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1. It is nothing new to your ears, beloved, that the Evangelist
John, like an eagle, takes a loftier flight, and soars above the
dark mist of earth, to gaze with steadier eyes upon the light of
truth. From his Gospel much has already been treated of and discussed
through our ministry, with the Lord's help; and the passage which
has been read today follows in due order. What I am about to say,
with the Lord's permission, many of you will hear in such wise that
you will be reviewing what you know, rather than learning what you know
not. Yet, for all that, your attention ought not to be slack,
because it is not an acquiring, but a reviewing, of knowledge. This
has been read, and we have in our hands to discourse upon this passage
that which the Lord Jesus spoke with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's
well. The things spoken there are great mysteries, and the
similitudes of great things; feeding the hungry, and refreshing the
weary soul.
2. Now when the Lord knew this, "when He had heard that the
Pharisees had learned that He was making more disciples than John,
and baptized more (though Jesus baptized not, but His disciples),
He left Judea, and departed again into Galilee." We must not
discourse of this too long, lest, by dwelling on what is manifest, we
shall lack the time to investigate and lay open what is obscure.
Certainly, if the Lord saw that the fact of their coming to know that
He made more disciples, and baptized more, would so avail to
salvation to the Pharisees in following Him, as to become themselves
His disciples, and to desire to be baptized by Him; rather would He
not have left Judea, but would have remained there for their sakes.
But because He knew their knowledge of the fact, and at the same time
knew their envy, and that they learned this, not to follow, but to
persecute him, He departed thence. He could, indeed, even when
present, cause that He should not be taken of them, if He would
not; He had it in His power not to be put to death, if He would
not, since He had the power not to be born, if He would not. But
because, in everything that He did as man, He was showing an example
to them who were to believe on Him (that any one servant of God
sinneth not if he retire into another place, when he sees, it may be,
the rage of his persecutors, or of them that seek to bring his soul
into evil; but if a servant of God did this he might appear to commit
sin, had not the Lord led the way in doing it), that good Master
did this to teach us, not because He feared it.
3. It may perhaps surprise you why it is said, that "Jesus
baptized more than John;" and after this was said, it is subjoined,
"although Jesus baptized not, but His disciples." What then?
Was the statement made false, and then corrected by this addition?
Or, are both true, viz. that Jesus both did and also did not
baptize? He did in fact baptize, because it was He that cleansed;
and He did not baptize, because it was not He that touched. The
disciples supplied the ministry of the body; He afforded the aid of
His majesty. Now, when could He cease from baptizing, so long as
He ceased not from cleansing? Of Him it is said by the same John,
in the person of the Baptist, who saith, "This is He that
baptizeth." Jesus, therefore, is still baptizing; and so long as
we continue to be baptized, Jesus baptizeth. Let a man come without
fear to the minister below; for he has a Master above.
4. But it may be one saith, Christ does indeed baptize, but in
spirit, not in body. As if, indeed, it were by the gift of another
than He that any is imbued even with the sacrament of corporal and
visible baptism. Wouldest thou know that it is He that baptizeth,
not only with the Spirit, but also with water? Hear the apostle:
"Even as Christ," saith he, "loved the Church, and gave
Himself for it, purifying it with the washing of water by the Word,
that He might present to Himself a glorious Church, not having
spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing." Purifying it. How? "With
the washing of water by the Word." What is the baptism of Christ?
The washing of water by the Word. Take away the water, it is no
baptism; take away the Word, it is no baptism.
5. This much, then, on the preliminary circumstances, by occasion
of which He came to a conversation with that woman, let us look at the
matters that remain; matters full of mysteries and pregnant with
sacraments. "And He must needs pass through Samaria. He cometh
then to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near to the parcel
of ground which Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's fountain
was there." It was a well; but every well is a fountain, yet not
every fountain a well. For where the water flows from the earth, and
offers itself for use to them that draw it, it is called a fountain;
but if accessible, and on the surface, it is called only a fountain:
if, however, it be deep and far down, it is called a well, but in
such wise as not to lose the name of fountain.
6. "Jesus therefore, being wearied with His journey, sat thus on
the well. It was about the sixth hour." Now begin the mysteries.
