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 

 

Yesterday, we continued to read the story of Christ's encounter with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well (see the first reading here).  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 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 explains that the disciples marveled not only that Jesus spoke with a Samaritan, but that He was speaking with an unaccompanied woman, which was potentially scandalous.  For more instances of Christ's dealings with women, see John 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 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.  This Samaritan woman becomes an early evangelist, according to my study Bible.  Here she testifies to the advent of Christ and brings others to Him.  According to an early tradition, after the Resurrection she was baptized with the name Photini, meaning "the enlightened one."  Together with her two sons and five daughters, she went to Carthage to spread the gospel.  Later she and her family were martyred under the emperor Nero, by being thrown into a well.  On March 20 the Church remembers her and celebrates her feast day.  

 

 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 yet another instance of misunderstanding in John's Gospel, which opens for Jesus another opportunity to teach.  My study Bible explains that Christ fulfills His role as Messiah by doing the will of the Father; so, 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.  

 

 "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 St. John Chrysostom, my study Bible says, Christ commands the disciples to "Behold!" because the townspeople were approaching, ready and eager to believe in Jesus.  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 wanting 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."   According to St. John Chrysostom, those who sow and those who reap are the prophets of the Old Testament and the apostles, respectively. My study Bible explains that the prophets sowed in preparation for the coming of the Messiah, but they did not see His coming and so did not reap.  The apostles did not do the preparation, but would 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."  That these foreigners are among the first to recognize Jesus as the Savior of the world shows us that the gospel is for all people in every nation, my study Bible notes here.

 

 This unlikely woman becomes a great apostle, and is venerated until today in the Church.  Her name, by which she's known as a saint, is "Photini."  The Greek root of this name is phos, meaning "light."  This name is generally translated as meaning "Enlightened" or "the enlightened one" (as it is above).  But what's important about the root of the name is that it comes from "light," as meaning one who carries light, or is infused by the light, shining, illumined.  What that light implies, of course, is the light of Christ, one who embodies the teaching of Christ in the Sermon on the Mount, when He taught to us, "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:14-16).  In the great mystery of this revelation by Christ to this woman, and her acceptance and understanding of His teaching and His identity as Messiah, is the mystery of illumination, what it means to be enlightened or illumined by Christ.  Regarding the concept of divinization, or theosis, there is often taught an analogy or example of just how we as human beings are capable of adopting the qualities of God through grace.  It is likened to a piece of metal being shaped in a fire, such as a sword.  The metal thrust into the fire takes on the properties of heat and even light, but it doesn't become fire, it remains metal.  So those illumined by God may take on properties of Christ's light, the illumination of the Holy Spirit, to reflect into the world this grace, this gift of holiness however it manifests in them.  In the case of this woman, her receptivity to Christ and her immediate faith captivated a whole town, and became a fire or light which she'd carry to other people and other nations, like the example of the lamp Christ preaches in the Sermon on the Mount.  We could even think of this name as describing someone who is radiant, but no doubt it bears greater similarity to the nimbus or halo of light portrayed around saints or images of the divine. This Samaritan woman, given to us in this Gospel of light by St. John, forms for us an image of our faith, of what salvation really means. The radiant life of Christ, through faith and grace, so permeates her life that she takes on its name. May that light remain shining in all of us so that we share it as she did.  

 

 

 

The water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life

 

 Therefore, 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 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 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 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."

 

- John 4:1–26 

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them and baptized.  Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there.  And they came and were baptized.  For John had not yet been thrown into prison.  Then there arose a dispute between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purification.  And they came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified -- behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!"  John answered and said, "A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.  You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, 'I am not the Christ,' but, 'I have been sent before Him.'  He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice.  Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled.  He must increase, but I must decrease.  He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth.  He who comes from heaven is above all.  And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony.  He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true.  For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure.  The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand.  He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."  

 Therefore, 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.  In a recent reading, Jesus has been to the temple in Jerusalem for the first Passover described in John's Gospel.  There He cleansed the temple.  He taught Nicodemus, a man of the Pharisees, by night while He was in Jerusalem, and then went east near the Jordan river, baptizing (but as the text tells us here, it was Christ's disciples who baptized).  He is already  clearly known to the religious leaders after cleansing the temple, but now that He has made and baptized more disciples than John -- who was widely revered as a holy man by the people -- this truly might pose a challenge to the authority of the Pharisees, in their sight.   In this context, Jesus once again journeys toward His home province of Galilee, far away from the authorities in Jerusalem.  But, as today's reading tells us, He needed to go through Samaria to go there.

