Speaker 1: Welcome to Saint Patrick Catholic Community podcast. We're glad you're with us.
Speaker 2: Mike Vabril is the head football coach of the New England Patriots, a team that made it to the Super Bowl this year. He has coached in the NFL pro football for a number of seasons, beginning in Tennessee with the Titans, and now for his first year with the New England Patriots. He has developed this way, this custom at his press conferences. In Tennessee, he asked Teresa, a sports journalist, a female sports journalist, all the time at every press conference to ask the first question. He would call her out specifically and say, Teresa, you're first, what's your question?
At every press conference. He continued that in New England by a woman named Karen. Karen, you're the first one. What's going on, Karen? Tell me.
And they asked him, why do you call on women to be the first people at your press conference to ask the question? And he goes, it's difficult job to be a sports journalist and to be a female in a male dominated area. It is really difficult. And I am just recognizing their great work and the importance of breaking through in that type of profession. He has been such an influence on other people that his the quarterback of New England, Drake May, has started at his own press conferences when he talks to the press to call on a woman to ask the first question.
Barriers are formed for every human being and every age. Social, cultural, and religious barriers are always placed up boundaries that should not be crossed. And the same thing happens with Jesus. And in today's gospel, the third Sunday of Lent, read every year at this year in cycle a is the one about Jesus crossing boundaries, crossing and breaking barriers with this Samaritan woman. The first barrier is that he goes into Samaria.
The Jews and the Samaritans are very hostile to one another. The Samaritans are those Jews who lived up in the North, and they were conquered by the Assyrian assault, and were taken away, and the Samaritans married foreigners. To the Jews of the South, that is impure. So some of the hatred is there. Other part of the hatred and dislike is that the Samaritans believe they worshiped on God on a special mountain, not in the Temple Of Jerusalem.
And so Jesus goes into an area that the disciples are going, whoo, we shouldn't be going in there. And he has a conversation with a woman, and he asked for water. That is a powerful thing. So the first barrier that Jesus crosses into people who think differently by religion, by culture as well. The second thing is the barrier of a rabbi or a teacher speaking to a woman in public.
Boy, you should have seen the disciples. They were pulling their hair. They'd look like me afterwards, I guess. Those that don't have hair. They were upset because what?
Religiously, culturally, socially, that's not what you did. Rabbis would not speak to women in public, maybe their family members, but some rabbis took it to the extreme, and other teachers, and never talking to a woman. And what does Jesus do, but speaks to a woman and gives her dignity and respects? That's the barrier of a teacher not speaking in public to a woman. The third thing is the social and moral reputation.
This woman did not have a good reputation. Notice what Jesus does. I know about you. You have five husbands, and the one you're with is not your husband. Oh my god.
How did you know? And here's the problem with religious people today like you and me. We focus on the sin. Oh, how did that happen? Oh, what's that?
How scandalous. How how can she be talking to Jesus with all those marriages? And yet Jesus breaks through that and says, no, it's about thirsting for her faith. Jesus sees faith in her, not like, oh, you got a bad reputation, or you better go to confession first, and all this stuff that religious people do. Jesus doesn't focus on that.
He tells her the truth, but he is thirsting for her faith. She was looking for a reputation that wasn't based on shame and being belittled. Jesus offers that by breaking through that barrier. The purity barrier is one a Jew never drinking from a cup of a Samaritan and a woman. Jesus is saying, hey, I'm really thirsty here.
Can I drink? There's only one cup there. And she goes, you are asking me a Jew because that would make Jesus pure and impure through ritual and Jesus breaks that barrier. How many people were upset with that and saying do not drink from the same cup and Jesus says no and he's willing to break that barrier. And finally the theological barrier.
Oh, we worship on a mountain. You Jews got it all wrong working worshiping in a building, in the temple. No. And Jesus tells the woman what? One day we will all worship in spirit and truth.
In other words, Jesus says, the place won't matter, and neither will the division that won't be a part. And you know what? This woman who had so many barriers becomes the evangelize her for an entire nation. All the Samaritans she leaves the encounter with Jesus and goes, wow, he knew everything about me. Wow, He is the one to come.
And so this woman facing many barriers, her reputation is ruined. The wrong religion, the wrong ethnic and nationality. Everything was wrong about her, but many people, and Jesus breaks those barriers. And the woman becomes the first woman, the first person to evangelize to all the Samaritan people. Isn't this a great gospel for our world right now?
God knows what he's doing every Sunday. I love it. Because how many barriers right now do you and I have that we place on people because of religion, because of our culture, because of society. We all have barriers. You don't do that.
You're not allowed to do that. And many Catholics love to correct people who break those barriers, and yet this gospel is for all of us. Now that what's going on in The Middle East and many places in the world that have been going on for a while, we've just been kind of not aware of it. Who's gonna be our new enemy? Whose voices are you going to hear on the news, and your neighbors, and maybe in your own families?
Who's our new enemy? We don't trust those people. We don't want their kind. They're not like us. And my friends, that's why God chose this gospel for this time right now.
What barriers do you need to break through? Because missing the mark on this gospel is saying, nope. I don't have any barriers. Nope nice talk father. Sounds nice but it's not for me.
Yes it is for all of us. Who's our new enemy people this week? Who will you be encouraged to distrust, to speak ill about, to separate, to cause division, to ruin people's reputation? Could be anyone. And Jesus breaks through those barriers because he too faced social, religious, and cultural barriers, and he broke them.
Children, this message is for you too. Have you ever heard on the playground the words from other kids saying, you can't play with us. Think that happens in every playground, doesn't it? And it says, only kids with red shoes can play with us. Only fourth graders can be part of this group there.
And kids can come up even like adults with silly rules. And what Jesus tells us then is that everyone should be allowed to play in the playground of God's playground. And so children, who sometimes do we do not sit with at lunch who people who are sitting alone? You all children know people that are being made fun, and hopefully if we feel that we're making fun of them, maybe we can stop and turn that around. How many children feel lonely?
Maybe their reputations are, oh, they smell. Oh, they look different. Oh, their skin color is different. Oh, my family said don't don't don't stand with them. Don't trust them cause they're not like us.
Children, when you go back to school, who needs you? What barrier that do children in the playground and in school place on others? And it could be just one person eating at lunch with them. Maybe allowing them to play with you, walking home with them, helping them carry their books. Maybe just being kind and saying good morning.
How was your day? So children, adults have silly rules too. You can't play with us. Only those who are fourth graders can play with us. And Jesus says, no.
Everyone can play in God's playground.
Speaker 1: This has been a Saint Patrick Catholic Community podcast. For more of our shows, go to our website and click Saint Patrick's Studio.