For it is not without a purpose that Jesus is weary; not indeed
without a purpose that the strength of God is weary; not without a
purpose that He is weary, by whom the wearied are refreshed; not
without a purpose is He weary, by whose absence we are wearied, by
whose presence we are strengthened. Nevertheless Jesus is weary, and
weary with His journey; and He sits down, and that, too, near a
well; and it is at the sixth hour that, being wearied, He sits
down. All these things hint something, are intended to intimate
something, they make us eager, and encourage us to knock. May
Himself open to us and to you; He who has deigned to exhort us, so
as to say, "Knock, and it shall be opened to you." It was for
thee that Jesus was wearied with His journey. We find Jesus to be
strength, and we find Jesus to be weak: we find a strong and a weak
Jesus: strong, because "in the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God: the same was in the
beginning with God." Wouldest thou see how this Son of God is
strong? "All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing
made:" and without labor, too, were they made. Then what can be
stronger than He, by whom all things were made without labor?
Wouldest thou know Him weak? "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt
among us." The strength of Christ created thee, the weakness of
Christ created thee anew. The strength of Christ caused that to be
which was not: the weakness of Christ caused that what was should not
perish. He fashioned us by His strength, He sought us by His
weakness.
7. As weak, then, He nourishes the weak, as a hen her chickens;
for He likened Himself to a hen: "How often," He saith to
Jerusalem, "would I have gathered thy children under my wings, as a
hen her chickens; but thou wouldest not!" And you see, brethren,
how a hen becomes weak with her chickens. No other bird, when it is a
mother, is recognized at once to be so. We see all kinds of sparrows
building their nests before our eyes; we see swallows, storks,
doves, every day building their nests; but we do not know them to be
parents, except when we see them on their nests. But the hen is so
enfeebled over her brood, that even if the chickens are not following
her, if thou see not the young ones, yet thou knowest her at once to
be a mother. With her wings drooping, her feathers ruffled, her note
hoarse, in all her limbs she becomes so sunken and abject, that, as
I have said, even though thou seest not her young, yet thou
perceivest her to be a mother. In such manner was Jesus weak,
wearied with His journey. His journey is the flesh assumed for us.
For how can He, who is present everywhere, have a journey, He who
is nowhere absent? Whither does He go, or whence, but that He
could not come to us, except He had assumed the form of visible
flesh? Therefore, as He deigned to come to us in such manner, that
He appeared in the form of a servant by the flesh assumed, that same
assumption of flesh is His journey. Thus, "wearied with His
journey," what else is it but wearied in the flesh? Jesus was weak
in the flesh: but do not thou become weak; but in His weakness be
strong, because what is "the weakness of God is stronger than men."
8. Under this image of things, Adam, who was the figure of Him
that was to be, afforded us a great indication of this mystery;
rather, God afforded it in him. For he was deemed worthy to receive
a wife while he slept, and that wife was made for him of his own rib:
since from Christ, sleeping on the cross, was the Church to come,
from His side, namely, as He slept; for it was from His side,
pierced with the spear, as He hung on the cross, that the sacraments
of the Church flowed forth. But why have I chosen to say this,
brethren? Because it is the weakness of Christ that makes us strong.
A remarkable figure of this went before in the case of Adam. God
could have taken flesh from the man to make of it a woman, and it seems
that this might have been the more suitable. For it was the weaker sex
that was being made, and weakness ought to have been made of flesh
rather than of bone; for the bones are the stronger parts it the
flesh. He took not flesh to make of it a woman; but took a bone, and
of the bone was the woman shaped, and flesh was filled in into the
place of the bone. He could have restored bone for bone; He could
have taken, not a rib, but flesh, for the making of the woman.
What, then, did this signify? Woman was made, as it were,
strong, from the rib; Adam was made, as it were, weak, from the
flesh. It is Christ and the Church; His weakness is our strength.
9. But why at the sixth hour? Because at the sixth age of the
world. In the Gospel, count up as an hour each, the first age from
Adam to Noah; the second, from Noah to Abraham; the third, from
Abraham to David; the fourth, from David to the removing to
Babylon; the fifth, from the removing to Babylon to the baptism of
John: thence is the sixth being enacted. Why dost thou marvel?
Jesus came, and, by humbling Himself, came to a well. He came
wearied, because He carried weak flesh. At the sixth hour, because
in the sixth age of the world. To a well, because to the depth of
this our habitation. For which reason it is said in the psalm:
"From the depth have I cried unto Thee, O Lord." He sat, as
I said, because He was humbled.