 

 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.  My study Bible tells us that the Old Testament does not mention Jacob's well, although Jacob did live in this area (Genesis 33:19). It notes that wells were significant because of their rarity and their value in the life of the desert.  So, therefore, wells came to symbolize life itself (Psalms 36:9-10, 46:4; Isaiah 55:1).  Still today, this well is maintained as a shrine from which pilgrims can drink.  Jesus is wearied from His journey, which my study Bible says shows us His complete humanity.  The sixth hour is noon, with the sun at its highest point overhead.  In the tradition of the Orthodox Church, this woman is identified as St. Photini ("the illumined one").

 

 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. My study Bible comments that the Samaritans were a mixed race and traditional enemies of the Jews.  Although they worshiped the God of Israel, and they were also awaiting the Messiah, they accepted only the first five books of the Old Testament (that is, the Pentateuch or Torah) as their Scriptures.  They had built their own temple on Mt. Gerizim, which the Jews destroyed in 128 BC.

 

  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."  Living water in the ordinary sense, my study Bible explains, means fresh, flowing water.  That is, water from a stream or spring rather than a pond or a cistern.  Jesus is using this term to indicate the grace of the Holy Spirit that leads to eternal life (John 7:37-39).  This gift not only remains in a person, my study Bible tells us, but it is so abundant that it overflows to other people.  This woman misunderstands Christ.  She asks Him, "Are You greater than our father Jacob?"  But in the Scriptures, Jacob is a type of Christ, for it is Jacob who received the vision of the divine ladder (Genesis 28:12), which is fulfilled by Christ.  Additionally, just as Jacob gave this well for earthly life, so now Christ gives the well of the Holy Spirit for eternal 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 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."  My study Bible comments that, since Jesus perceived that she was living with a man without being married, and as He knew of her many husbands, this woman perceives that Jesus is a prophet.  But the Samaritans did not accept any prophets after Moses, and so the only prophet that was expected by them was the Messiah foretold by Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15-18).  Jesus' insight into people's hearts, my study Bible says, reported so many times in the Gospels, is a characteristic that underscores His divine nature.  

"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."  My study Bible tells us here that if Jesus was truly the expected Prophet, then He could settle the historical argument regarding where worship was to take place.  But Jesus refuses to answer an earthly question like this -- and He instead elevates the discussion to the manner in which people ought to worship instead.  More importantly, He focuses attention on the One whom we worship:  God.  The Father is worshiped in spirit (in the Holy Spirit) and in truth -- Christ Himself (John 14:6), and according to Christ's revelation.   God is Spirit:  My study Bible notes that God cannot be confined to a particular location.  Those who receive the Holy Spirit and believe in Jesus Christ can worship God the Father with purity of heart.  Salvation is of the Jews:  Here Christ affirms that true revelation comes from Judaism.  My study Bible quotes St. Athanasius the Great, who teaches, "The commonwealth of Israel was the school of the knowledge of God for all nations."  Moreover, Jesus testifies here that the Messiah, who was prophesied among the Jews, now has risen from among the Jews.  The gift of salvation in Christ has indeed come to all nations, but it has come from within Judaism.  The hour, my study Bible says, refers to Jesus' death and Resurrection and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, which will inaugurate the worship of the new covenant. 

 

 Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."  This sentence is literally translated "I AM [Greek εγω ειμι/ego eimi], who speak to you."  "I AM" is the divine Name of God, my study Bible reminds us (Exodus 3:14).  Its use here indicates a theophany, or revelation of God.  The use of this Name by a mere human being was considered blasphemy and was punishable by death (see John 8:58; Mark 14:62).  But, as Jesus Himself is divine, His use of this Name is a revelation of His unity with the Father and the holy Spirit.  He is God Incarnate.  

