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.  

 

 

 

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 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, no 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."  My study Bible comments that since Jesus perceived she was living with a man without being married, and as He also knew of her string of husbands, this woman perceives that He is a prophet.  As the Samaritans did not accept any prophets after Moses, they expected only one prophet:  the Messiah foretold by Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15-18).  Christ insight into people's hearts, which is reported many times in the Gospels, underscores His divine nature.  

 

 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 remarks that if Jesus was indeed the expected Prophet (as noted in the comment above), then He could settle this historical argument about where worship was to take place.  He refuses to answer this earthly question, and instead elevates the discussion to the way in which people should worship.  More importantly, He is turning the attention to the One worship:  God.  The Father is worshiped in spirit -- that is, in the Holy Spirit -- and in truth -- that is, in Christ Himself (John 14:6) and according to the revelation of Christ.  Jesus tells her that God is Spirit:  this means that God cannot be confined to a particular location.  My study Bible comments that those who receive the Holy Spirit and believe in Jesus Christ can worship God the Father with purity of heart.  Jesus states that salvation is of the Jews:  Here Christ affirms that true salvation comes from within Judaism.  My study Bible quotes St. Athanasius of Alexandria, who comments, "The commonwealth of Israel was the school of the knowledge of God for all the nations."  More importantly, Jesus is testifying that the Messiah, who was prophesied among the Jews, has now risen from among the Jews. We are to understand that while the gift of salvation in Christ is to all nations, it has come from within Judaism.  The hour, in Jesus' language across St. John's Gospel, refers to His 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."  My study Bible notes that "I who speak to you am He" is literally translated from the Greek, ''I AM [εγω ειμι/ego eimi], who speak to you."   This I AM is the divine Name of God (Exodus 3:14).   Its use indicates a theophany, a revelation or manifestation of God.  The use of this Name by a mere human being was considered to be blasphemy, my study Bible explains, and was punishable by death (see John 8:58; Mark 14:62).  But, as Jesus is divine, His use of the Name is a revelation of His unity with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  Christ is God Incarnate.

 

Once again, as in yesterday's reading and commentary, we have to ask the question: Why?  Why this woman?  Why here?  After we hear a bit about her story -- that she's living with a man who's not her husband, and that she's also had not just several, but five husbands in her past -- she seems an even less likely candidate for a revelation of God, a theophany!  But nevertheless, this is the story that we are given, and it is the story that we have.  Jesus chooses this moment, this place, and this woman to truly reveal Himself as He is in His divine identity.  He is the Holy One of God, the Son, the Lord, the I AM who was introduced to Moses in the burning bush (Exodus 3:14).  And once again, we have to remark upon the truth that such acceptance of the Christ is impossible, on worldly terms, to predict.  How can we know where faith will take root and where it won't?  How can we know who will accept Christ and who will not?  It seems that, at least according to the Gospels, the least likely candidates accept, and the most likely (the educated and those who are steeped in the religious traditions and spiritual history of Israel, the religious leaders) do not.  So, we also have to ask, who is capable of perceiving the things of God?  How is the perception and understanding of faith different from the knowledge one can study?  How does study -- say such as the effort in this blog, or the reading of literature and commentary on the Scriptures -- help or possibly even hinder our faith in some cases?  These are important questions which the story of Jesus Christ illumines and opens up to us, and which we need to consider.  Where do we find our faith, in the midst of a world that in many cases thinks it has all the answers to life, or can make life better through machines and technology, and might just deny that such reality as presented here in the Gospels ever even existed?  In one sense, many might feel the world is at a kind of tipping point, or a place that seems to be further along the spectrum of the peace Jesus presents than ever before.  But "the world" has been in such places many times and many ways before now, as much as in Christ's own time than ever since.  We're still asked to make the choices for faith in the midst of a world that is full of the temptations and distractions of evil and what we might call "fallenness" as it was in the past.  Things may look and seem different in some ways or in appearances, but a quick thought about the past and the struggles of the faithful all along will dispel this idea.  We've always have times of struggle for our faith, and the Gospels -- and all of Scripture, including the Revelation, and particularly Christ's own prophecies of end times -- teach us that this is the way of the world in which we live.  Our faith is a struggle, and this is why we must be aware of temptations and pressures that distract us from the one thing truly necessary.  Let us rejoice that it is this person, this Samaritan woman, to whom Christ reveals Himself as the Lord.  It reminds and reinforces the concept taught to Nicodemus:  "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).  Let us never forget it, lest we despair of knowing our faith and the confidence it brings to us in the midst of troubles or distractions.

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 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, no come here to draw."