10. "And there came a woman." Figure of the Church not yet
justified, but now about to be justified: for this is the subject of
the discourse. She comes ignorant, she finds Him, and there is a
dealing with her. Let us see what, and wherefore. "There cometh a
woman of Samaria to draw water." The Samaritans did not belong to
the nation of the Jews: they were foreigners, though they inhabited
neighboring lands. It would take a long time to relate the origin of
the Samaritans; that we may not be detained by long discourse of
this, and leave necessary matters unsaid, suffice to say, then, that
we regard the Samaritans as aliens. And, lest you should think that
I have said this with more boldness than truth, hear the Lord Jesus
Himself, what He said of that Samaritan, one of the ten lepers whom
He had cleansed, who alone returned to give thanks: "Were there not
ten cleansed? And where are the nine? There was not another to give
glory to God, save this stranger." It is pertinent to the image of
the reality, that this woman, who bore the type of the Church, comes
of strangers: for the Church was to come of the Gentiles, an alien
from the race of the Jews. In that woman, then, let us hear
ourselves, and in her acknowledge ourselves, and in her give thanks to
God for ourselves. For she was the figure, not the reality; for she
both first showed forth the figure and became the reality. For she
believed on Him who, of her, set the figure before us. "She
cometh, then, to draw water." Had simply come to draw water, as
people are wont to do, be they men or women.
11. "Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. For His disciples
were gone away into the city to buy meat. Then saith the Samaritan
woman unto Him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of
me, who am a Samaritan woman? For the Jews have no dealings with
the Samaritans." You see that they were aliens: indeed, the Jews
would not use their vessels. And as the woman brought with her a
vessel with which to draw the water, it made her wonder that a Jew
sought drink of her, a thing which the Jews were not accustomed to
do. But He who was asking drink was thirsting for the faith of the
woman herself.
12. At length, hear who it is that asketh drink: "Jesus answered
and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is
that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest, it may be,
have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water." He
asks to drink, and promises to give drink. He longs as one about to
receive; He abounds as one about to satisfy. "If thou knewest,"
saith He, "the gift of God." The gift of God is the Holy
Spirit. But as yet He speaks to the woman guardedly, and enters
into her heart by degrees. It may be He is now teaching her. For
what can be sweeter and kinder than that exhortation? "If thou
knewest the gift of God," etc.: thus far He keeps her in
suspense. That is commonly called living water which issues from a
spring: that which is collected from rain in pools and cisterns is not
called living water. And it may have flowed from a spring; yet if it
should stand collected in some place, not admitting to it that from
which it flowed, but, with the course interrupted, separated, as it
were, from the channel of the fountain, it is not called "living
water:" but that is called living water which is taken as it flows.
Such water there was in that fountain. Why, then, did He promise
to give that which He was asking?
13. The woman, however, being in suspense, saith to Him,
"Lord, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep." See
how she understood the living water, simply the water which was in that
fountain. "Thou wouldst give me living water, and I carry that with
which to draw, and thou dost not. The living water is here; how art
thou to give it me?" Understanding another thing, and taking it
carnally, she does in a manner knock, that the Master may open up
that which is closed. She was knocking in ignorance, not with earnest
purpose; she is still an object of pity, not yet of instruction.
14. The Lord speaks somewhat more clearly of that living water.
Now the woman had said, "Art thou greater than our father Jacob,
who gave us the well, and drank of it himself, his children, and his
cattle?" Thou canst not give me of the living water of this well,
because thou hast nothing to draw with: perhaps thou promisest another
fountain? Canst thou be better than our father, who dug this well,
and used it himself, and his? Let the Lord, then, declare what He
called living water. "Jesus answered and said unto her, Every one
that drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but he that drinketh of
the water that I shall give him, shall not thirst forever; but the
water which I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water,
springing up into everlasting life." The Lord has spoken more
openly: "It shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up
into everlasting life. He that drinketh of this water shall not thirst
forever." What more evident than that it was not visible, but
invisible water, that He was promising? What more evident than that
He was speaking, not in a carnal, but in a spiritual sense?
15. Still, however, the woman has her mind on the flesh: she is
delighted with the thought of thirsting no more, and fancies that this
was promised to her by the Lord after a carnal sense; which it will be
indeed, but in the resurrection of the dead. She desired this now.