One can only imagine the impressions of this woman of Samaria sitting at the well of Jacob.  Her very first impression must have been one of being quite startled.  We can see this by her first question to Jesus, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?"  In the bright sunlight of noon, at a public well in a desert region, a Jewish man sitting alone would be quite out of place speaking to a Samaritan woman for any reason at all.  In accordance with the customs of these peoples, their time, and their place, this is potentially scandalous behavior on the part of Jesus to initiate a conversation in speaking to this Samaritan woman, even to ask for a drink of water.  So the first thing we must conclude from this story is Jesus' deliberate action in knowing what He was doing by engaging her this way.  From this beginning, one can only imagine how her wondering grew as she spoke with Jesus.  Imagine being told that if she knew with whom she spoke, she would ask for "living water" -- and another question later, that living water is explained as water that would "become [in a person] a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."   Not for the only time, a woman encountering Jesus becomes bold enough to speak up and ask things of Him: "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw."  Perhaps such women are the ones who eventually reap the harvest of faith, for they are the ones who engage Him in return, and desire what He offers.  Here Jesus asserts what He already knows, that she's had many husbands, and so she thinks He's a prophet.  Again her boldness comes forward with Christ.  She asks about the religious controversy between her people and the Jews, and she gets much, much more in return than the answer to her query.  He tells her, "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."  This is such a startling and powerful truth we cannot underestimate its effects and its power, even today as people encounter it.  But then she tells Him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ).  "When He comes, He will tell us all things."  Jesus then reveals to her more than He will reveal in Israel for some time to come:  "I who speak to you am He."  She is rewarded with a theophany:  a manifestation of God before her Incarnate.  How could we possibly imagine being the recipient of such an experience and encounter?  It does seem very important to note her boldness, that her encounter with the Lord does not produce in her a reticence or sheepishness, neither an apology for speaking up.  Perhaps it speaks to us mostly about a true and deep desire for what He offers, so much so that nothing stands in the way of her questions and requests.  As the name given to her in the Church (Photini, "enlightened" or "illumined one") will reveal, one thing is clear with her:  she is open and receptive to His light.  Her mind and heart are open to receive the truth He offers to her.  That is why this story is so important, because it is telling us that perhaps in the least likely places, God finds receptivity for what God offers, and here Jesus' truly prophetic words ring true about this woman:  that "the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth" and that "the Father is seeking such to worship Him."  She is the first to whom Jesus reveals Himself as Messiah.  That He does so in such a plain and direct way is proof to us of her capacity to receive Him and His identity in all its startling, even shocking fullness.  Let us also consider that He reveals to her the truth of the Father and the Spirit as well.   In the following reading, on Monday, we will read the rest of this story.  Let us marvel at the ways God works, even the Spirit who blows where He wishes, as Jesus said to Nicodemus (John 3:8).  For she, too, will be washed with the waters of Holy Baptism, and illumined by the Spirit, forever known to us in the story of Jacob's Well and the living water that springs up into fountains within us.

 

 

And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together

 

 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 thing 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 

 

Yesterday 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 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 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 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?"   My study Bible explains about the disciples' reaction that they marveled not only that Jesus spoke with a Samaritan, but that He was speaking with an unaccompanied woman, which was potentially scandalous.  For more instances of Christ's dealings with women, see John 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 men, "Come, see a Man who told me all thing 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; she has testified to the advent of Christ, and brought others to Him (see the final verses of today's reading).  According to early Church tradition, my study Bible notes, after the Resurrection she was baptized with the name Photini, meaning "enlightened" or "illumined one."  Together with her two sons and five daughters, she went to Carthage to spread the gospel.  Later, her story goes, she was martyred with her family under the emperor Nero, by being thrown into a well.  In the Orthodox Church she is remembered on March 20th, and the fourth Sunday of Pascha/Easter.  

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 Christ once again uses a misunderstanding to enlighten the disciples.  My study Bible comments that Jesus fulfills His role as Messiah by doing the will of the Father; and so therefore, this is His food.  It also teaches us that we, too, 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).  

"Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!"  Jesus says, "Behold!"  According to St. John Chrysostom, he does so because the townspeople were approaching, ready and eager to believe in Jesus.  My study Bible comments that Christ compares these foreigners (relative to the Jews) to fields ready for harvest.  It notes that this command 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 my study Bible cites the commentary of 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, it notes, but did not see Christ's coming and so therefore did not reap.  The apostles, on the other hand, did not do the preparation, but they would 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."  That these foreigners are among the first to recognize Jesus as the Savior of the world shows us that the gospel is for all people in every nation.

