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 

 

Yesterday we read that, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John (thought Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), He left Judea an departed again to Galilee.  But He needed to go through Samaria.  So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.  Now Jacob's well was there.  Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well.  It was about the sixth hour.  A woman of Samaria came to draw water.  Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink."  For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.  Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?"  For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.  Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."  The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep.  Where then do You get that living water?  Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?"  Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst.  But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."  The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw."  Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here."  The woman answered and said, "I have no husband."  Jesus said to her, "You have well said, 'I have no husband,' for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly."  The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.  Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship."  Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.  You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.  But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.  God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."  The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ).  "When He comes, He will tell us all things."  Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."

 

 And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why are You talking with her?"   My study Bible says that the disciples marveled not only that Jesus spoke with a Samaritan, but that He was speaking with an unaccompanied woman -- which was potentially scandalous.  For more instances of the Lord's dealing with women, see John 7:53-8:11; 11:20-33, 20:11-18; Luke 8:1-3.  

The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did.  Could this be the Christ?"  Then they went out of the city and came to Him.  My study Bible says that this Samaritan woman becomes an early evangelist.  She is testifying to the advent of Christ and bringing others to Him (see verse 39).  According to an early tradition, it notes, after the Resurrection this woman was baptized and given the name Photini, which in Greek means, "the enlightened one."  Together with her two sons and five daughters, she traveled to Carthage, an important Roman colony, to spread the gospel.  Later she was martyred with her family under the emperor Nero by being thrown into a well.  (We remember from yesterday's reading that she was asked to draw water for Christ in their meeting at Jacob's well.)  

 

 Then they went out of the city and came to Him.  In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."  But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know."  Therefore the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?"  Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work."  Here again is another instance in which a misunderstanding is used by Christ to explain concepts of the Kingdom.  In this instance, we are given to know that Christ fulfills His role as Messiah by doing the will of the Father, the One who sent Him, and therefore this is Christ's food.  It is also an important concept of the "work" of God, in which we seek to follow God's will in faith.  My study Bible says that it also teaches us that we are to perform the will of God in our lives without being distracted by earthly cares (John 6:27; Matthew 4:4, 6:25-33). 

"Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'?  Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!"  According to St. John Chrysostom, my study Bible tells us, when Christ commands the disciples to behold, it is because the townspeople were approaching, ready and eager to believe in Jesus.  Christ is comparing these foreigners (relative to the Jews) to fields which are ready for harvest.  My study Bible adds that this command is also to all believers to look to those around us and share the gospel with anyone who wants to hear it, regardless of race or ethnicity.  In speaking of harvest, Christ is continuing His metaphor of the work of God being His food.

"And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.  For in this the saying is true:  'One sows and another reaps.'  I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors."   Jesus continues to speak about the work of God, in metaphors of agricultural work, planting, growing and harvesting crops.  (See also Christ's seminal parable of the Sower in Matthew 13:1-23.)  My study Bible notes that according to St. John Chrysostom, those who sow and those who reap are the prophets of the Old Testament and the apostles, respectively.  The prophets sowed in preparation for the coming of the Messiah, but did not see His coming and therefore did not reap.  The apostles did not do the preparation, but would draw thousands to Christ in their own lifetimes.  

And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all that I ever did."  So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days.  And many more believed because of His own word.  Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world."  My study Bible comments on the fact that these foreigners are among the first to recognize Jesus as Savior of the world.  It says that this shows the gospel is for all people in every nation.

 

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

 

 

 

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

 

 And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why are You talking with her?"  The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did.  Could this be the Christ?"  Then they went out of the city and came to Him.  In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."  But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know."  Therefore the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?"  Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.  Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'?  Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!  And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.  For in this the saying is true:  'One sows and another reaps.'  I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors."  

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

 

- John 4:27–42 

 

Yesterday we read that when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), He left Judea and departed again to Galilee.  But He needed to go through Samaria.  So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.  Now Jacob's well was there.  Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well.  It was about the sixth hour.  A woman of Samaria came to draw water.  Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink."  For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.  Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You, being  Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?"  For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.  Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."  The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep.  Where then do You get that living water?  Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?"  Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst.  But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."  The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw."  Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here."  The woman answered and said, "I have no husband."  Jesus said to her, "You have well said, 'I have no husband,' for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly."  The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.  Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship."  Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.  You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.  But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.  God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."  The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ).  "When He comes, He will tell us all things."  Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He." 

 And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why are You talking with her?"   My study bible comments that they marveled not only that Jesus spoke with a Samaritan, but that He was speaking with an unaccompanied woman, which was potentially scandalous.  See also other of Jesus' dealings with women in 7:53-8:11; 11:20-33; 20:11-18 (also Luke 8:1-3).  