 

- John 4:1-15 

 

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.  Samaria is the region to the north of Jerusalem, which was between Judea and Galilee.  Jesus journeys here after His experiences at the first Passover given in St. John's Gospel.  But notably, He comes to this Gentile land after He knew that the Pharisees had heard Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John.

 

 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.  My study Bible comments that the Old Testament does not mention Jacob's well, although Jacob did live in this area (Genesis 33:19).  According to my study Bible, wells were significant because of their rarity and their value in desert life.  Because of this, wells came to symbolize life itself (Psalms 36:9-10, 46:4; Isaiah 55:1).  This specific well is maintained as a shrine to this day, and pilgrims can drink from it.  It's noted also that Jesus is wearied from His journey, which shows us His complete humanity.  The sixth hour is noon; He is in a hot and arid climate, and it is likely summer.  In Church tradition, this woman is identified as St. Photini.  More will be learned about her in tomorrow's reading and commentary.  Regarding the Samaritans, my study Bible explains that they were a mixed race and traditional enemies of the Jews.  Although they worshiped the God of Israel and were also awaiting the Messiah, they accepted only the first five books of the Old Testament (the Pentateuch) 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."  The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, no come here to draw."  My study Bible writes that living water in the ordinary sense means fresh, flowing water, from a stream or spring rather than from a pond or cistern.  It explains that Christ uses this term to mean the grace of the Holy Spirit that leads to eternal life (John 7:37-39).  This gift not only remains in a person, but is so abundant that it overflows to others.  As is frequently observed of St. John's Gospel, here this woman misunderstands Christ, and she asks, "Are You greater than our father Jacob?"  My study Bible comments that in the Scriptures, Jacob is a type of Christ, for he received the vision of the divine ladder (Genesis 28:12), which Christ fulfills.  Moreover, just as Jacob gave this well for earthly life, now Christ gives the well of the Holy Spirit for eternal life.  

 

Imagine being this woman, and encountering Christ!  It might be difficult to imagine a circumstance which would be seemingly more incongruous in terms of understanding and accepting Christ and what He brings to this woman and to the world.  Would we imagine that she could understand?  As we will see, it will be even hard for the disciples to understand why Jesus speaks with any woman in a situation potentially scandalous  -- even if she were a Jewish woman alone, the same would apply.  But this woman is a foreigner, a Samaritan, part of a group at active enmity with the Jews.  So what can she understand of Christ (we're tempted to ask)?  Why does He speak with her?  Let us note that it is indeed He who engages her first, not she who speaks to Him.  We know that in all things Christ acts in accordance with the Father's will, and does nothing to deviate from His public mission of salvation.  So why her?  This is something we need to ponder, for the answers tell us so much about the Lord.  First we observe that there is no barrier to His role as the Lord.  She need not be Jewish for Him to approach her, and even to begin to speak of the great mysteries He brings with Him in His mission for the salvation of the world.  As we have just read in chapter 3, Jesus Himself said to Nicodemus, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."  God loves the world, He said, not just one people or another; and God's Son has been given to the world out of that love, for all the world, and for the life of the world (John 6:51).  So we learn from this encounter that there are no barriers for Christ -- no barriers between human beings and our Lord; and moreover, that Christ's sacrifice, His giving of Himself to the world, also knows no boundaries that we, from a purely earthly perspective, might ascribe to Him.  So her supposed "preparation" for Him in terms of her education and understanding, her religious or cultural background, her gender, her status in the society, the customs practiced, and a host of other factors all mean nothing in terms of forming real barriers to Christ and to what He comes into the world to offer to all of us.  When we think we have an impossible task, something quite difficult to convey or express or to be understood, let us think about this circumstance.  For Christ to open up the powerful reality of the Holy Spirit, and even His own Incarnation, to this woman, someone of whom we might say she's the last person in the world we'd expect Him to speak to so directly.  St. John Chrysostom comments on another passage in St. John's Gospel, in chapter 7, when the temple officers failed to arrest Jesus, having been captivated by a single sermon.  He writes that when the mind is open, "there is no need for long speeches. Truth is like that."  In truth, we are made to be united to our Lord, the bride to Christ our Bridegroom, and so, as St. Chrysostom says, "Truth is like that."  He is the One who is the truth (John 14:6); when we encounter Him, we encounter truth.  This is another powerful mystery, how truth works within us, the recognition of Christ, the grace of faith.  Perhaps only our Lord, who began this conversation with the woman at the well, can truly understand it.  We will see further as we continue reading about Christ's encounter with the Samaritan woman in tomorrow's reading and commentary.  

