But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you

 

 "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on.  Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?  Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?  

 

"So why do you worry about clothing?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow:  they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed as one of these.  Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  

 

"Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  For after all these things the Gentiles seek.  For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

 

- Matthew 6:25-34 

 

We are currently reading through the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 - 7).  In yesterday's reading, Jesus taught, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and were thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The lamp of the body is the eye.  If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.  But if your eye is bad, your whole boy will be full of darkness.  If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!  No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the  other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and mammon."

 

  "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on.  Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?  Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?"  My study Bible explains that Jesus is warning here against anxiety, not against thoughtful planning.  Our physical well-being is directly dependent upon God, and only indirectly on food, drink, and clothing.  It says that excess anxiety over earthly things demonstrates a lack of faith in God's care.  

 

 "So why do you worry about clothing?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow:  they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed as one of these.  Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?"  Jesus demonstrates here the natural beauty with which God has created the world, and clothed even the lilies and grass of the field.  Do we presume that God does not care about these things?  

 

 "Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things."  My study Bible comments that because the Gentiles served pagan idols, they remained consumed by dependence on earthly things.  

 

"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."   The kingdom of God is the central theme of Christ's teaching, and God's righteousness is the subject of the Sermon on the Mount. My study Bible states that, calling us to be free from anxiety about earthly things, Jesus directs us to look to heaven, secure in the faith that God will provide needed earthly blessings.  

 

 So much of what we worry about seems to be directed by demands that do not come from within us, but come from what seems to be going on around us.  Do we need to have an updated home?  Do we need to wear clothes  that resemble what's admired or popular?  How much will people think of us when we don't impress them, or gain their approval through the things we have, wear, the car we drive, etc.?  That is a first consideration when we begin to approach the questions which are raised for us in today's reading.  It's important to consider the beauty that Jesus spells out in His teaching.  God does not neglect beauty, nor even admiration.  Jesus points out for us the charm and delight of the birds.  How are they cared for?  Do they store up the grain they find for the next season?  How do they flourish and survive?  And regarding clothing, Jesus speaks of the real splendor of the simplest things we can find in nature, even the lilies and grasses that grow wild.  It seems to me to be a quite literal statement that even Solomon wasn't arrayed in the glory of these flowers and plants that nature produces for us.  Our own ideas of beauty stem from the beauty of the natural world around us, the colors of the sunset, magnificence of mountains, the brilliance we see in flowers or the coloring of birds, the trees that give inspiration, the natural grace and life of the animals we observe.  The world is filled with the creative beauty of God, so why do we consider that God doesn't care about food or drink or clothing?  What Jesus is saying is that when we look around at the creation of God, its beauty should inspire us to consider our Creator, and what it says about God.  Do we think that God doesn't care about us?  Clearly God has provided for the birds and other animals.  Do we think even the beauty of our clothing doesn't matter?  But we see extraordinary natural beauty all around us, so what does that tell us about God?  Jesus is telling us, therefore, to look to our Creator first before all the rest of the cares and anxieties and urgent stressful demands that seem to plague us all the time.  And He also tells us exactly how we should look to our Creator first:  He says we must seek God's kingdom and His righteousness in the very first place in our lives, as our top priority.  In Christ's Incarnation, it is made manifest God's love for us and for God's creation (John 3:16).  The Incarnation is for us, so that we may become like Him and live with Him, even an abundant, eternal life; and this Incarnation is for the whole of the world, all of creation (both seen and unseen).  Christ's ministry presents us with the overwhelming conviction of the value of human beings, even those who will carry His kingdom in this world.  With that astonishing, invincible love, do we think God does not care what we will eat or drink or the clothing we'll wear?  So let us seek God first, trusting in God, and putting into perspective the nature of our relationship to creation and to our world.  For it is in righteouness that we find right relationship to all of it, including our material needs and lives.  Christ's final words in today's reading give us a right attitude to cultivate for our well-being:  "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."  This last word, trouble, is in the Greek κακία/kakia, meaning evil or bad, wickedness, even depravity.   Whatever troubles and difficulties we have, let us not compound them, for the things on our plate today are enough for us.  Let us put our trust and efforts first in God's kingdom and our pursuit of God's righteousness, and what we need will be added unto that. 