God had indeed granted once to His servant Elias, that during forty
days he neither hungered nor thirsted. Could not He give this
always, seeing He had power to give it during forty days? She,
however, sighed for it, desiring to have no want, no toil. To be
always coming to that fountain, to be burdened with a weight with which
to supply her want, and, when that which she had drawn is spent, to
be obliged to return again: this was a daily toil to her; because that
want of hers was to be relieved, not extinguished. Such a gift as
Jesus promised delighted her; she asks Him to give her living water.
16. Nevertheless, let us not overlook the fact that it is something
spiritual that the Lord was promising. What means, "Whoso shall
drink of this water shall thirst again?" It is true as to this
water; it is true as to what the water signified. Since the water in
the well is the pleasure of the world in its dark depth: from this men
draw it with the vessel of lusts. Stooping forward, they let down the
lust to reach the pleasure fetched from the depth of the well, and
enjoy the pleasure and the preceding lust let down to fetch it. For he
who has not despatched his lust in advance cannot get to the pleasure.
Consider lust, then, as the vessel; and pleasure as the water from
the depth of the well: when one has got at the pleasure of this world,
it is meat to him, it is drink, it is a bath, a show, an amour; can
it be that he will not thirst again? Therefore, "Whoso shall drink
of this water," saith He, "will thirst again;" but if he shall
receive water of me, "he shall never thirst." "We shall be
satisfied," it saith, "with the good things of Thy house." Of
what water, then, is He to give, but of that of which it is said,
"With Thee is the fountain of life"? For how shall they thirst,
who "shall be drunk with the fatness of Thy house"?
17. What He was promising them was a certain feeding and abundant
fullness of the Holy Spirit: but the woman did not yet understand;
and not understanding, how did she answer? "The woman saith unto
Him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come
hither to draw." Want forced her to labor, and her weakness was
pleading against the toil. Would that she heard the invitation,
"Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will
refresh you!" This is, in fact, what Jesus was saying to her,
that she might no longer labor: but she did not yet understand.
18. At length, wishing her to understand, "Jesus saith unto
her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither." What means this,
"Call thy husband"? Was it through her husband that He wished to
give her that water? Or, because she did not understand, did He
wish to teach her through her husband? Perhaps it was as the apostle
says concerning women, "If they wish to learn anything, let them ask
their husbands at home." But this the apostle says of that where
there is no Jesus present to teach. It is said, in short, to women
whom the apostle was forbidding to speak in the Church. But when the
Lord Himself was at hand, and in person speaking to her, what need
was there that He should speak to her by her husband? Was it through
her husband that he spoke to Mary, while sitting at His feet and
receiving His word; while Martha, wholly occupied with much
serving, murmured at the happiness of her sister? Wherefore, my
brethren, let us hear and understand what it is that the Lord says to
the woman, "Call thy husband." For it may be that He is saying
also to our soul, "Call thy husband." Let us inquire also
concerning the soul's husband. Why, is not Jesus Himself already
the soul's real husband? Let the understanding be present, since
what we are about to say can hardly be apprehended but by attentive
hearers: therefore let the understanding be present to apprehend, and
perhaps that same understanding will be found to be the husband of the
soul.
