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.  

 

 

 

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?

 

 

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

 

 And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why are You talking with her?"  The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did.  Could this be the Christ?"  Then they went out of the city and came to Him.  

 

In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."  But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know."  Therefore the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?"  Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.  Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'?  Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!  And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.  For in this the saying is true:  'One sows and another reaps.'  I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors."  

 

And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all that I ever did."  So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days.  And many more believed because of His own word.  Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world."

 

- John 4:27-42 

 

On Saturday we read that when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), He left Judea and departed again to Galilee.  But He needed to go through Samaria.  So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.  Now Jacob's well was there.  Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well.  It was about the sixth hour.  A woman of Samaria came to draw water.  Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink."  For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.  Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?"  For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.  Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."  The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep.  Where then do You get that living water?  Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us 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?"  Today's reading continues from where our previous reading (above) left off, in the encounter between Jesus and the woman of Samaria at Jacob's well.  Here, His disciples return, seeing Jesus alone and speaking with an unaccompanied woman at the well.  They marveled not only that He spoke with a Samaritan, but with a woman alone, which was potentially scandalous.  My study Bible references other instances of Christ's dealings with women in John 7:53-8:11; 11:20-23; 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.  My study Bible says that this Samaritan woman becomes an early evangelist, as she testifies to the advent of Christ and brings others to Him (see the response of the townspeople further on in today's reading).  According to an early tradition, it notes, after the Resurrection this woman was baptized with the name Photini, meaning "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 the emperor Nero by being thrown into a well.  She is remembered in the Orthodox Church tradition on March 20th, and the fourth Sunday of Easter (Pascha).  

In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."  But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know."  Therefore the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?"  Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work."  Here is another example in John's Gospel of Christ using misunderstandings to convey the deeper things of God's work in the world, as the disciples initially misunderstand Christ's statement.  Jesus fulfills His role as Messiah, my study Bible notes, by doing the will of the Father -- therefore, this is His food.  It says that this also teaches us we are to perform the will of God in our lives without being distracted by earthly cares (John 6:27; see also Matthew 4:4; 6:25-33).  

"Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'?  Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!"  According to the commentary of St. John Chrysostom, this command to look is given because the townspeople were approaching, ready and eager to believe in Jesus.  Some suggest this reflects the traditional clothing of the Samaritans who approach in white robes.  Christ compares these foreigners (that is, relative to the Jews) to fields which are ready for harvest (a sprouted grainfield ready for harvest appears to approach white in color).   My study Bible says 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 St. John Chrysostom's commentary here, noting that those who sow and those who reap are, respectively, the prophets of the Old Testament, and the apostles.   It explains that 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 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 that the fact that 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.  

One wonders if the Roman Empire at the time of Christ claimed a kind of universality of membership and citizenry, although it was a stratified society which included slaves and other classes of citizens and non-citizens.  Certainly its claim to peace and stability was rooted in the concept that under the powerful rule of one absolute figurehead, there was an absence of traditional warfare.  But in today's reading, we are given to understand the powerful pull of Christ which would cross ethnic, national, social, gender, and other boundaries in a different kind of kingdom, a kingdom united in faith.  Once again, we must note here that faith in the sense conveyed in the Gospels and the story of Christ's ministry is not simply a code or creed, and does not come about simply through an intellectual acceptance of a set of rules, conditions, or concepts.  Faith is trust in the Person of Christ, a relationship that forms a network of relatedness through its effects and spiritual connection, or the grace of God.  Today's reading, as my study Bible notes, gives us a taste of that concept, of this unification between peoples across all kinds of boundaries, and in the Person of Jesus Christ.  It makes one pause to wonder about how radical a concept this was.  Certainly in Jesus' own behaviors, we see the breaking of boundaries in a number of ways.  His conversation at the well with the Samaritan woman alone causes the disciples to marvel, as He not only speaks with a Samaritan, but with a woman unaccompanied by others.  As pointed out above, His repeated encounters with women express this kind of surprising crossing of the usual social restrictions in favor of compassion, healing, communion, and the relatedness of faith.  The Samaritans are clearly looked down upon, generally speaking, by the Jews.  As the previous reading told us, "Jews have no dealings with Samaritans" (John 4:9).  What should really cause us to marvel, together with the contemporaries of Jesus, is that the Samaritan members of this town come to Christ in what is a clearly "marvelous" development, and are among the first people to do so as a group.  From the perspective of the Gospels, this is a highly commendable position, a revelation of their character which is purely praiseworthy.  They, like others in the Gospel before them, "come and see" Christ for themselves, and find faith for themselves, as revealed in their testimony.  In this radically new kind of Kingdom, everything is stood on its head:  conventional divisions between people, categories or groups of citizenship and status, even contemporaneous ideas about what constitutes a "kingdom."  If we look to Mary's Song, and others that prefigure them in the Bible (including texts from the Psalms and repeated stories of Israel), what we find is even predicted, for this is a God who lifts up the lowly, and fills the hungry with good things, who has regarded "the lowly state of His maidservant" whom "henceforth all generations will call me blessed" (see Luke 1:46-55).  This is the God who upends the materialist perspective, whose power is shown through the weak (2 Corinthians 12:9).  He is the One who prepares a kingdom for the poor in spirit (Matthew 5:1-12).  Let us be like these townspeople, who come and see for themselves, and find the Savior of the world.