 

 This woman becomes powerfully instrumental in the story of salvation, in that she is the first one to whom Christ has directly revealed Himself.  In the Greek of the Gospel, He uses the divine Name, the I AM (in the final verse of yesterday's reading, above; see also Exodus 3:14).  She also immediately plays a decisive role as she steps into the shoes of the apostles.  That is, she also become a successful evangelist, bringing the good news to people, and then in turn bringing them to Christ, at which point they discover Him for themselves.  This is indeed a transformational reality.  It is stunning that she is both a Gentile (a Samaritan, an enemy of the Jews) and a woman.  Jesus breaks all the stereotypes and role models of His time to reveal Himself to her; simply by asking her for a drink (in yesterday's reading).  He is already breaking the mold of conventional and accepted behavior.  But this tells us unconditionally more about Christ's incisive insight into people.  He initiates this conversation, takes up an encounter with her, by asking for a drink, and it becomes in time a teaching example for His disciples.  This woman effectively brings an entire community with her to find Christ for themselves.  Moreover, she can set an example for the disciples as an illustration of Christ's teaching here, "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."  As we can read in the description of her subsequent history, this woman, known in the Church as St. Photini (from the Greek word φως/phos, which means "light"), would go on to in turn enlighten others.  My study Bible tells us that she went to Carthage, together with her family, a great center of Roman Africa, in which centuries later Augustine of Hippo would play such a great role.  We don't know to what extent her own "labors" would contribute to the labors of those to come, including St. Augustine, but it is an illustration of how each one plays a role in Christ's vision of salvation presented here.  In this unlikeliest of circumstances, and perhaps unlikeliest of persons, Christ finds an opportunity to reveal Himself as God -- and she plays her role as an individual even in the grand scheme of salvation.  It reminds us that each of us has our role to play, each enters into the labors of others, and in turn others will reap.  Jesus says, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work."   So we each have our role to play in this work, as the story of St. Photini reveals to us.

We ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world

 

 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 

 

In our recent readings, the Gospel has given us the story of Christ's encounter with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well.  The story begin with Thursday's reading.  Yesterday (Friday), we read that 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 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, my study Bible notes, not only that Jesus spoke with a Samaritan, but that He was speaking with an unaccompanied woman -- something which was potentially scandalous. My study Bible also cites further instances of the Lord's dealings with women, all of which are uncharacteristic of the mores of His time:  see John 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 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.   Here is the early bloom of the product of Christ's interaction with this woman:  she becomes an early evangelist, and testifies to the advent of Christ, even bringing others to Him.  According to an early Church tradition, after Christ's Resurrection, this woman was baptized with the name Photini, which means "the enlightened one" (φως/phos means "light" in Greek).  This name can even be thought of as meaning "shining."  Together with her two sons and five daughters, the history goes, she went to Carthage to spread the gospel.  Later, she was martyred with her family under the emperor Nero by being thrown into a well.  In the Orthodox Church, she is remembered on March 20.

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."  Once again we observe what we understand to be a common happenstance in John's Gospel:  Jesus uses everyday language that -- through misunderstandings -- is elucidated and drawn out to higher meanings that convey spiritual realities.  Jesus fulfills His role as Messiah through doing the will of the Father.  Therefore, this is His food.  My study Bible adds that this also teaches us we are to perform the will of God in our lives without being distracted by earthly cares (see John 6:27; 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 St. John Chrysostom, my study Bible reports, Christ's command to behold was given because the townspeople were approaching, and they were ready and eager to believe in Jesus.  (To this day, the remaining descendants of this Samaritan community dress in white for their ceremonies.)  My study Bible comments that Christ compares these foreigners (relative to the Jews) to fields ready for harvest, seeming to refer to the light color a wheatfield takes on when ready for harvest.   This command, it adds, is also to all believers to look to those around us and to share the gospel with anyone wanting 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 cites St. John Chrysostom here, who teaches that those who sow are the prophets of the Old Testament, and those who reap are the apostles.  The prophets sowed in preparation for the coming of the Messiah, but they did not see His coming, and therefore did not reap.  The apostles did not do the preparation, but they are the ones who would 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."   That these foreigners are among the first to recognize Jesus as the Savior of the world, my study Bible comments, shows that the gospel is for all people in every nation.  