19. Now Jesus, seeing that the woman did not understand, and
willing her to understand, says to her, "Call thy husband." "For
the reason why thou knowest not what I say is, because thy
understanding is not present: I am speaking after the Spirit, and
thou art hearing after the flesh. The things which I speak relate
neither to the pleasure of the ears, nor to the eyes, nor to the
smell, nor to the taste, nor to the touch; by the mind alone are they
received, by the understanding alone are they drawn up: that
understanding is not with thee, how canst thou apprehend what I am
saying? 'Call thy husband,' bring thy understanding forward. What
is it for thee to have a soul? It is not much, for a beast has a
soul. Wherein art thou better than the beast? In having
understanding, which the beast has not." Then what is "Call thy
husband"? "Thou dost not apprehend me, thou dost not understand
me: I am speaking to thee of the gift of God, and thy thought is of
the flesh; thou wishest not to thirst in a carnal sense, I am
addressing myself to the spirit: thy understanding is absent. 'Call
thy husband.' Be not as the horse and mule, which have no
understanding.'" Therefore, my brethren, to have a soul, and not
to have understanding, that is, not to use it, not to live according
to it, is a beast's life. For we have somewhat in common with the
beasts, that by which we live in the flesh, but it must be ruled by
the understanding. For the motions of the soul, which moves after the
flesh, and longs to run unrestrainedly loose after carnal delights,
are ruled over by the understanding. Which is to be called the
husband? that which rules, or that which is ruled? Without doubt,
when the life is well ordered the understanding rules the soul, for
itself belongs to the soul. For the understanding is not something
other than the soul, but a thing of the soul: as the eye is not
something other than the flesh, but a thing of the flesh. But whilst
the eye is a thing of the flesh, yet it alone enjoys the light; and
the other fleshy members may be steeped in light, but they cannot feel
the light: the eye alone is both bathed in it, and enjoys it. Thus
in our soul there is a something called the understanding. This
something of the soul, which is called understanding and mind, is
enlightened by the higher light. Now that higher light, by which the
human mind is enlightened, is God; for "that was the true light
which enlighteneth every man coming into this world." Such a light
was Christ, such a light was speaking with the woman yet she was not
present with the understanding, to have it enlightened with that
light; not merely to have it shed upon it, but to enjoy it.
Therefore the Lord said, "Call thy husband," as if He were to
say, I wish to enlighten, and yet there is not here whom I may
enlighten: bring hither the understanding through which thou mayest be
taught, by which thou mayest be ruled. Thus, put the soul without
the understanding for the woman; and having the understanding as having
the husband. But this husband does not rule the wife well, except
when he is ruled by a higher. "For the head of the woman is the man,
but the head of the man is Christ." The head of the man was talking
with the woman, and the man was not present. And so the Lord, as if
He said, Bring hither thy head, that he may receive his head,
says, "Call thy husband, and come hither;" that is, Be here, be
present: for thou art as absent, while thou understandest not the
voice of the Truth here present; be thou present here, but not
alone; be thou here with thy husband.
20. And, the husband being not yet called, still she does not
understand, still she minds the flesh; for the man is absent: "I
have not," saith she, "a husband." And the Lord proceeds and
utters mysteries. Thou mayest understand that woman really to have had
at that time no husband; she was living with some man, not a lawful
husband, rather a paramour than a husband. And the Lord said to
her, "Thou hast well said, I have not a husband." How then didst
Thou say, "Call thy husband"? Now hear how the Lord knew well
that she had not a husband "He says to her," etc. In case the
woman might suppose that the Lord had said, "Thou hast well said,
I have not a husband," just because He had learned this fact of
her, and not because he knew it by His own divinity, hear something
which thou hast not said: "For thou hast had five husbands, and he
whom thou now hast is not thy husband; this thou hast said truly."
21. Once more He urges us to investigate the matter somewhat more
exactly concerning these five husbands. Many have in fact understood,
not indeed absurdly, nor so far improbably, the five husbands of this
woman to mean the five books of Moses. For the Samaritans' made use
of these books, and were under the same law: for it was from it they
had circumcision. But since we are hemmed in by what follows, "And
he whom thou now hast is not thy husband," it appears to me that we
can more easily take the five senses of the body to be the five former
husbands of the soul. For when one is born, before he can make use of
the mind and reason, he is ruled only by the senses of the flesh. In
a little child, the soul seeks for or shuns what is heard, and seen,
and smells, and tastes, and is perceived by the touch. It seeks for
whatever soothes, and shuns whatever offends, those five senses. At
first, the soul lives according to these five senses, as five
husbands; because it is ruled by them. But why are they called
husbands? Because they are lawful and right: made indeed by God,
and are the gifts of God to the soul. The soul is still weak while
ruled by these five husbands, and living under these five husbands;
but when she comes to years of exercising reason, if she is taken in
hand by the noble discipline and teaching of wisdom, these five men are
succeeded in their rule by no other than the true and lawful husband,
and one better than they, who both rules better and rules for
eternity, who cultivates and instructs her for eternity. For the five
senses rule us, not for eternity, but for those temporal things that
are to be sought or shunned. But when the understanding, imbued by
wisdom, begins to rule the soul, it knows now not only how to avoid a
pit, and to walk on even ground a thing which the eyes show to the soul
even in its weakness; nor merely to be charmed with musical voices,
and to repel harsh sounds; nor to delight in agreeable scents, and to
refuse offensive smells; nor to be captivated by sweetness, and
displeased with bitterness; nor to be soothed with what is soft, and
hurt with what is rough. For all these things are necessary to the
soul in its weakness. Then what rule is made use of by that
understanding? Not one to discern between black and white, but
between just and unjust, between good and evil, between the profitable
and the unprofitable, between chastity and impurity, that it may love
the one and avoid the other; between charity and hatred, to be in the
one, not to be in the other.