 

 

 

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.  

 

 

 

 

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you

 

 "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on.  Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?  Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?  So why do you worry about clothing?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow:  they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  For after all these things the Gentiles seek.  For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

 

- Matthew 6:25-34 

 

We are currently reading through the Sermon on the Mount.  On Saturday, we read that Jesus taught His disciples, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  The lamp of the body is the eye.  If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.  But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.  If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness.  No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and mammon."

 

  "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on.  Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?  Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?"  My study Bible explains that Jesus is warning against anxiety here, not against thoughtful planning.  Our physical well-being is directly dependent upon God, it says, and only indirectly on food, drink, and clothing.  It further remarks that to be anxious over earthly things demonstrates a lack of faith in God's care.  

 

 "So why do you worry about clothing?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow:  they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  For after all these things the Gentiles seek.  For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things."  Because the Gentiles served pagan idols, they remained dependent upon earthly things, my study Bible says.  Those who follow God can be freed from this dependence.  

 

"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."  The kingdom of God is the central theme of Christ's teaching, and God's righteousness is the subject of the Sermon on the Mount, my study Bible notes.  It says that Jesus calls us to be free from anxiety about earthly things, and directs us to look to heaven -- secure in the faith that God will provide needed earthly blessings.  

 

So, what is God's righteousness?   The entire Sermon on the Mount is a way to express this, what life is like in living for the Kingdom.  We started with the Beatitudes, which taught us how to live and to view a blessed life.  From there we learned that believers are like salt and light, and carry these needful qualities with them in spiritual terms that help their societies and communities.  Deepening our understanding of the Law and its aims, Jesus teaches us about the reality of our interior lives, what it means to be part of this communion, and to take action to avoid sin at deeper levels within our own hearts.  In other words, true righteousness, and justice, even spiritual perfection.  Giving examples of this life, He teaches us how we should pray, and what to pray.  Yesterday, He taught us about the impossibility of serving two masters; we'll either be a slave to materialism or freed in true righteousness, embracing the life of the Kingdom (see above).  Moreover, in today's reading, Jesus elaborates on that freedom, asking us to become freed enough from attachment to our material desires so as to avoid excess anxiety, to stop making that the central focus of life and put God there instead -- "for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things."  In other words, we don't divide life into two realms, but we do put one first, the one governed by God, under whom are all things, for God creates and upholds all of reality.  When we lose the righteousness -- the kingdom of God and His righteousness -- then we lose the reason for being, the ways of relationship to the world and even to our material possessions, how to use them, what they are for, and how they are provided for us.  In our lives we may work hard, we may find very creative ways to live material lives, but ultimately our well-being depends upon placing our faith in something that colors everything and transcends it.  In recognizing dependence upon God, we not only find this righteousness and this Kingdom for ourselves, we also find a healthy gratitude, an understanding of life that places in our laps the means by which we find values and priorities for all that we do.  Gratitude is so often the alternative, and therapy, for the times one feels depression or meaninglessness, so let us shape our lives by this understanding of dependence upon God.  Even the sad parts of life, the things we experience as loss, pain, or suffering, gain meaning through God's righteousness, and relationship to Creator, including insights on how we go forward through difficulties.  So let us depend upon Christ and free ourselves from the anxieties that make us unbalanced and unreceptive to the righteousness and communion we can find.  Today's passage contains some of the most beautiful imagery found in all of Scripture.  It's not for nothing that Jesus reminds us of the stunning beauty of nature ("even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these"), of the things created by God, the dependency even of the birds of the air for God's care ("Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?"), and most especially how futile our worry and anxiety are ("Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?").  In this context, faith becomes the way of life that is not simply preferable, but needful, and for all of us as human beings.  In the modern world, we feel that we are constantly bombarded with things to worry about; we are constantly fed information guaranteed to stoke anxiety.  Jesus acknowledges that we have needs, and we also have troubles, but He puts them into context for us.  Perhaps it was always like this, but nonetheless even in our present age it remains true, that "tomorrow will worry about its own things -- and sufficient for the day is its own trouble."  Let us take Jesus at His word, for unlike some who preach all kinds of systems or philosophies or even faiths, He doesn't scare us with fear, but quite the opposite.  He teaches us that a focus on worry and anxiety avail us nothing; only faith changes everything and is the place we should take our stand and root ourselves in life.  Let us remember the beauty and wisdom He teaches to us. We are called to a particular Kingdom, and a particular righteousness.  The whole world may urgently chase the material life ("For after all these things the Gentiles seek"), but we are called to a different way.  In a world increasingly obsessed with security, let us consider how we may seek first the kingdom of God and God's righteousness.

