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And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why are You talking with her?" The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" Then they went out of the city and came to Him.
In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat." But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know." Therefore the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?" Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish his work. Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true: 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors."
And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all that I ever did." So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. And many more believed because of His own word. Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world."
- John 4:27-42
On Saturday, we began the reading that continues today, of Jesus' journey into Samaria, and His meeting with the woman at Jacob's well. When the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. But He needed to go through Samaria. So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour -- noon. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink." For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is who says 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 have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?" Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may neither thirst, nor come here to draw." Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here." The woman answered and said "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You have well said, 'I have no husband,' for you have had five husbands and the one whom you now have is not your husband, in that you spoke truly." The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship." Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth." The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When He comes, He will tell us all things." Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."
And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why are You talking with her?" My study bible points out that the disciples marveled "because Jews were not allowed to speak publicly with a woman, and a Samaritan woman at that. Jesus' words and actions transcend ethnic and gender-related customs of the time."
The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" Then they went out of the city and came to Him. A long note tells us something about this woman, and her significance to the Church: "The Samaritan woman becomes the first evangelist, testifying to the advent of Christ and bringing others to Him. According to an early tradition, after the Resurrection of Christ she was baptized and given the Christian name Photini, 'the enlightened one.' Along with her two sons and five daughters she went to Carthage to spread the gospel. There they were arrested, taken to Rome under Nero, imprisoned, and later martyred. According to tradition, St. Photini, who first met Christ beside a well, was martyred for Christ by being thrown into a well."
In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat." But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know." Therefore the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?" Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish his work." Again, we find this device used in John's Gospel: first the Samaritan woman (in yesterday's reading) did not understand His words, now it's the disciples who don't understand what He's talking about. These "inscrutable" words have a way of bringing a point home to us, as well: we're 'hooked in' and through the eyes and ears of the disciples, we come to understand an unforgettable saying. My study bible says, "His food is to bring people to believe in Him and be saved."
"Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true: 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors." The townspeople, traditionally thought to be dressed in white, are approaching Jesus. Therefore, to "lift up their eyes and look at the fields white for harvest" is a continuation of Jesus' statement about His food. These people who come to Him are the ripe "fields white for harvest." My study bible says of His following statement: "The Father is the sower; Jesus is the reaper. Jesus will send the disciples to reap; their apostolic mission has been implicit from their initial calling. . . . The others are all those who have prepared the way for the coming of the Messiah: the Old Testament patriarchs, prophets, St. John the Baptist and more."
And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all that I ever did." So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. And many more believed because of His own word. Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world." A note reads, "The Samaritans are the first to recognize Jesus as Savior of the world. The gospel is for all people."
I find the process of faith illustrated in these Gospel passages (today's reading and yesterday's) to be very striking in the ways in which God's word works. There's first of all the "mysterious" sayings of Jesus, which seem to mean one thing in plain view on the surface, and quite another when we dig deeper, or rather, when He reveals more behind them. Today He speaks of His food, to do what the Father wills, and to finish His work, to bring His people to "harvest." And then there is the way the Gospel works with this Samaritan woman, the least likely person for Him to reveal Himself to (as He did in yesterday's reading), and through her experience of Him, she brings others to Christ. They then encounter Him for themselves. We have a parallel here for our own faith. We can hear all about Christ, but there's no real substitute for the work of the Spirit in our lives, for our dialogue in prayer, for the help and love we feel through this experience. And that's illustrated for us in today's text. We don't know who God may come through to find us, but we will also benefit from an encounter for ourselves, in personal and substantial ways. Furthermore, the Gospel always works through others, through others' labors whom we don't know, through thousands and thousands of the "great cloud of witnesses" who've come before us, and who will come after, along with the great figures we know who are recorded in Scripture or perhaps the histories of the Church. In other words, God works through others, among us, and within us. We're not alone in what we do, and yet, paradoxically, there is no substitute for our own prayer, our dialogue with God, our experience of our faith at work in our lives -- and this we may share with others and then become, in whatever way available, a part of this harvest and His work. We may join in their labor. So today I invite you to think about the ways in which Christ works: through His "inscrutable" sayings, hooking people in to His words, through His teachings and His food and His labor and through the experience and love of countless others who join in at that harvest. How do you experience this for yourself? In what way then do you - as witness - become a part of that labor? "One cup of water" is even a form of witnessing, let us not forget.