 

 

 

 

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 in 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 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 tells us that the disciples marveled not only that Jesus spoke with a Samaritan, but that He was speaking with a woman who was unaccompanied; this was potentially scandalous.  For more instances of Christ's dealings with women, see John 7:53-8:11; 11:20-33; 20:11-18, and 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, my study Bible notes.  She testifies to the advent of Christ and brings others to Him.  According to an early tradition, it tells us, she was baptized with the name Photini, which means the "enlightened" or "illumined" one.  Together with two sons and five daughters, she went to Carthage to spread the gospel.  Later she was martyred with her family under the emperor Nero; she was thrown into a well.  Her feast day in the Orthodox Church is March 20th.

 

 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 note the misunderstandings that comprise new learning and teaching stories in John's Gospel.  Jesus fulfills His role as Messiah by doing the will of the Father; therefore this is His food, my study Bible explains.  This also teaches us, it says, that 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!"  Jesus gives the command, "Behold!"  According to St. John Chrysostom, cited by my study Bible, this command to look was given because the townspeople were approaching.  They are ready and eager to believe in Christ.  Jesus compares these foreigners (relative to the Jews, that is) to fields which are ready for harvest.  This command, my study Bible says, 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 in 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 here.  He 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 live to see His coming, and therefore they did not reap.  The apostles didn't do the preparation, but they would draw thousands to Christ in their 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 notes that as these foreigners are among the first to recognize Jesus as the Savior of the world shows that the gospel is for all people in every nation.  

Just as Jesus has come to the hostile notice of the religious leaders in Jerusalem, so the gospel now begins to spread to Gentile territories.  Just as Jesus compares these Samaritan people to fields white for harvest (suggesting the traditional white dress of these people) so we might think of this people as those who were ready for the flame of Christ, ready to be illumined, as the name St. Photini conveys to us.  It's strange how there are times when seemingly whole peoples, like these from the town, come to Christ en masse, ready to listen to witness and come eventually to testify themselves.  It's remarkable to compare this story to all of the stories of rejection of Christ in the Gospels.  Why these people?  What makes them different?  Perhaps they don't have all of the expectations of the Jews that have been built up over this long period of waiting for the Messiah who would fulfill their hopes?  Is it possible that it's linked to the false expectations of a political messiah who would restore the fortunes of Israel and overthrow the Romans?  Perhaps it would be best if we took such a lesson to heart, and considered our own expectations of Jesus the Messiah.  What do we expect Jesus to do for us in our lives?  What makes these people so different?  Perhaps this woman is struck by Christ's boldness with her:  He speaks to her in an act that is totally unexpected, for a Jewish man like Him would normally have nothing to do with her -- both because she is a Samaritan and also because she is a woman alone.  He has revealed that He knows all about her life story and her string of husbands, and yet He has offered her something marvelous, too good to be true:  "living water" that "will become a fountain of water springing up into eternal life."  But she doesn't strike the listener as a person to be dazzled by such promises.  Rather, I think we can presume that she's simply ready to receive the light of His news, the gospel:  "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."  (See Saturday's reading, above.)  What makes us people who meet Christ at the place He meets us?  What prepares us for faith?  How do we receive the light Christ offers to us?  These are great mysteries, and today's story perhaps bears out Christ's words about the Holy Spirit said to Nicodemus:  "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).    So how are we receptive to the Spirit?  What gets in the way of our becoming "enlightened" as St. Photini is here?  Let us consider the ways that Christ reaches into our hearts and minds, for our own resistance to that light and to the Holy Spirit makes all the difference between receiving this "living water" and living in denial of the life He offers.  How do we open our minds to the light and the beauty of Christ?

 

 

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.

Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst

 

 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, after the Passover (the first of three Passover feasts mentioned in John's Gospel) 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.  Samaria was the region that was north of Jerusalem, between Judea and Galilee.  Jesus is traveling to His "home" country in Galilee, from Judea.

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 comments that while the Old Testament doesn't mention Jacob's well, it is known that Jacob dwelt in this area (Genesis 33:19).   It notes that wells were significant in this region because of their rarity and their value in desert life.  So, therefore, wells came to symbolize life itself  (Psalms 36:9-10, 46:4; Isaiah 55:1).  This well has been maintained as a shrine even in recent times, and pilgrims can drink from it.  Jesus is wearied from His journey, which shows us His complete humanity.  The sixth hour is noon.  In the tradition of the Orthodox Church, this woman is identified as St. Photini.  