 

 

 

 

He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him

 

 The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?"  Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.  Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.  For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.  He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.  As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.  This is the bread which came down from heaven -- not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead.  He who eats this bread will live forever."  These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.

 

- John 6:52-59 

 

We are currently reading chapter 6 of John's Gospel.  The season is Passover, and it is the second year of Christ's earthly ministry given in John's Gospel.  In this chapter, the theme of Christ as the bread of life is expanded; recently Jesus has fed five thousand men (and more women and children) in the wilderness, after which they sought to force Him to be king.  This began a series of dialogue and disputes in which Jesus has been speaking of Himself as the bread of heaven.  Yesterday we read that the Jews then complained about Him, because He said "I am the bread which came down from heaven."  And they said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?  How is it then that He says, 'I have come down from heaven'?"  Jesus therefore answered and said to them, "Do not murmur among yourselves.  No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.  It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.'  Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.  Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father.  Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.  I am the bread of life.  Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead.  This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.  I am the living bread which came down from heaven.  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world." 

 

 The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?"  Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.  Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.  For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.  He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.  As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me."  My study Bible comments here that Christ was crucified in the flesh and His blood was shed on the Cross, and on the third day He was raised in a glorified state.  It says that we receive the grace of Christ's sacrificial offering by coming to Him in faith (verse 35) and by receiving Holy Communion in faith.  In Communion, it says, we truly eat His flesh and drink His blood, and this grants the faithful eternal life, with Christ abiding in us and us in Him, as Jesus says here.  St. Hilary of Poitiers is quoted:  "There is no room left for any doubt about the reality of His flesh and blood, because we have both the witness of His words and our own faith.  Thus when we eat and drink these elements, we are in Christ and Christ is in us."

 

"This is the bread which came down from heaven -- not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead.  He who eats this bread will live forever."  These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.  On the whole of today's passage, my study Bible comments that its eucharistic significance is indisputable.  Christ's declaration that He is Himself the living bread that gives life is a revelation of the Mystical Supper of the New Testament Church.   It notes also that John never reports the details of the Last Supper (such as the "words of institution" recorded in Luke 22:19-20).  But here, instead, he reveals the significance and truth of these events -- events which were already known to his hearers -- by reporting Christ's own words.  

Jesus says, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.  Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.  For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.  He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.  As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me."   As we will see, Jesus will face considerable rejection for these words (in our following reading).  Just as at that time for Jesus, perhaps Christ's words here fall on ears in our day and age that are equally as unaccepting as then.  Eat His flesh?  Drink His blood?  What kind of words are these?  Are we cannibals?  What kind of language is this for us to take in?  There are those who think these words and teachings are meant only as metaphors.  Or perhaps they are merely symbolic.  But the truth is that the mind of the Church has not accepted them in these ways, then and even now (with perhaps some dissenting in more modern times).  This is because in the mind of the New Testament Church, and right from the beginning, there was understood a mystical reality that underscored all that transpired in our faith, that these words are not meant in a simple literal sense, but in a different kind of "real" sense.  For that matter, right from the beginning, the kingdom of heaven, Christ's kingdom, was not understood as a literal earthly kingdom, but as a nevertheless "real" mystical Kingdom that is present to us.  As Jesus says, "The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, 'See here!' or 'See there!'  For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you" (see Luke 17:20-21).  We should keep in mind that in the Greek, the "you" is clearly plural; this may be understood both as literally within you, but also as "among you."  It is best, in the Gospels, to take both meanings at the same time.  But this reality of the Kingdom that is within us is one that is not literally true in an earthly sense nor is it merely symbolic or metaphorical.  This is a Kingdom which is mystically present, in which we mystically participate through our faith, faithfulness, worship practices, prayer, and through following His commandments.  For we must understand that we, also, have parts of ourselves that are mystical in nature, and in living a eucharistic faith we are united body, soul, and spirit in participating in His Church and its sacraments.  It is also necessary perhaps to understand sacrifice in the ancient sense, as a communion meal -- with Christ Himself become the Passover once and for all, mystically and without limit always prepared and distributed to us for this depth of participation in His life, death, and Resurrection and in the life of the Church.  We are united to Him via this endlessly giving and unlimited sacrifice through which we abide in Him and He in us.  Jesus teaches about a mystical participation when He says, "As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me."  Just as we are mystically the Body of Christ in the Church, so without this understanding and perception of the mystical we will fail to understand His words and teachings and how He may live in us and we in Him.  For that takes another kind of perception, one not simply of our material senses nor simply of our intellect, but rather one which encompasses all of these and surpasses them as well.   Let us be attentive to His teachings and God's work in us.

