Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!

St. Photini speaks with Christ at Jacob's well.  Manuel Panselinos, c. 1300; fresco.  Protaton Church, Karyes settlement, Mt. Athos, Greece

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 man, "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

In yesterday's reading, we read that Jesus said to the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, "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 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?"    The disciples marveled not only that Jesus spoke with a Samaritan, but also that He spoke with an unaccompanied woman, something which was potentially scandalous.  My study bible refers us to further instances John's Gospel gives us of Christ's dealings with women:  7:53-8:11; 11:20-33; 20:11-18 (see also Luke 8:1-3).

The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the man, "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.  This Samaritan woman becomes an early evangelist, as she testifies to the advent of Christ, and also brings others to Him (see the last verses of today's reading).  According to an early tradition, my study bible tells us, after the Resurrection she was baptized with the name Photini, which in Greek means "the enlightened one."  Along with her two sons and five daughters, she went to Carthage to spread the Gospel.  Eventually she was martyred with her family under the emperor Nero 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."  Here is another incident in which Jesus uses a metaphor, and misunderstandings serve for gradual illumination of His expressions and teachings.  My study bible says that He fulfills His role as Messiah by doing the will of the Father.  Therefore this is His food.  It also teaches us that we are to perform the will of God in our lives without being distracted by earthly cares (6:27; see also Matthew 4:4, 6:25-33).

"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!"  My study bible cites the commentary of St. John Chrysostom, who says that Jesus' command to look was given because the Samaritan townspeople were approaching, ready and eager to believe in Him.  Christ compares these foreigners (relative to the Jews) to fields ready for harvest.  This command, my study bible adds, is also to all believers to look to those around us and to share the gospel with anyone who wants to hear it, regardless of race or ethnicity.

"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."  Again, according to the commentary of St. John Chrysostom, those who sow and those who reap are, respectively, the prophets of the Old Testament and the apostles.  The prophets, my study bible says, sowed in preparation for the coming of the Messiah, but they did not see Christ's coming and thus did not reap.  The apostles did not do the preparation, but they will draw thousands to Christ in their own lifetimes.

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."  My study bible comments that the fact that these foreigners are among the first to recognize Jesus as the Savior of the world is evidence that the gospel is for all people in every nation.

The story of Christ's ministry is all the more interesting because of its seemingly meandering unfolding.  It's almost as if the ways in which it expands, and the surprising ways in which people open up to the Gospel, are all unexpected.  Certainly for the disciples, this opening up to the Samaritans must have been a complete surprise, even possibly a kind of a shock.  When they are set out on their first apostolic mission, Jesus tells them neither to go to the Gentiles nor the Samaritans, but "to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matthew 10:5-6).  But here, because they are passing through Samaria on their way to Galilee, Jesus has taken the strange and unusual opportunity to speak alone with this Samaritan woman alone at Jacob's well, and she has brought an entire town to faith through listening to His word.  The Gospel opens up in strange ways and at strange intervals, always surprising.  When we forget about this surprising nature of faith, and the surprising nature of the work of God in the world, we lose our sense of mystery and that dimension of understanding that is so necessary to knowing what we are about.  While we might have great evil in the world, and experience hurt and hardship and the sadness of pain in the world, there are also moments of great beauty and insight, times when the truth will surprise us.  Suddenly there are things that bloom and unfold like flowers that blossom unexpectedly.  New developments shatter the assumptions of the past, and open up and broaden the word of God to shed new light on its facets and greater aspects than those to which we were already accustomed.   This is the surprising way of the new covenant that unfolds as Jesus' ministry in the world, and it might also be the surprising way in which faith also works in our own lives and through the journey of our own way of following Him.  Our faith can't be bottled into easy formulas, because the mystical reality of God is always present and at work.  Jesus says to Nicodemus of the Holy Spirit:  "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit" (3:8).  Let us note Christ's words:  "So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."  Our own baptism is a type of "sign" that opens up new worlds of creativity, insight, wisdom, and the work of God in us.  This is the way of the Holy Spirit, and these Samaritan believers are a part of that harvest of God's work in the world to which Jesus introduces His disciples in today's reading.  How are the fields ripe for harvest in your life?  Is there a surprising way to go forward that opens up for you?  While some doors close, Christ always finds a new and surprising way to go forward.  So is God's work in our own lives.  Let us bear in mind that, like the disciples, we are laborers for that harvest, and there is always work before us.  We need simply open our eyes, as does St. Photini.