Third Sunday of Lent (Year A)

First Reading - Exodus 17.1-7

A reading from the book of Exodus. The whole people of Israel made the journey through the wilderness in stages, as the Lord commanded. In one place where they rested, there was no water for the people to drink. The people argued, and complained against Moses, saying, ‘You have brought us out of Egypt to a place where we, and our children, and our livestock, will all die of thirst!’ Moses said to them, ‘Surely you should not quarrel or complain against me. For surely you should not doubt the Lord, or put the Lord to the test.’ And Moses cried out to the Lord, ‘What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.’ The Lord said to Moses, ‘Go on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of the people. Carry with you the same stick that you used to strike the river Nile. I will stand before you, on the rock, at Mount Sinai. You will strike the rock, and water will come out of the rock, for the people to drink.’ And Moses did as the Lord commanded. And he called the place ‘Quarrel’, and ‘Testing’, because there, the people had quarrelled, and doubted the Lord, and even questioned whether the Lord was with them. This is the word of the Lord.

Second Reading - Romans 5.1-2,5-8

A reading from the letter of Paul to the Romans. It is rare for anyone to die for another - even for somebody good. And so we see the proof of God’s great love for us in this: that while we were still weak, ungodly sinners, Christ died for us.

And now we have received God’s love into our hearts through the gift of the Holy Spirit. We have been reconciled with God, by faith, in our Lord Jesus Christ. And now we stand, with joyful confidence, in the grace, and the peace, and the glory of God. This is the word of the Lord.

Gospel - John 4.5-14

Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John. Jesus approached a town in Samaria, on land that Jacob had once given to his son Joseph. Tired out by the journey, Jesus sat down by Jacob’s Well, while his disciples went into town to buy food. At about midday, a woman of Samaria came to draw water from the well. Jesus asked her to draw some water for him to drink. Now Jews do not share things with people of Samaria, so the woman said to Jesus, ‘It is strange that you, being Jewish, are requesting a drink from me, a woman of Samaria.’ Jesus said, ‘If you knew the generosity of God, and who it is that is asking you for a drink, you would have asked him for the gift of living water.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where would you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well, and drank from it himself, with his sons, and all their livestock?’ Jesus said, ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. But those who drink the water that I give will never be thirsty. The water that I give will become, within them, a flowing fountain of water for eternal life.’ This is the Gospel of the Lord.