This remarkable woman -- an unlikely person even to be speaking with Christ in the first place -- is an early evangelist, as my study Bible says.  She brings her people to Jesus, who singled her out when He requested of her to give Him a drink at Jacob's well (see Thursday's reading).  How did Jesus know the person she would be?  In our theology we're taught that the image of Christ is planted within us, and our own "unfolding" of true self is finding and fulfilling, manifesting that image given to us -- our identity in Christ.  So in this sense we can assume that Jesus knew this woman at the well, before they even spoke.  In the legends of the Church, she is recorded as an early missionary and martyr, along with her children.  A hagiography of greater detail can be found at this site.  St. Photini's life, and her enduring meaning and significance especially to Eastern Orthodox Christians, teach us something powerful about those called by Christ.  She remains a figure of mission and endurance, and good works.  Her influence extended beyond herself to her family and community, and even beyond.  While the minute details of her life are not known in certainty, there is one thing that she does stand for, and quite powerfully, that of endurance and persistence in faith.  We can see this displayed from Christ's encounter with her in the gospel.  She does not shrink from embarassment, she does not walk away from the strangeness of the Jewish Man, Christ, asking her for a drink, and neither does she balk at the strange sayings He begins to use in order to draw her into the mysteries of the Christian life.  She does something different; she comes forward all the more strongly to ask Christ what He is talking about, and to tell Him she would like some of that "living water" He tells her about.  She reaches with both hands, so to speak, to grab at this strange good news Christ is sharing with her.   What we can indeed say about St. Photini is that her influence in various parts of the world persists, and it inspires.  Not only was she instrumental in establishing the early Church, she became a figure of inspiration for Christians who struggled afterward, and continue to struggle in these regions where she lived and preached the gospel.  Let us consider with Photini how much significance one person can have, have much influence, and how much good one person can do far beyond their nominal lives and places of living.  For this is an aspect of St. Photini's life that is not limited to her, but rather characteristic of many saints, both male and female.  In an age where women were not considered to be socially powerful without a strong connection to a ruling family, St. Photini nonetheless, through her own persistence, became a figure who continues to inspire thousands of years after her life in this world.  We recall that it is Jesus who singled her out, asking for a drink of water -- and taught her about the living water He had to offer, which becomes "a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."  Thanks to St. Photini, the townspeople declare that "we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world."   As if in affirmation of their powerful testimony, Jesus consents to stay with them two days, a rare occurrence in the Gospels.  May the light of St. Photini shine also for each of us, and the Savior of the world remain with all of us.

I who speak to you am He

 

 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 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." 

 

- John 4:16–26 

 

Yesterday 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 the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?"  Jesus answered 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 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."  My study Bible explains that since Jesus understood that she was living with a man without being married, and He also knew of her string of husbands, this woman believes that He is a prophet.  (This is similar to the reaction of Nathanael, when he understood that Jesus had seen into his heart at John 1:50).  The Samaritans did not accept any prophets after Moses, and therefore the only prophet they expected was the Messiah who was foretold by Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15-18).  My study Bible comments that Jesus' insight into people's hearts, which is reported many times in the Gospels, underscores His divine nature. 

 

"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."   My study Bible explains here that if Jesus was truly the expected Prophet (see comment above), then He is the one who could settle this historical argument between the Jews and Samaritans regarding where worship was to take place.  But Jesus refuses to answer this earthly question, and instead elevates the conversation to the manner in which people ought to worship.  More importantly, He turns attention to the One whom we worship:  God.  The Father, my study Bible notes, is worshiped in spirit -- that is, in the Holy Spirit -- and in truth -- meaning in Christ Himself (John 14:6) and according to the revelation of Christ.  Jesus declares that God is Spirit:  God cannot be confined to a particular location.  Those who receive the Holy Spirit and believe in Jesus Christ can worship God the Father with purity of heart, my study Bible says.  Jesus also declares here that salvation is of the Jews:   My study Bible notes that the Lord affirms here that true revelation comes from Judaism.  It quotes St. Athanasius the Great:  "The commonwealth of Israel was the school of the knowledge of God for all the nations."  Moreover, Jesus is testifying that the Messiah, who was prophesied among the Jews, has risen from among the Jews.  So, while the gift of salvation in Christ has come to all nations, it has come from within Judaism.  Jesus says, "The hour is coming . . .."   This "hour" refers to Christ's death and Resurrection and to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, inaugurating the worship of the new covenant.