 

 

No man ever spoke like this Man!

 

 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.  He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."  But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.  

 

Therefore many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, "Truly this is the Prophet."  Others said, "This is the Christ."   But some said, "Will the Christ come out of Galilee?   Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was?"  So there was a division among the people because of Him.  Now some of them wanted to take Him, but no one laid hands on Him.  

Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, "Why have you not brought Him?  The officers answered, "No man ever spoke like this Man!"  Then the Pharisees answered them, "Are you also deceived?  Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him?  But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed."

 

Nicodemus (he who came to Jesus by night, being one of them) said to them, "Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?"  They answered and said to him, "Are you also from Galilee?  Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee."

 

- John 7:37-52 

 

Yesterday we read that about the middle of the Feast of Tabernacles Jesus went up into the temple and taught.  And the Jews marveled, saying, "How does this Man know letters, having never studied?"  Jesus answered them and said, "My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.  If anyone will to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.  He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.  Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law?  Why do you seek to kill Me?"  The people answered and said, "You have a demon.  Who is seeking to kill You?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "I did one work, and you all marvel.  Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.  If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?  Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."  Now some of them from Jerusalem said, "Is this not He whom they seek to kill?  But look!  He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him.  Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly the Christ?  However, we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from."  Then Jesus cried out, as he taught in the temple, saying, "You both know Me, and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know.  But I know Him, for I am from Him, and he sent Me."  Therefore they sought to take Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.  And many of the people believed in Him, and said, "When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?" The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him.  Then Jesus said to them, "I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me.  You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come."  Then the Jews said among themselves, "Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him?  Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?  What is this thing that He said, 'You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come'?"  

 

 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.  He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."  But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.   The last day, that great day of the feast was the eighth day of the Feast of Tabernacles.  The ceremony of the drawing of water (in which water was drawn from the pool of Siloam to be mixed with wine and poured at the foot of the altar) provides the context for the Lord's words, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink."  Christ's living water is the gift of the Holy Spirit and the new life which accompanies this gift.  

Therefore many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, "Truly this is the Prophet."  Others said, "This is the Christ."   But some said, "Will the Christ come out of Galilee?   Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was?"  So there was a division among the people because of Him.  Now some of them wanted to take Him, but no one laid hands on Him.   My study Bible explains that the Prophet is a reference to the expected Messiah, the Savior foretold by Moses in Deuteronomy 18:15-19.  Bethlehem was the town from which the Christ was expected to come, according to the prophecy of Micah 5:2.  

Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, "Why have you not brought Him?  The officers answered, "No man ever spoke like this Man!"  Then the Pharisees answered them, "Are you also deceived?  Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him?  But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed."  The chief priests had sent officers of the temple to arrest Jesus in the middle of the Feast (see yesterday's reading, above).  But now, it is the last day of the Feast, and no arrest has been made.  These officers have been converted Lord's teaching ("No man ever spoke like this Man!").  My study Bible cites the commentary of St. John Chrysostom, saying that the Pharisees and the scribes who "witnessed the miracles and read the Scriptures derived no benefit" from either.  These officers, on the other hand, although they could claim none of this learning, were "captivated by a single sermon."  When the mind is open, "there is no need for long speeches.  Truth is like that."