The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did.  Could this be the Christ?"  Then they went out of the city and came to Him.   As we mentioned in yesterday's reading and commentary, this Samaritan woman is known in the Church as St. Photini.   In the context of these verses, she becomes an early evangelist, who testifies to the advent of Christ and brings others to Him.  In accordance with early Church tradition, after the Resurrection, she was baptized with the name Photini which means "the enlightened one."   Together with her two sons and five daughters, she went to Carthage to spread the gospel.  Later she was martyred with her family under Nero, by being thrown into a well.  

In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."  But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know."  Therefore the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?"  Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.  Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'?  Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!"  My study bible cites St. John Chrysostom, who comments that Jesus' command to behold was given because the townspeople were approaching, ready and eager to come to faith in Christ.  Jesus compares these "foreigners" (relative to the Jews) to fields which are already white for harvest.  Some suggest that they approach wearing traditional white garments, and so we understand the image given to the disciples.  My study bible further notes that this command is also to believers to look to those around us and to share the gospel with anyone wanting to hear it, regardless of race of ethnicity.  

"And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.  For in this the saying is true:  'One sows and another reaps.'  I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors."  Again, according to the commentary of Chrysostom, those who sow and those who reap are, respectively, the prophets of the Old Testament and the apostles.  The prophets sowed in preparation for the coming of the Messiah, but didn't see His coming and therefore couldn't reap.  The apostles didn't do the preparation, but they would draw thousands to Christ in their own lifetimes.  All who testify and witness to Christ do the same, entering into others' labors.

And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all that I ever did."  So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days.  And many more believed because of His own word.  Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world."   My study bible comments on the fact that these "foreigners" or outsiders (to the Jews) are among the first to recognize Jesus as the Savior of the world shows that the gospel is for all people in every nation.

The story of St. Photini is a remarkable one because this revelation of Christ's identity happens so early in John's Gospel.  It tells us something powerful about Jesus' reception within the lands of "strangers" or "foreigners" vis-a-vis Christ's own people.  Jesus declares to Photini (in yesterday's reading, above), "You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews."  So there is no confusion about this faith and about His mission and identity.  But once Christ begins to manifest His divine nature in the form of signs, such as turning the water to wine at the wedding in Cana, He knows what will happen.  Once Christ begins to gather followers, so the leadership begins to take notice and to oppose.  Indeed, Jesus is here in Samaria because He's on His way to Galilee, having already begun His conflicts with the religious leadership in Jerusalem.  But here among these foreigners, He finds one to whom He has revealed Himself, and she in turn brings many more along who believe.  This is the paradoxical stuff of the Gospels.  It is the "lost sheep of the house of Israel" to whom He has been sent (Matthew 15:24), but it is here -- and to this woman, no less -- where He chooses to reveal Himself.  It is also a kind of affirmation of Christ's words to Nicodemus about the Holy Spirit, "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit" (3:8).  The holy works in accordance with the holy; there is no earthly check on God and the works of God in the world.  But despite the reception here, Jesus has work to do, and a mission, to go to those to whom He was sent, and to whom He will also first send His apostles before they go out to all the nations (Matthew 10:6).  And so it might work in each of our own lives.  There are those to whom God has sent us, or whom God sends our way.  Perhaps, as faithful, we share or at least live our faith among those to whom we're closest, those whom God gives us.  We should be prepared, as is Christ, for a kind of heartache and rejection, the image of the cross, in our own lives should that become a part of our experience.  But it nevertheless does not diminish the mission to live the life God has given us.  We should not be attached to images of success and particular outcomes, because this is not the way that Christ lives His life and leads His ministry either.  Spreadsheets and profit margins don't belong in the ministry of the word that works mysteriously, with its own living power that we don't control and can't see.  Jesus will be rejected among His own family and neighbors, something John's Gospel will go into in quite a bit of detail, but it is Christ who says -- in some form in all four Gospels -- that a prophet has no honor in his own country (4:44).  We should be prepared to understand that living a life faithful to Christ isn't without its pitfalls and rejections, and to keep our mind open to our faith and where it takes us.  Those whom we might expect to be most receptive may in fact be quite the opposite, but God's word and truth finds reception perhaps in the house of strangers, those who become brothers and sisters through faith.  Let us keep in mind the understanding of work, the "labor" in which He's engaged, and His own attitude toward the mission with which He's entrusted.  In today's reading, He tells His disciples, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work."  He is faithful and true to the One who has sent Him.  Let us understand our own lives in the same context, and our own faithfulness in whatever way we're sent.  We also enter into others' labors, and we don't know the time of the harvest or even what that harvest might look like.  But we who know His love must be true and faithful to it, as He has shown us first.

Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?

 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 the 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 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?"    The disciples marveled for several reasons.  Jesus spoke first of all with a Samaritan, and also with an unaccompanied woman -- which for the time, place, and culture was a potential scandal.  My study bible cites several other instances further on in John's Gospel in which Jesus' dealings with women are remarkable:  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, says my study bible.  She testifies to the advent of Christ and also brings others to Him.  This woman is known in tradition as St. Photini.  According to early tradition in the Church, after the Resurrection she was baptized with this name Photini, which in Greek means "the enlightened one."  Along 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 by being thrown into a well.

In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."  But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know."  Therefore the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?"  Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work."  Here is another example of a particular type of interaction which is notable in John's Gospel, a misunderstanding meant to illumine or enlighten.  He fulfills His role as Messiah by doing the will of the Father, and therefore this is His food.  But the example is for all of us; it teaches us not only about priorities and what we put first, but also the mysterious energies of God, God's grace (see also 6:27; Matthew 4:4, 6:25-33).  My study bible says it teaches us to do 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. Chrysostom, when Jesus says Behold to the disciples, He is looking at the approaching townspeople, who are ready and eager to believe in Him.  Jesus compares these foreigners (relative to the Jews) whose common dress was white, to fields ready for harvest.  My study bible tells us 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. 

"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."  St. Chrysostom further comments 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 did not see His coming and thus did not reap.  The apostles didn't do the preparation, but they will draw thousands to Christ in their own lifetimes.  And we, too, build upon all these labors in our own lives.

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." These foreigners and enemies of the Jews are the first to recognize Jesus as Savior of the world.  What it teaches us is just that the gospel is for all people in every nation.

John's Gospel has already repeatedly given us the action of faith:  some are told to "come and see."  (See also John 1:38-39, 1:46).  But their faith takes hold with experience, coming to know Christ for themselves.  This sense of personal experience is important.  By the time John's Gospel was written, John was an elderly man.  By tradition, it is said that he dictated his work to a disciple.  Therefore we infer that the experience of the early Church, and also of course his intimacy with Christ and with the Mother of Christ (see John 19:26) shape many of the understandings that we find in John's Gospel.  We've already read two previous examples of people who are told to "come and see" and who become Jesus' disciples.  Here in today's reading, St. Photini does the same with her own townspeople.  But they testify themselves that their faith takes hold "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."  They come and see for themselves, just as did Andrew and John the Evangelist, and Nathanael.  So the real question here for us becomes, how do we come and see?  Jesus is no longer in the world as incarnate human being.  His worldly ministry ended with His Passion, death, and Resurrection.  But it is precisely because of that "ending," which was not an ending at all, that we are capable of coming and seeing and experiencing Christ for ourselves.  We not only have the entire tradition of the Church which testifies to Christ, including the history of all the saints and the Gospels, Epistles and other books of the New Testament, but we have the entire history of Judaism in the Old Testament which testifies to who the Christ is.  As Christians, we understand Jesus as the fulfillment of all that is in the Old Testament.  We can study the Scriptures, as in this blog, and we find over and over again new insights that they tell us about.  John gives us the wonderful and repeated examples of "misunderstandings" that are intentional, in which Jesus uses figurative language designed to initiate those listening in concepts of the Kingdom.  Jesus also gives us parables to teach us about the Kingdom, which give repeated insights to listeners, regardless of how many times one may have heard the same parable before.  All these experiences are ways in which we, too, can "come and see" for ourselves.  But finally there is the greatest blessing of all, that which forms and shapes the Church and our worship, the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Regardless of where we are, who we are, when we live, God is with us.  God's presence leads and guides us.  We can call on the Spirit, on the Father, on the Son, and pray with the entire communion of saints for our help and true experience of faith, for which there is no substitute.  It is on this the Church rests, and builds, and grows.  Jesus has promised that "where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them" (Matthew 18:20).  At the end of Matthew's Gospel, He gives His disciples what is known as the Great Commission, saying, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you."  He ends with this promise:  "And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”  In all these things, and in the true worship of God in spirit and in truth, He is with us always.

