March 3, 2018 - Third Sunday in Lent

"Tell Me About God"

Audio Clip

I must admit that I'm a huge sports fan --- I'm thrilled to catch almost any type of competition in person or on TV, so a few weeks ago I was channel surfing events of the Winter Olympics.  While following the action, I stumbled across the profile of America's first great female snowboarder, Kelly Clark, who discovered the sport while watching the Winter Olympics on TV as a ninth-grader in Newport, RI.  She would go on to become a five-time Olympian, winning three medals (one gold and two bronze).

But, Kelly's journey in snowboarding rewarded her with something far more valuable than Olympic glory.  In the months after winning "gold" in the 2002 Winter Olympics, Kelly became severely depressed --- weighed-down by the pressure of thinking that I'm only as good as the quality of my last jump.  She wrote in her diary, "I don't care if I wake up tomorrow, and I don't think anybody else cares." At her lowest point, Kelly witnessed a fellow snowboarder encouraging another girl after a rough competition by saying, "Hey, it's all right.  God still loves you. You don't need to cry." A few hours later, Kelly knocked on the door of that caring snowboarder's room at their hotel and introduced herself, "My name's Kelly, I think you might be a Christian, and I think you need to tell me about God."

What a responsibility and what an opportunity!  How would we respond to the request, "I think you need to tell me about God?"

In today's Gospel, we hear that Jesus had grown weary from his travels while evangelizing and had asked a pagan woman for a drink of water.  Water would provide Jesus with a resource for His physical recovery, but in scripture, water carries a far more significant meaning --- the presence of Divine Love and with Pentecost, the Holy Spirit.  That day, Jesus was among non-believers, pagans who were likely a tough crowd to "win-over" and in a sense, Jesus needed a victory --- a successful conversion, someone who would respond to His call. To accomplish this, Jesus had to find a way to tell her about God.  

For Kelly Clark, Jesus called her while she was doing something she had loved to do since childhood, successfully competing at her sport's highest level.  Yet, Kelly had begun to question the "process" of her life --- the aspects of her athletic career which consumed her --- her drive for more medals, more exposure, more sponsors and more people praising her for her performance.  In the midst of the hard work and competition, she discovered that success did not equal fulfillment. The timing was right for Jesus to show Kelly that snowboarding was what she did but it wasn't who she was. As with the Samaritan woman, Jesus knew how to reach Kelly in a manner she could relate to. 

In our Gospel passage, Jesus spoke with the pagan woman in a manner she could relate to --- "whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst".  She lived in a different world than we do or Kelly Clark does. The pagan woman's dream wouldn't be to win a gold medal. Her dream was to never be thirsty so she wouldn't have to make endless runs to the well to gather water for herself and her family.  She pleaded with Jesus, "Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty . . . ." She did not fully understand Jesus' message, but she knew that she wanted something more, just as when Kelly knocked on that hotel room door.

In our second reading, St. Paul tells us "the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."  This is an invitation for us to join Jesus in His mission of conversion and evangelization. The exchange between Jesus and the Samaritan woman converted her into a missionary, and we are told she immediately went to work, leaving her water jar and telling her townspeople all that Jesus had said to her, and because of her witness, "many of the Samaritans . . . began to believe in him . . . ." 

For Kelly, the unnamed snowboarder who would "tell her about God", delivered Jesus' invitation of conversion and evangelization.  When asked about its' eventual impact, Kelly shared, "I asked myself, could I ever wake up another day and not think about God? Could I ever run the other way and pretend He didn't exist?  The answer was "no!", so I said, "Alright, Jesus come and live life with me." Jesus' gift of spiritual maturity has brought a different motivation for Kelly. Today, her mission is to help others within her athletic community discover their fulfillment in a healthy way --- her mission was clear.  Kelly shares, "If your dream only involves you, it's too small of a dream. I don't want to get done snowboarding and just have a good string of . . . medals and accomplishments. I want to look at lives and a culture that's better because I was a part of it."   

By the way, Kelly is well-known for a sticker she proudly displays on the bottom of her snowboard which reads, "Jesus, I cannot hide my love."

As we continue our journey through Lent, let us pray that Jesus will share His Holy Spirit with us in a manner which we may understand and may He instill in us the desire to join Him in his mission of conversion and evangelization.  And, like Kelly Clark, may we use our position in life as a platform to spread the love of God to all we meet. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.