604-605

 

II. CHRIST’S REDEMPTIVE DEATH IN GOD’S PLAN OF SALVATION ⇡

God takes the initiative of universal redeeming love ⇡

 

604 By giving up his own Son for our sins, God manifests that his plan for us is one of benevolent love, prior to any merit on our part: “In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins.”408 God “shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.”409

408. 1 Jn 4:10; 4:19.

409. Rom 5:8.

 

605 At the end of the parable of the lost sheep Jesus recalled that God’s love excludes no one: “So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.”410 He affirms that he came “to give his life as a ransom for many”; this last term is not restrictive, but contrasts the whole of humanity with the unique person of the redeemer who hands himself over to save us.411 The Church, following the apostles, teaches that Christ died for all men without exception: “There is not, never has been, and never will be a single human being for whom Christ did not suffer.”412

 

 

 

Christ died for all men.

 

St. Paul explains, this world he lives in, you have to be a good citizen, obey the law. But in other world, spiritual world, you have to believe in God. Jesus is connecting those two world. We christians try to live like Jesus, trying to bring the New World to ours.

Pope Leo is opposed to this war, too. The conflict in Iran is not a religious war, emphasizing that it is driven by political, economic, and strategic reasons rather than religious differences. He highlighted the importance of understanding the distinction between the political world and the spiritual kingdom of God, as described by St. Paul.

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