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.  The Samaritans were a mixed race, and they were also traditional enemies of the Jews.  My study Bible explains that although they worshiped the God of Israel, and also awaited the Messiah, they only accepted the first five books of the Old Testament (the Torah, or Pentateuch) as their Scriptures.  They had built their own temple on Mt. Gerizim, which was destroyed by the Jews 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."  The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw."  In the ordinary sense of the term, living water means fresh, flowing water, from a stream or spring rather than a pond or a cistern.  But Jesus is using this phrase to describe the grace of the Holy Spirit, which leads to eternal life (John 7:37-39).  My study Bible comments that this gift not only remains in a person, but it is so abundant that it overflows to others.  It notes also that this woman misunderstands Jesus, and asks Him, "Are You greater than our father Jacob?"  In the Scriptures, it explains, Jacob is a "type" of Christ, as Jacob received the vision of the divine ladder (Genesis 28:12), of which Christ is fulfillment.  Moreover, just as Jacob gave this well for earthly life, Christ gives the well of the Holy Spirit for eternal life. 

 

 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."   Since Jesus has perceived that she was living with a man without being married, and He also knew of her string of husbands, this woman perceives He is a prophet.  As the Samaritans accepted no prophets after Moses, but only prophet they expected was the Messiah foretold by Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15-18).  My study Bible says that Christ's insight into people's hearts, which is reported many times in the Gospels (and remarked upon in this blog), emphasizes Christ's divine nature.  

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."  If Christ was truly the expected Prophet (of whom Moses wrote), then He could settle the historical argument about where worship was to take place.   But Jesus avoids this question and instead elevates the discussion to the way in which people should worship.  More importantly, Christ turns her attention to the One whom we worship:  God.  The Father is worshiped in spirit -- that is, in the Holy Spirit, my study Bible says -- and in truth -- that is in Christ Himself (John 14:6) and according to Christ's revelation.  Jesus declares that God is Spirit:  this indicates that God cannot be confined to a particular location.  My study Bible says that those who receive the Holy Spirit and believe in Jesus Christ can worship God the Father with purity of heart.  Jesus also states that salvation is of the Jews:  in so stating, Christ affirms that true revelation comes out from Judaism.  My study Bible quotes St. Athanasius the Great:  "The commonwealth of Israel was the school of the knowledge of God for all the nations."  More importantly here, Jesus testifies that the Messiah, prophesied from among the Jews, has now risen from among the Jews.  The gift of salvation in Christ is to all the nations, but it has come from within Judaism.  The hour is a reference to the death and Resurrection of Christ, and also to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit of 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."  My study Bible points out that "I who speak to you am He" is literally translated "I AM [Greek ego eimi], who speak to you."  This "I AM" is the divine Name of God.  It's use is an indication of what is called a theophany, or revelation of God Himself.  The use of this Name by a mere human being was considered to be blasphemy and was punishable by death (see John 8:58; Mark 14:62).  But as He Himself is divine, Christ's use of this Name is a revelation of His unity with the Father and the Holy Spirit; we are given to understand that He is God Incarnate.

The Holy Spirit is here invoked by Jesus through the image of living water.  Jesus gives us two further statements about this living water:  "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."   It's a kind of water which in some sense is so satisfying that a person will never thirst.  And it is a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.  This living water doesn't just give life, it springs up into everlasting life.  It has an eternal quality, and it satisfies deep need for an eternity, for one will never thirst again.  Jesus uses this metaphor of thirst elsewhere when He speaks of the deepest desire within ourselves for the depth of a true spiritual life.  In the Beatitudes, He states, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled" (Matthew 5:6).  So whatever qualities there are of this living water, and whatever this living water really is, we can put His comments together and understand how it satisfies the very depth of need for a soul that knows its Master, and seeks what the Master has to offer it.  A soul, after all, is meant for life that is eternal, and Christ is here to give us what we need to feed that soul for such a life.  The Psalmist speaks of such a thirst for God:  "As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God" (Psalm 42:1).  So, we could ask, what is it that you hunger and thirst for?  What is it that is such a strong impulse within human beings that Jesus can speak of its sustenance by offering living water?  His very human thirst on this day at noon, in a hot desert place, and finding an ancient well gives the framework for a kind of thirst that is only satisfied with an eternally-giving spring, something that sustains with the quality of eternal life added to the earthly life we know.  And the great catalyst for this revelation is this sole moment when Christ is alone with a stranger, a Gentile woman, and He asks for a drink of water.  It's shocking to her because first of all, a Jewish Man alone with a Samaritan woman is not something that would normally be permissible in such a culture -- let alone this Man speaking to her and asking for a drink (hence, her response to Him).  But this is a microcosm in itself of this eternally giving water springing up into life, for from this one unusual moment, a great revelation is born, and it is a revelation that continues to give to us the words of Christ, the unforgettable image of this living water.  Jesus reveals even more than this to this unlikely woman; that He is the Messiah Himself.  But today let us ponder what is missing in her life, what she needs, and what quality of eternal life we need as we thirst for something more than our daily, earthly lives.  What is it that can satisfy a thirst eternally?  What is it that never stops giving?