Golden-mouth. Homily 72. Fifth Sunday of Pascha.
On the Fifth Sunday after Pascha, a teaching of Saint John Chrysostom, on the Gospel concerning the Samaritan Woman.
[John, Gospel reading 12]
The Lord draws all things to Himself not only by miracles, but also by teaching: for by means of prophecy, He revealed His power to the woman. At that time, it says, Jesus came to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. There was there Jacob’s well. The mountain was called Samar, and for this reason those who dwelt there were called Samaritans.
Jesus, being wearied from the journey, sat down by the well, and the disciples went away into the city to buy food. But how then does Isaiah say, “He shall not hunger nor be weary”? And how does the Evangelist Matthew say, “The Lord fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward hungered”? And John says, “Jesus was wearied by the journey.”
How is it that at one time it says He hungered, and at another that He was wearied? Yet neither the Prophet lied, nor did the Apostles speak falsely, but all proclaimed truth in harmony: for the Prophet proclaimed the power of the Godhead, while the Apostles spoke the truth about the humanity.
Behold the humility of the Lord: how He remained alone, while the disciples went into the city to buy food. For so they labored, preparing bread for food, even while others were sleeping after dinner, and they did not require much to eat. The Lord did this in order to catch the Samaritan woman at just that hour. For in the sixth hour Eve was deceived in paradise, and in the sixth hour the Lord saved the Samaritan woman.
There was a poor woman in Samaria, who lived by the work of her hands—poor in possessions, but rich in righteousness. Behold how she toiled—while the people were resting after their midday meal, she was drawing water for herself! The Lord, therefore, sent away the disciples in order to speak with the Samaritan woman.
So the Samaritan woman came to draw water and saw Jesus—He appeared as poor and a stranger—yet she said nothing to Him. But Jesus said to her: “Give Me a drink of water.” She replied: “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink of me, a Samaritan woman?”
Jesus answered her: “If you knew 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 Samaritan woman replied: “You promise to give me water, but You Yourself are thirsty from the heat and wearied by the journey. You have no companions, nor do You carry silver to lodge at an inn. You have come to such poverty of life that You even set aside the Law, asking water from a Samaritan woman—for Jews do not associate with Samaritans. If You have living water, why do You ask for water? Are You greater than Jacob, who drank from this well, along with his sons and his cattle?”
Behold the wisdom of the Lord! He does not say, “I am greater than Jacob,” but speaks gently to her: “Whoever drinks of this water shall thirst again. But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; for it shall become in him a wellspring of water, flowing unto everlasting life.”
And Christ began to reveal to her even greater things.
The Samaritan woman said, “Give me this living water, Lord, that I may neither thirst nor come here to draw.” But Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband.” She replied, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have said well, ‘I have no husband,’ for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband. This you have truly spoken.”
But hearing this, she did not despair nor flee away, but rather, amazed, she said, “Lord, I see that Thou art a prophet.” And she began to ask about divine matters: “Lord, our fathers worshipped on this mountain” (on which Abraham offered up Isaac in sacrifice), “and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”
Jesus replied, “O woman, every place is fitting for worship—for they that worship God must worship Him in spirit and in truth, with mind and soul. Ye Samaritans worship that which ye know not; we know Whom we worship.”
Now the woman, thinking the Lord to be a Jewish prophet, said to Him, “We know that the Messiah is coming, Who is called Christ. When He comes, He will tell us all things. I know that He is coming—but when, or who He will be, I do not know.”
O spiritual harlot—yet wise!—who knowest the Scriptures of God! Jesus said to her, “I that speak with thee am He. I am the God of thy fathers, and for this reason I now correct thee at the sixth hour—for at this hour shall I be crucified.”
O great mystery! That which was hidden from the apostles is here revealed to a woman.
And when the disciples returned, they marveled that Christ was speaking with a Samaritan woman—but they did not question Him about it.
The woman, leaving behind her water jar, ran into the city and cried, “Men and women of Samaria! Come and see a Man who told me all that I ever did! Run quickly, that ye may receive living water from the Well of Salvation!”
O wondrous miracle! A harlot became mightier than the apostles! For the apostles began to preach only after His Resurrection and Ascension—but she proclaimed Christ before His Passion.
The disciples entreated the Lord to eat. But the Lord said, “I have food to eat which ye know not. My food is to do the will of My Father and to accomplish His works. This is My food—that I may save all mankind, for I do not desire the death of the sinner.”
And many of the Samaritans believed in Christ because of the words of the woman. And they begged Him to remain with them. And Jesus remained there two days and then departed.
But the Jews, though they had seen many signs and wonders, still did not believe.
To our God be glory, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.