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 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

Over the past two readings, we have read about Jesus' encounter at Jacob's well with a Samaritan woman. He began (in Thursday's reading) by asking her to get Him a drink of water (a surprising thing for Jewish man to do!) -- and told 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." In yesterday's reading, He replied when she asked for this water, "Go call your husband, and come here." She told Him she had no husband -- and He replied that she'd spoken well, because she had had five husbands already, and the one she had now was not truly her husband. Because of this knowledge, she thought He must be a prophet. She asked Him about the dispute between the Jews and Samaritans over the site of temple worship. But He replied 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. His disciples seem to be so stunned that He's speaking to this woman that they fail to say anything to Him or to her at all! Jews were not allowed to speak publicly with a woman, and furthermore with a Samaritan woman. My study bible notes, "Jesus' words and actions transcend ethnic and gender-related customs of the time." It also notes here that this Samaritan woman becomes the first evangelist, "testifying to the advent of Christ and bringing others to Him." It continues, "According to early tradition, after the Resurrection of Christ she was baptized and given the Christian name Photini," which in Greek means "the enlightened one." With her two sons and five daughters, tradition tells us, she went to Carthage to spread the gospel. They were arrested, taken to Rome under Nero, imprisoned and later martyred. The story about her tells us she who met Christ beside Jacob's well was martyred by being thrown into a well.

In the meantime, His disciples urged Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat." But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know." Therefore the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?" Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work." The misunderstanding of Jesus' words, as so often happens in the Gospels, becomes a tool for teaching. Here, Jesus' words tell us so much, about His ministry and life. But they also tell us something specific -- they indicate that to speak with this woman was a part of His work, something very deliberate. Whatever customs or traditional structures (such as speaking to a woman, and even a Samaritan woman) have been violated, they have been in service to the Father and the ministry He's been given -- "to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work." My study bible says, "His food is to bring people to believe in Him and be saved." And the message is very clear -- salvation is from the Jews, but it is going to other peoples as well. In yesterday's reading, Jesus told the woman, "You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews." He is enlightening those who do not know, and who will worship in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.

"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." Tradition tells us that the Samaritan townspeople brought back with the woman are dressed in white as they approach Jesus. These people are the fields "white for harvest." White or light-colored grain, turned from green, indicate a field is ready for harvest. My study bible writes, "The Father is the sower; Jesus is the reaper. Jesus will send the disciples to reap; their apostolic mission has been implicit from their initial calling." Clearly, just as John the Baptist has prepared the way for Christ in this Gospel of John, so Jesus also refers to all those who populate the spiritual history of Israel, the entire salvation story, who have prepared the way for the coming of the Messiah, including the Patriarchs, prophets, and others we do not know. We get a glimpse, also, of the nature of the ongoing work of this Kingdom.

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." Here is the beginning Church. The gospel is truly for all people. Jesus stays with them for two days; in the context of John's Gospel so far, this is quite a record. He has been moving rapidly from place to place as He shapes His ministry, chooses disciples, goes to the Passover feast at Jerusalem. Two days assure us this is indeed His work, well worth taking time out for -- He has much to do here, the fields are more than ripe, the harvest is abundant. They accept Jesus' identity as Messiah, "the Christ, and the Savior of the world."

That Christ is "the Savior of the world" tells us something powerful and essential. The word in Greek is kosmos, which means more than the world, than planet earth. It means the whole of Creation, all that is. Jesus is the Savior who not only is "of the Jews" but for "the world." The good news is abundant in the fields white for harvest -- He is what the world has been prepared for in all of salvation history. And, in my opinion, we still await Him in our lives. I don't think there isn't a circumstance, in our adult lives, when the way has not been paved nor prepared for Christ, when His light cannot help us and guide us. Think of the grain in the fields: how many people are ready for His message? The number is incalculable even as the population of the world continues to grow. We must think and try to understand what it means to be ready for harvest. Traditionally, in this region of the Samaritans today, the phrase "a white heart" means someone who is pure in heart. It is Jesus who has told us, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." When we're ready to hear and accept, with an open heart, the field is ripe. Let us look to St. Photini: she was by no means perfect in a "worldly" sense, she was the "wrong person" for Jesus to be speaking with -- and yet, there she was, at Jacob' well, where she needed to be so Christ could do His work. She is the first person to whom He has directly revealed Himself in ministry. Nothing can stop this work from happening; there are no barriers that can really get in the way of the field white for harvest, the white heart that is ready to hear, that needs the light of Christ. What do you need? What can He offer you today? The "living water" of this well is always in abundance and waiting for you. Like the Samaritans, like Nathanael, you may come and see for yourself. In return, He will offer you a place in this ministry as well - the waters that spring to everlasting life.