 

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

 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 urge Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."  But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know."  Therefore the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?"  Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.  Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'?  Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!  And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.  For in this the saying is true:  'One sows and another reaps.'  I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors."

And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all that I ever did."  So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days.  And many more believed because of His own word.  Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world."

- John 4:27-42

On Thursday, we read that Jesus and the disciples had come to Samaria, as they are passing through on their way back to Galilee from the Passover at Jerusalem.  Jesus sat at Jacob's well, asking a Samaritan woman to give Him a drink.  He spoke to her, eventually teaching, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst."  She asked Him for some of this water.  In yesterday's reading, 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 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 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.  Jesus' disciples marveled because not only was He speaking to a Samaritan, but she was also a woman alone -- something potentially scandalous for Him.  John's Gospel will give us several incidents in which Jesus' dealings with women were outside the contemporary norms for His society (7:53-8:11; 11:20-33; 20:11-18; see also Luke 8:1-3).  Here, the Samaritan woman to whom He chose to speak becomes an early evangelist.  She testifies to the advent of Christ and brings others to Him.  My study bible notes that according to an early tradition, after the Resurrection she was baptized with the name Photini (meaning, "enlightened one").   With her two sons and five daughters, she went to Carthage to spread the gospel.  Later, under emperor Nero, she was martyred with her family by being thrown into a well.

In the meantime His disciples urge 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, John's Gospel gives us a misunderstanding which Jesus uses as an opportunity to teach.  Jesus fulfills His role as Messiah by doing the will of the Father; this is therefore His food.  Earlier, John the Baptist has spoken of the fullness of His joy at doing the same (see 3:27-30).  My study bible notes this teaches us to do the same without being distracted by earthly cares (6:27; see also Matthew 4:4, 6:25-33).

"Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'?  Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!  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, Jesus gives the command "Behold" to the disciples because the townspeople were approaching, ready and eager to believe in Christ.  He compares these foreigners (relative to the Jews) to fields ready for the harvest.  The "white" tips of ripe grain are thought to refer an analogy to all the townspeople, traditionally dressed in white.   My study bible says that this command 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.  There is no natural barrier to Christ.  No matter what work it is we do for the Lord, we are always entering into others' labors.  We are always a part of the great cloud of witnesses who are also in relation to us, even as we reach to others in His name.  St. Chrysostom teaches that those who sow and 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 (therefore they didn't reap).  My study bible says that 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."   The Samaritans are foreigners for the Jews, even detested enemies.  That they are among the first to recognize Jesus as Savior of the world teaches that this gospel is for all people in every nation. 

What does it mean that Jesus is the Savior of the world?  It means more than we think.  The word for "world" in the Greek here is kosmos, and it also means all of creation, the universe.  That includes everything in "the world," all its elements.  If we understand Jesus as Incarnate Christ, the Son, the Word, then we understand Him as creator of the universe.  John's Prologue teaches that the Word was with God, the Word was God, and that all things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made (John 1:1-5).  John also writes "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.  And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it."   Jesus brings life to the world; His mission of redemption is for the whole of what "world" means, and leaves no one and nothing out.  The Creator restores us to life in its fullness, in Him, and this is our light.  So what does it mean, in this context, to consider Christ as Savior of the world?  One would think, first of all, it means our relationship to the cosmos and everything in it is importantly mediated through Christ.  We can think of life as portrayed in the garden of Eden, before sin, and the relationship of human beings to and within the "cosmos," to plants and to animals, as a sort of true natural state in which harmony with both cosmos and Creator is full.  But our understanding of ourselves comes within the sense that darkness is something with which we live, and from which we may choose.  Knowledge of good and evil is something that is a part of our lives, and makes us creatures who must learn to discern, "rational" sheep who must be capable of reason.  To be saved and redeemed then is a way to set us back into right relationship, and more:  to be capable of the choice for light, like "Photini," her name coming from the Greek word for light, phos.  To have this light shining in us is to be given life, to restore life, to build life, to spread life into the world, for the whole of the world.  This salvation plan, redemption, doesn't merely "save" us from darkness, but liberates us to share the light, to go forward into its mission for us, to learn what life really is.  That is always going to involve the mystery He invites us into, like the words that have so much meaning behind them that He reveals.  It's much more than a onetime promise, but rather a life that opens ahead and keeps challenging us with its new avenues and light that shines on ahead so that we take our own lives to new places.  How does His light illumine new things for you today?  It is the whole of the cosmos that is saved, the whole of the cosmos that opens in relation to Him.  That would include the great cloud of witnesses, those who've come before and those who will come after.