22. This husband had not yet succeeded to those five husbands in
that woman. And where he does not succeed, error sways. For when
the soul has begun to be capable of reason, it is ruled either by the
wise mind or by error: but yet error does not rule but destroys.
Wherefore, after these five senses was that woman still wandering,
and error was tossing her to and fro. And this error was not a lawful
husband, but a paramour: for that reason the Lord saith to her,
"Thou hast well said, I have not a husband. For thou hast had five
husbands." The five senses of the flesh ruled thee at first; thou
art come to the age of using reason, and yet thou art not come to
wisdom, but art fallen into error. Therefore, after those five
husbands, "this whom thou now hast is not thy husband." And if not
a husband, what was he but a paramour? And so, "Call," not the
paramour, but "thy husband," that thou mayest receive me with the
understanding, and not by error have some false notion of me. For the
woman was still in error, as she was thinking of that water; whilst
the Lord was now speaking of the Holy Ghost. Why was she erring,
but because she had a paramour, not a husband? Put away, therefore,
that paramour who corrupts thee, and "go, call thy husband."
Call, and come that thou mayest understand me.
23. "The woman saith unto Him, Sir, I see that thou art a
prophet." The husband begins to come, he is not yet fully come.
She accounted the Lord a prophet, and a prophet indeed He was; for
it was of Himself He said, that "a prophet is not without honor,
save in his own country." Again, of Him it was said to Moses,
"A Prophet will I raise up to them of their brethren, like unto
thee." Like, namely, as to the form of the flesh, but not in the
eminence of His majesty. Accordingly we find the Lord Jesus called
a Prophet. Hence this woman is now not far wrong. "I see," she
saith, "that thou art a prophet." She begins to call the husband,
and to shut out the paramour; she begins to ask about a matter that is
Wont to disquiet her. For there was a contention between the
Samaritans and the Jews, because the Jews worshipped God in the
temple built by Solomon; but the Samaritans, being situated at a
distance from it, did not worship there. For this reason the Jews,
because they worshipped God in the temple, boasted themselves to be
better than the Samaritans. "For the Jews have no dealings with the
Samaritans:" because the latter said to them, How is it you boast
and account yourselves to be better than we, just because you have a
temple which we have not? Did our fathers, who were pleasing to
God, worship in that temple? Was it not in this mountain where we
are they worshipped? We then do better, say they, who pray to God
in this mountain, where our fathers prayed. Both peoples contended in
ignorance, because they had not the husband: they were inflated
against each other, on the one side in behalf of the temple, on the
other in behalf of the mountain.
24. What, however, does the Lord teach the woman now, as one
whose husband has begun to be present? "The woman saith unto Him,
Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in
this mountain; and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men
ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me." For
the Church will come, as it is said in the Song of Songs, "will
come, and will pass over from the beginning of faith." She will come
in order to pass through; and pass through she cannot, except from the
beginning of faith. Rightly she now hears, the husband being
present: "Woman, believe me." For there is that in thee now which
can believe, since thy husband is present. Thou hast begun to be
present with the understanding when thou calledst me a prophet.
Woman, believe me; for if ye believe not, ye will not understand.
Therefore, "Woman, believe me, for the hour will come when ye
shall neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father.
Ye worship ye know not what: we worship what we know; for salvation
is of the Jews. But the hour will come." When? "And now is."
Well, what hour? "When the true worshippers shall worship the
Father in spirit and in truth," not in this mountain, not in the
temple, but in spirit and in truth. "For the Father seeketh such to
worship Him." Why does the Father seek such to worship Him, not
on a mountain, not in the temple, but in spirit and in truth? "God
is Spirit." If God were body, it were right that He should be
worshipped on a mountain, for a mountain is corporeal; it were right
He should be worshipped in the temple, for a temple is corporeal.
