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

 

 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 read that 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.  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 this 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 not 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 who 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?"   My study bible comments that the disciples marveled not only that Jesus spoke with a Samaritan, but that He was speaking with an unaccompanied woman, something that was potentially scandalous.  John's Gospel, in a way similar to Luke's, gives us a glimpse of Jesus' sympathetic dealings with women:  see John 7:53-8:11; 11:20-33; 20:11-18 (also Luke 8:1-3).

 

 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.  My study bible remarks that this Samaritan woman, becomes an early evangelist.  She testifies to the advent of Christ, and she brings others to Him as well.  According to an early tradition, after the Resurrection, she was baptized and given the name Photini, which literally means "the enlightened one" (phos means "light" in Greek).   Together with her two sons and five daughters, tradition has it that she went to Carthage to spread the gospel.  (Carthage was a city in what is today Tunisia, a wealthy city thanks to historic Mediterranean trade, and in Christ's time an important city of the Roman Empire.)   St. Photini was later 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 classic example of how misunderstandings using common language appear in John's Gospel in order to open our eyes to deeper truths of Christ's message.  My study bible comments that as Jesus fulfills His role as Messiah by doing the will of the Father, this is therefore His food.   It notes that this also teaches us we are to perform the will of God in our lives without being distracted by earthly cares (John 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!"  According to commentary by St. John Chrysostom, the command to Behold is given because the townspeople were approaching, and they were ready and eager to believe in Christ.  Jesus compares these foreigners (relative to the Jews) to fields which are ready for harvest.   This command, my study bible says, is also to all believers to look 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."  My study bible once again cites St. John Chrysostom, who teaches that those who sow and those who reap are the prophets of the Old Testament and the apostles, respectively.  The prophets sowed in preparation for the coming of the Messiah.  But they did not see Christ's coming, and therefore did not reap the harvest.  The apostles did not do the preparation, but they would draw thousands to Christ within 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 says that, as these foreigners are among the first to recognize Jesus as the Savior of the world, it shows the gospel is for all people in every nation.  

It's interesting that Jesus remarks, upon seeing the Samaritan townspeople approaching and ready to believe, "Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!"  There are those who teach that the traditional clothing of the Samaritans is all white.  Indeed, there are modern-day Samaritans who still worship in the Old Testament tradition on Mt. Gerizim, and they do so in all-white garments (see, for example, this article on the present-day Samaritan community in Nablus).  Indeed, there are other groups of Christians descended from ancient populations who also worship in white garments, such as the Ethiopian Orthodox (see, for example, this article about the Ethiopian Orthodox celebration of the Feast of the Holy Cross).  In the Middle East, there is an expression for one pure in heart, and that is to have a "white heart."   That is, white is the absence of any stain, indicating an unadulterated composition, a person who has no ulterior or hidden motivation, who is willing to let all come to the light (see John 3:20-21).   When Jesus finds Nathanael, He expresses something touching upon this, when He says, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!" (John 1:47).   This may be contrasted with the negative image of leaven, which taints the whole, in Jesus' statement to the disciples, "Beware the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod!" (Mark 8:15).   In the Beatitudes, Jesus teaches us, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matthew 5:8).  So to consider what this all means symbolically, in the field of white ready for harvest, is something quite important.  I once was taught a beautiful image of purity in a natural pearl.  That is, one not "cultured" (that is, stimulated by the introduction of a foreign substance to start the pearl at its core), but naturally found and made of pure nacre, without internal or external adulteration.  To be the same from inside to out is an image of purity of heart, of one with "no deceit," and who is willing to come to the light of God.  So, in the image of the Samaritans coming toward Christ, and brought by St. Photini, the Enlightened One, let us consider what it is to have a pure heart.  The pure in heart are those who simply are ready for the things of God, and have no hidden motive standing in the way.  Most importantly in the observations about our reading for today (and Saturday's), there is nothing that stands in the way of purity of heart except what is inside of a person.   The Samaritan woman is the least likely to be the one to whom Jesus revealed Himself as Messiah, but her heart was clearly ready to receive this message and to receive "the Savior of the world" in truth.   There are no barriers to purity of heart, save the ones we cling to ourselves.  This image, therefore, becomes one to which we all may aspire, so that we, too, may "see God."