 

 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."  The literal translation of Christ's final statement here is "I AM [Greek εγω ειμι/ego eimi], who speak to you."  "I AM" is the divine Name of God revealed to Moses in Exodus 3:14.  My study Bible says that when Christ uses this name it is a theophany, a revelation or manifestation of God.  The use of this Name by a human being was considered to be blasphemy and punishable by death (see John 8:58; Mark 14:62).  But, because Jesus is divine, His use of this Name is therefore a revelation of the Son's unity with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  He is God Incarnate.

 

Jesus says to the Samaritan woman, "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."  We have to wonder, why this woman?  Why in this place?  Why should she be chosen for such a revelation?  Well, we don't know the answer to that, but we do know of her contributions that would follow in the Church.  (We will write more about her in tomorrow's reading and commentary.)  But let us observe what an unlikely candidate for such a revelation she seems to be based on appearances.  She not only is living with a man to whom she's not married, she has had a whole string of husbands.  Particularly in the context of Christ's time and place, this is something deeply frowned upon. Even in the most liberal of secular society today, five husbands would seem to be a large number, especially for a woman who still seems to retain some signs of youth.  She is a Samaritan woman, who does not seem to be an expert on Jewish religion, although Samaritans also followed the Torah.  Her understanding of the dispute between the Samaritans and the Jews seems to be limited to a focus on the proper location of the temple.  So from all conventional appearances, no one would suspect that this would be the person chosen by Christ to whom to reveal Himself.  But one very important lesson from today's reading is once again the revelation of Christ as the "Heart-knower."  He is the One who knows what is in a person, and has no need for anyone to tell Him (John 2:24-25).  It's possibly even more striking to consider that He is the One who asked her first to give Him a drink from the well, only to tell her about the "living water" that He had to offer.  She seems to be the least likely object for His revelation of divine truths, and yet she is the one who receives His instruction -- revealing Himself, and the coming of the Holy Spirit, even including the revelation of the type of worship being inaugurated in His new covenant.  This woman with a history of many husbands, and living with a man to whom she's not presently married, is the one to whom Jesus extends an offer of a new covenant, a new way to worship, and Himself as the object of that worship, the Messiah.  Perhaps, after all, this is just the right person to whom to reveal Himself.  For Christ has come to call -- in His own words -- not the righteous, but sinners, to repentance (Matthew 9:13; Mark 2:17; Luke 5:32).  This Samaritan woman will in turn call others, as we will see in tomorrow's reading.  Let us note that as Jesus introduces the power of the Holy Spirit into the conversation, that truly "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" (John 3:8).  It is one more revelation of how God's mysterious power works and knows that which we cannot know, proving yet again we cannot second guess the working of God's power in the world.  Let us be delighted by such revelations of God midst the commonplace, and grateful for God's surprises.  The woman has faith that when the Christ comes, "He will tell us all things."  Jesus affirms her faith and tells her, "I who speak to you am He." 

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 

 

Yesterday we read that, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John (thought Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), He left Judea an 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 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 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 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?"   My study Bible says that the disciples marveled not only that Jesus spoke with a Samaritan, but that He was speaking with an unaccompanied woman -- which was potentially scandalous.  For more instances of the Lord's dealing with women, see John 7:53-8:11; 11:20-33, 20:11-18; 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 says that this Samaritan woman becomes an early evangelist.  She is testifying to the advent of Christ and bringing others to Him (see verse 39).  According to an early tradition, it notes, after the Resurrection this woman was baptized and given the name Photini, which in Greek means, "the enlightened one."  Together with her two sons and five daughters, she traveled to Carthage, an important Roman colony, to spread the gospel.  Later she was martyred with her family under the emperor Nero by being thrown into a well.  (We remember from yesterday's reading that she was asked to draw water for Christ in their meeting at Jacob's well.)  

 

 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."  Here again is another instance in which a misunderstanding is used by Christ to explain concepts of the Kingdom.  In this instance, we are given to know that Christ fulfills His role as Messiah by doing the will of the Father, the One who sent Him, and therefore this is Christ's food.  It is also an important concept of the "work" of God, in which we seek to follow God's will in faith.  My study Bible says that it also teaches us that we are to perform the will of God in our lives without being distracted by earthly cares (John 6:27; 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 St. John Chrysostom, my study Bible tells us, when Christ commands the disciples to behold, it is because the townspeople were approaching, ready and eager to believe in Jesus.  Christ is comparing these foreigners (relative to the Jews) to fields which are ready for harvest.  My study Bible adds that this command is also to all believers to look to those around us and share the gospel with anyone who wants to hear it, regardless of race or ethnicity.  In speaking of harvest, Christ is continuing His metaphor of the work of God being His food.