"God is Spirit; and they that worship Him, must worship in spirit
and in truth."
25. We have heard, and it is manifest; we had gone out of doors,
and we are sent inward. Would I could find, thou didst say, some
high and lonely mountain! For I think that, because God is on
high, He hears me the rather from a high place. Because thou art on
a mountain, dost thou imagine thyself near to God. and that He will
quickly hear thee, as if calling to Him from the nearest place? He
dwells on high, but regards the lowly. "The Lord is near." To
whom? To the high, perhaps? "To them who are contrite of heart."
'Tis a wonderful thing: He dwelleth on high, and yet is near to the
lowly; "He hath regard to lowly things, but lofty things He knoweth
from afar;" He seeth the proud afar off, and He is the less near to
them the higher they appear to themselves to be. Didst thou seek a
mountain, then? Come down, that thou mayest come near Him. But
wouldest thou ascend? Ascend, but do not seek a mountain. "The
ascents," it saith, "are in his heart, in the valley of weeping."
The valley is humility. Therefore do all within. Even if perhaps
thou seekest some lofty place, some holy place, make thyself a temple
for God within time. "For the temple of God is holy, which temple
are ye." Wouldest thou pray in a temple? Pray in thyself. But be
thou first a temple of God, for He in His temple heareth him that
prays.
26. "The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall
worship the Father in spirit and in truth. We worship that which we
know: ye worship ye know not what; for salvation is of the Jews."
A great thing has He attributed to the Jews; but do not understand
Him to mean those spurious Jews. Understand that wall to which
another is joined, that they may be joined together, resting on the
corner-stone, which is Christ. For there is one wall from the
Jews, another from the Gentiles; these walls are far apart, only
until they are united in the Corner. Now the aliens were strangers
and foreigners from the covenants of God. According to this, it is
said, "We worship what we know." It is said, indeed, in the
person of the Jews, but not of all Jews, not of reprobate Jews,
but of such as were the apostles, as were the prophets, as were all
those saints who sold all their goods, and laid the price of their
goods at the apostles' feet. "For God hath not rejected His people
which He foreknew."
27. The woman heard this, and proceeded. She had already called
Him a prophet; she observes that He with whom she was speaking
uttered such things as still more pertained to the prophet; and what
answer did she make? See: "The woman saith unto Him, I know that
Messias will come, who is called Christ: when He then is come, He
will show us all things." What is this? Just now she saith, The
Jews are contending for the temple, and we for this mountain: when
He has come, He will despise the mountain, and overthrow the
temple; He will teach us all things, that we may know how to worship
in spirit and in truth. She knew who could teach her, but she did not
yet know Him that was now teaching her. But now she was worthy to
receive the manifestation of Him. Now Messias is Anointed:
Anointed, in Greek, is Christ; in Hebrew, Messias; whence
also, in Punic, Messe means Anoint. For the Hebrew, Punic and
Syriac are cognate and neighboring languages.
28. Then, "The woman saith unto Him, I know that Messias will
come, who is called Christ: when He then is come, He will tell us
all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak with thee am He."
She called her husband; he is made the head of the woman, and Christ
is made the head of the man. Now is the woman constituted in faith,
and ruled, as about to live rightly. After she heard this, "I that
speak with thee am He," what further could she say, when the Lord
Jesus willed to manifest Himself to the woman, to whom He had said,
"Believe me?"
29. "And immediately came His disciples, and marvelled that He
talked with the woman." That He was seeking her that was lost, He
who came to seek that which was lost: they marvelled at this. They
marvelled at a good thing, they were not suspecting an evil thing.
"Yet no man said, What seekest Thou, or why talkest Thou with
her?"
30. "The woman then left her water-pot." Having heard, "I
that speak with thee am He," and having received Christ the Lord
into her heart, what could she do but now leave her water-pot, and
run to preach the gospel? She cast out lust, anti hastened to
proclaim the truth. Let them who would preach the gospel learn; let
them throw away their water-pot at the well. You remember what I
said before of the water-pot: it was a vessel with which the water was
drawn, called hydria, from its Greek name, because water is hydor in
Greek; just as if it were called aquarium, from the Latin. She
threw away her water-pot then, which was no longer of use, but a
burden to her, such was her avidity to be satisfied with that water.