 

 Nicodemus (he who came to Jesus by night, being one of them) said to them, "Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?"  They answered and said to him, "Are you also from Galilee?  Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee."  My study Bible notes that Nicodemus had spoken with Jesus (John 3:1-21), and had since increased in faith.  But his defense of Christ is still based on our law, and this was not yet a public profession of faith (see John 19:38-39).  According to the law, Jesus must be given a hearing before He can be judged, my study Bible says.  The Pharisees declare that no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.  My study Bible comments that they show their blind hatred and also their ignorance of the Scriptures here.  The prophet Jonah came from Galilee, from the town of Gath Hepher, which was only three miles from Nazareth (2 Kings 14:25). 

In Nicodemus' action in today's reading, we already see the transformation that happens through faith, and through the work of the Holy Spirit.  While my study Bible points out that this is not yet a full profession of faith, which will come later in the Gospel (John 19:38-39, as cited above), nonetheless he speaks up before the rest of the Sanhedrin to insist that they're violating the law by judging peremptorily.  The courage to begin to speak up here, his conscience not reconciled to the ways in which his fellow Pharisees are approaching Christ, is a sign of what is happening internally to change him, and cause him to speak up.  This is a beginning of separation from his fellow Pharisees and the rest of the ruling council, for we can see by their scathing and insulting response that they will brook no competition for how they must approach Jesus.  They want to do away with Him as handily as possible for He is seen as a threat to their authority and power.  But Nicodemus is not just going along with the rest of them, although he has yet to come to the decision to make the clean break he will later on in publicly confessing faith in Christ.  Let us notice the hostility of the religious leaders, even their insulting behavior toward Nicodemus for reminding them of the procedures of the Law.  They ask if he is also from Galilee, and go so far in their rash declarations as to make a fundamental mistake which they, as the experts in Scripture, are not supposed to make.  They claim no prophet has arisen from Galilee, when in fact a prophet as important as Jonah was from Galilee, from a town close to Nazareth.  What we can observe in this drama of Nicodemus among his fellow religious rulers is the start of separation, of one who is separating himself from the gathering of his own brethren, so to speak, from the important position he holds on the Council, in order to more fully follow his faith.  This is a process, but it is one that can be understood in spiritual terms.  To be holy, in the traditional sense of this word, is to be set apart.  That is, dedicated for the purposes of God.  What we see in the dynamics of the Council are men who, as John will say in his Gospel, "loved the praise of men more than the praise of God" (John 12:43).  Their pursuit of and use of power has become more worldly in its practice than truly serving God, and we can see the result.  As Nicodemus' faith grows and begins to take hold, transforming him, he in turn begins separating himself from them -- in just the same sense as Christ cleansed the temple upon His visit at the first Passover given to us in this Gospel (John 2:13-22).  He does not want to simply fall in with their corruption, and so this beginning of the process of setting apart is taking shape and leading him further into the direction of faith in Christ.  We might take a moment here to consider the work of the Holy Spirit, which was the great subject of discussion in Christ's visit to Nicodemus and His teaching in chapter 3.  Jesus spoke then about being born "from above"; that is, reborn in the Spirit.  He taught 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."  As in that teaching, the Spirit is leading Nicodemus where it will, and so it is in each of us in terms of this process of faith.  We are not the ones leading the journey, and we "cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes."  As we, too, grow in faith, let us not be dismayed or surprised by the separations we might come to know, even from things or people we might cherish.  For surely for Nicodemus, being on the Council and a member of the Pharisees is something absolutely central to what he feels is right about his identity and heritage.  And yet, we know that he will separate from them for a higher, better truth, for the faith of an identity given by Christ.  Let us also let the Holy Spirit work in us and follow the path of faith in Christ.  Then we can say with the officers, and eventually Nicodemus, "No man ever spoke like this Man!"

 

 

 

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?