"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."   Jesus continues to speak about the work of God, in metaphors of agricultural work, planting, growing and harvesting crops.  (See also Christ's seminal parable of the Sower in Matthew 13:1-23.)  My study Bible notes that according to St. John Chrysostom, 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 did not see His coming and therefore did not reap.  The apostles did not do the preparation, but would 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 on the fact that these foreigners are among the first to recognize Jesus as Savior of the world.  It says that this shows the gospel is for all people in every nation.

 

Christ's equation of work and food is quite interesting.  We usually think of people needing to work in order to have food, to "put food on the table," as the expression goes.  In an agricultural society, and one without widespread distribution of products and marketing strategies, without the supermarkets and types of transportation we know today, the connection of agricultural work and food on the table is even more direct and significant.  All kinds of things, not simply for families or individuals but also for whole communities, depended on a good harvest, on the work put in before the harvest in planting and sowing and tending to the fields.  Agricultural work is demanding and involves significant labor (again, especially in societies without the modern machinery and corporate farming that exists today).  Still today, those who live in agricultural areas know the hard work that is required in farming and agricultural life.  So when Jesus speaks of His work as His food, we are given pause to consider what He's saying.  This is not about producing, or the quality of the crops nor even their abundance, but it is in actually doing the work -- carrying out the will of God -- that He finds His nourishment, His food.  If we think about the times we were so passionate about something that we forgot to eat, or didn't have time to eat, maybe we can understand what Christ is saying.  There are things that are so fulfilling, work itself that so abundantly satisfies, that it is a kind of food that feeds us spiritually and otherwise:  psychologically, a food for our soul.  It is in pursuing our faith, our love of God, that we can take sustenance in the same food Christ speaks of here.  Of course, the more concrete manifestation of this understanding is in the Eucharist, a food that comes within the "work of God" -- our worship.  In eucharistic worship, we "taste and see" that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8); our partaking of the life of Christ brings meaning and spiritual substance to our lives.   In understanding this idea, we may broaden our thinking in understanding that to participate in the life of Christ, to be illumined with the Spirit in following the new birth of baptism, is to "find ourselves."  We do not simply have faith and take comfort in the love of God as something external to who we are, but the fire of the Holy Spirit burns away what is false in us, as it kindles what is most deeply true.  Do we have artistic talent?  Are there ways we can use our skills to create beauty in the world?  Moreover, is there something God wants of us that we are missing?  To do the work of God might include ways of evangelizing that aren't obvious.  The beautiful architecture of churches reflects our desire for beauty, and human skills for creating, building, and manifesting beauty in "earthly" ways that spread the message that God is beauty and truth and goodness.  Cleaning up a garden and planting beautiful flowers can also be inspired by the saints, and often we find gardens planted and dedicated to Mary, the mother of Jesus, reflecting her own "yes" to the particular thing God asked of her, and the flowering of that "yes" in the birth of Christ.  Who could have known this potential in her?  Through the Church, hospitals and universities were begun and flourished, so we can easily see helping and teaching professions as vehicles for serving God.  There are many ways in which we can serve God and do the work of God, myriad ways of being holy or following the saints, unknown ways that God calls to individuals the kind of "work" that is suitable to them.  Let us consider our "work" to be -- like Jesus -- that which feeds and nurtures us, if we seek to serve God through whatever we do.  Let us consider our prayer time to be that time in which we invest in our "rest" with God so that we are shown the kind of work that rewards and feeds us, and nurtures our souls and spirits.  There may be fields white for harvest we haven't yet seen or understood, which await our attention so that we may join in the work that feeds us, inviting us to join the labor of others, so that we all receive wages and rejoice together.