Throwing her burden away, to make known Christ, "she ran to the
city, and says to those men. Come, and see a man that told me all
things that ever I did." Step by step, lest those men should get
angry and indignant, and should persecute her. "Is this Christ?
Then they went out of the city, and came to Him."
31. "And in the meanwhile His disciples besought Him, saying,
Master, eat." For they had gone to buy meat, and had returned.
"But He said, I have meat to eat which ye know not of. Therefore
said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought Him aught to
eat?" What wonder if that woman did not understand about the water?
See; the disciples do not yet understand the meat. But He heard
their thoughts, and now as a master instructs them, not in a
round-about way, as He did the woman while He still sought her
husband, but openly at once: "My meat," saith He, "is to do the
will of Him that sent me." Therefore, in the case of that woman,
it was even His drink to do the will of Him that sent Him. That was
the reason why He said, "I thirst, give me to drink;" namely, to
work faith in her, and to drink of her faith, and to transplant her
into His own body, for His body is the Church. Therefore He
saith," My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me."
32. "Say ye not, that there are yet four months, and then cometh
harvest?" He was aglow for the work, and was arranging to send forth
laborers. You count four months to the harvest; I show you another
harvest, white and ready. Behold, I say unto you, "Lift up your
eyes, and see that the fields are already white for the harvest."
Therefore He is going to send forth the reapers. "For in this is
the saying true, that one reapeth, another soweth: that both he that
soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. I have sent you to
reap that on which ye have not labored: others have labored, and ye
are entered into their labor." What then? He sent reapers; sent
He not the sowers? Whither the reapers? Where others labored
already. For where labor had already been bestowed, surely there had
been sowing; and what had been sown had now become ripe, and required
the sickle and the threshing. Whither, then, were the reapers to be
sent? Where the prophets had already preached before; for they were
the sowers. For had they not been the sowers, whence had this come to
the woman, "I know that Messias will come"? That woman was now
ripened fruit, and the harvest fields were white, and sought the
sickle. "I sent you," then. Whither? "To reap what ye have not
sown: others sowed, and ye are entered into their labors." Who
labored? Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Read their labors; in all
their labors there is a prophecy of Christ, and for that reason they
were sowers. Moses, and all the other patriarchs, and all the
prophets, how much they suffered in that cold season when they sowed!
Therefore was the harvest now ready in Judea. Justly was the corn
there said to be as it were ripe, when so many thousands of men brought
the price of their goods, and, laying them at the apostles' feet,
having eased their shoulders of this worldly baggage, began to follow
the Lord Christ. Verily the harvest was ripe. What was made of
it? Of that harvest a few grains were thrown out, and sowed the whole
world; and another harvest is rising which is to be reaped in the end
of the world. Of that harvest it is said, "They that sow in tears
shall reap with joy." But to that harvest not apostles, but angels,
shall be sent forth. "The reapers," saith He, "are the
angels." That harvest, then, is growing among tares, and is
awaiting to be purged in the end of the world. But that harvest to
which the disciples were sent first, where the prophets labored, was
already ripe. But yet, brethren, observe what was said: "may
rejoice together, both he that soweth and he that reapeth." They had
disSimilar labors in time, but the rejoicing they shall enjoy alike
equally; they shall receive for their wages together eternal life.
33. "And many Samaritans of that city believed on Him, because
of the saying of the woman, who testified, He told me all that ever
I did. And when the Samaritans came to Him, they besought Him
that He would tarry with them; and He tarried there two days. And
many more believed because of His word; and said to the woman, Now
we believe, not because of thy words; for we have heard Him
ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Saviour of the
world." This also must be slightly noticed, for the lesson is come
to an end. The woman first announced Him, and the Samaritans
believed her testimony; and they besought Him to stay with them, and
He stayed there two days, and many more believed. And when they had
believed, they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of
thy word; but we are come to know Him ourselves, and we know that
this is indeed the Saviour of the world:" first by report, then by
His presence. So it is today with them that are without, and are not
yet Christians. Christ is made known to them by Christian friends;
and just upon the report of that woman, that is, the Church, they
come to Christ, they believe through this report. He stays with them
two days, that is, gives them two precepts of charity; and many more
believe, and more firmly believe, on Him, because He is in truth
the Saviour of the world.
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