 

 

 

My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work

 

 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 

 

Yesterday 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  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 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 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?"   My study bible comments that they marveled not only that Jesus spoke with a Samaritan, but that He was speaking with an unaccompanied woman, which was potentially scandalous.  See also other of Jesus' dealings with women in 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.   As we mentioned in yesterday's reading and commentary, this Samaritan woman is known in the Church as St. Photini.   In the context of these verses, she becomes an early evangelist, who testifies to the advent of Christ and brings others to Him.  In accordance with early Church tradition, after the Resurrection, she was baptized with the name Photini which means "the enlightened one."   Together with her two sons and five daughters, she went to Carthage to spread the gospel.  Later she was martyred with her family under 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.  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 St. John Chrysostom, who comments that Jesus' command to behold was given because the townspeople were approaching, ready and eager to come to faith in Christ.  Jesus compares these "foreigners" (relative to the Jews) to fields which are already white for harvest.  Some suggest that they approach wearing traditional white garments, and so we understand the image given to the disciples.  My study bible further notes that this command is also to believers to look to those around us and to share the gospel with anyone wanting to hear it, regardless of race of 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 Chrysostom, those who sow and those who reap are, respectively, the prophets of the Old Testament and the apostles.  The prophets sowed in preparation for the coming of the Messiah, but didn't see His coming and therefore couldn't reap.  The apostles didn't do the preparation, but they would draw thousands to Christ in their own lifetimes.  All who testify and witness to Christ do the same, entering into others' 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."   My study bible comments on the fact that these "foreigners" or outsiders (to the Jews) are among the first to recognize Jesus as the Savior of the world shows that the gospel is for all people in every nation.

The story of St. Photini is a remarkable one because this revelation of Christ's identity happens so early in John's Gospel.  It tells us something powerful about Jesus' reception within the lands of "strangers" or "foreigners" vis-a-vis Christ's own people.  Jesus declares to Photini (in yesterday's reading, above), "You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews."  So there is no confusion about this faith and about His mission and identity.  But once Christ begins to manifest His divine nature in the form of signs, such as turning the water to wine at the wedding in Cana, He knows what will happen.  Once Christ begins to gather followers, so the leadership begins to take notice and to oppose.  Indeed, Jesus is here in Samaria because He's on His way to Galilee, having already begun His conflicts with the religious leadership in Jerusalem.  But here among these foreigners, He finds one to whom He has revealed Himself, and she in turn brings many more along who believe.  This is the paradoxical stuff of the Gospels.  It is the "lost sheep of the house of Israel" to whom He has been sent (Matthew 15:24), but it is here -- and to this woman, no less -- where He chooses to reveal Himself.  It is also a kind of affirmation of Christ's words to Nicodemus about 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).  The holy works in accordance with the holy; there is no earthly check on God and the works of God in the world.  But despite the reception here, Jesus has work to do, and a mission, to go to those to whom He was sent, and to whom He will also first send His apostles before they go out to all the nations (Matthew 10:6).  And so it might work in each of our own lives.  There are those to whom God has sent us, or whom God sends our way.  Perhaps, as faithful, we share or at least live our faith among those to whom we're closest, those whom God gives us.  We should be prepared, as is Christ, for a kind of heartache and rejection, the image of the cross, in our own lives should that become a part of our experience.  But it nevertheless does not diminish the mission to live the life God has given us.  We should not be attached to images of success and particular outcomes, because this is not the way that Christ lives His life and leads His ministry either.  Spreadsheets and profit margins don't belong in the ministry of the word that works mysteriously, with its own living power that we don't control and can't see.  Jesus will be rejected among His own family and neighbors, something John's Gospel will go into in quite a bit of detail, but it is Christ who says -- in some form in all four Gospels -- that a prophet has no honor in his own country (4:44).  We should be prepared to understand that living a life faithful to Christ isn't without its pitfalls and rejections, and to keep our mind open to our faith and where it takes us.  Those whom we might expect to be most receptive may in fact be quite the opposite, but God's word and truth finds reception perhaps in the house of strangers, those who become brothers and sisters through faith.  Let us keep in mind the understanding of work, the "labor" in which He's engaged, and His own attitude toward the mission with which He's entrusted.  In today's reading, He tells His disciples, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work."  He is faithful and true to the One who has sent Him.  Let us understand our own lives in the same context, and our own faithfulness in whatever way we're sent.  We also enter into others' labors, and we don't know the time of the harvest or even what that harvest might look like.  But we who know His love must be true and faithful to it, as He has shown us first.