About the Samaritan woman and the words: “So He comes to a city of Samaria, called Sychar” (John 4:5)

1. Today Christ told us about the exploits of the Samaritan woman, and our meager words have to plunge into the sea of ​​her virtues. Looking at her faith, I want to dedicate a word of praise to her and together with you praise her - poor and at the same time rich, harlot and apostle, lost and faithful, who had many husbands and received much strength, who defiled many and served the Only Begotten Word of God, defiled and purified, who thirsted and desired living water and inherited the grace of heavenly springs. What does the Evangelist John say, who thundered about these ineffable mysteries? “So He comes to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there. Jesus, weary from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about six o'clock. A woman comes from Samaria to draw water. Jesus says to her: Give me something to drink. For His disciples went into the city to buy food” (John 4:5-8). "Jesus, being weary." How does the prophet Isaiah say: “The eternal Lord God... does not become weary or faint? His mind is unsearchable” (Isaiah 40:28)? Meanwhile, the Evangelist Matthew in his Gospel writes about Him: “And having fasted forty days and forty nights, he was finally hungry” (Matthew 4:2); and the Evangelist John, as you just heard, says: “Jesus, weary from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about six o'clock." One says that He was hungry, and the other attributes Him with weariness. And the prophet Isaiah, speaking by the Holy Spirit, clearly says: “The eternal Lord God... does not become weary and faint? His mind is unsearchable” (Isaiah 40:28). Is there a contradiction here between the Gospels and prophecy? Of course not. Neither the prophet sinned - let him not! - neither the apostles wrote anything contrary to the Holy Spirit and prophecy. But the fact is that the economy of our Savior, the Great God, has a somewhat dual and unusual character - I mean the union in Him of Divinity and humanity, according to His will and decision; and now the prophet proclaims the power and greatness of His Divinity, and the apostles and evangelists depict His true economy according to the flesh. So, “Jesus, weary from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about six o'clock. A woman comes from Samaria to draw water. Jesus says to her: Give me something to drink. For His disciples went into the city to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to Him, “How can you, being a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” ( John 4:6–9 ). Here it is necessary, beloved, to examine why the evangelist indicated both the place where this happened, and the hour, and the absence of the disciples: the place is in the words: “he sat down by the well,” the hour: “it was about the sixth hour,” and the absence of the disciples is the remark that “His disciples went into the city to buy food.” Why did he indicate the place? I'll explain now. Christ was referring to spiritual fishing; For this purpose, He came to the place where the prey lay before Him. Do you know what fishermen do? They do not cast nets at every place in the sea, but at places where they already know that there are fish there. After all, there are many places in the sea that deliver food to fish preferentially over others. So our Lord Jesus Christ, the Great God - according to prophecy, knew as God that here He could meet prey, i.e. this Samaritan woman. Just as fishermen choose those places where they hope to catch fish, so Christ came to the place where He could catch the Samaritan woman and through her make a great catch of people. This is how the reason why the evangelist indicated the place is explained. Why did he indicate the hour? After all, he says: “Jesus, weary from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about six o'clock." But listen now about time. The Samaritan woman was obviously from the poor and earned her livelihood through constant labor - poor in body and property, but not in piety of soul. Standing at the machine, she diligently did the work that fed her. At the sixth hour, when everyone was resting, she took a waterpot and carried water. The omniscient Lord knew, of course, that the time that everyone uses for rest, she uses to carry water, refusing to rest. Therefore, at the sixth hour He came here, knowing that at this very time she came for water and could serve as spiritual prey for him. Why did the Lord finally send His disciples away? “His disciples,” says the Gospel, “went into the city to buy food.” This poor woman, as we have already explained, was timid and would not have dared to raise her eyes in front of a large gathering. If she had seen the Teacher surrounded by disciples, disciples, a crowd of people, or generally seen anything special, important, impressive, brilliant, she would have immediately run away and thus the prey would have been lost. If she had not dared to approach, it means that the fish would have escaped from the nets, would not have been caught, but would have jumped out. That is why He sent the disciples to the city. Go, he says, buy food: you, go and buy it for yourself, but I have another meal: “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work” (John 4:34). You have carnal food, but I have spiritual food; you need to buy, and I need to redeem, - “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13), says the chosen vessel - Paul, - I want to catch this spiritual prey with water. Now you know why attention is paid here to the place, and the hour, and the absence of students; It's time to move on to the next step. “A woman comes from Samaria to draw water.” The Samaritan woman comes for water at the sixth hour, leaving her work at the machine in order to stock up on water during the hour of rest; it was, as has been said more than once, at six o’clock. When Eve transgressed the commandment in Paradise, it was six o'clock; but now the Samaritan woman received salvation at the source at the same sixth hour. A Samaritan woman came for water and saw Jesus. He impressed her as a simple wanderer, an ordinary traveler who was looking for rest and found a place for him at the spring. At the sight of such an insignificant person, she did not pay attention to Him. But He, the God who leads everything before their existence, having seen the treasure of faith, says to it: “Give Me a drink.” The source of life, sitting at the source, asks for a drink! He does not want to drink, but He wants to give the drink Himself. Give Me a drink, and I will give you the water of immortality to drink. I thirst for the salvation of people, I thirst not to drink, but to give them something to drink. I imitate My Father. He said to Abraham: give me your son; offer me Isaac, your beloved only begotten son, as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I will show you (Gen. 22:2). God did not say this, of course, wanting to take his son, but wanting to sacrifice His Son for the universe. 2. This is what the son of thunder, the divine John, says: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Give me your only begotten, so that I may give my only begotten to the world; sacrifice your son to Me, not to sacrifice to you, but to sacrifice to Me My Only Begotten Son for the salvation of the world, a living, acceptable, holy sacrifice. So it is here: “Give Me a drink,” not so that I can get drunk, but so that you can receive drink from Me. “The Samaritan woman said to Him: How can you, being a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink? for Jews do not communicate with Samaritans” (John 4:7, 9). Strict woman! This is what a harlot is vain about! This is how she keeps the law! This is generally the kind of Samaritans: they wallow in the mud of fornication and want to cleanse themselves by washing: “How can you, being a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink? for Jews do not communicate with Samaritans." The soul is filled with filth, and the body is thought to be cleansed. So is the Samaritan woman: her soul is defiled, and she argues about drinking water. What about Jesus? Didn't hit her? He did not say to her: I am God from God; I founded and established heaven and earth—are you arguing with Me about water and drink, O woman who stinks of sins? But what (He told her)? “If you knew the gift of God and Who says to you: Give Me a drink, then you yourself would ask Him, and He would give you living water” (John 4:10). You see how little by little He aroused her love to passion, saying: “If you knew the gift of God and Who says to you: Give Me a drink, then you yourself would ask Him, and He would give you living water.” What does the woman answer to this? “Mister! you have nothing to draw with, but the well is deep; Where did you get your living water from? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it, and his children and his cattle?” ( John 4:11–12 ). This woman had a great idea about the patriarch Jacob (listen, I ask you, with all attention), the Samaritan woman had a great opinion about Jacob, and she acquired great glory for him as a patriarch, as a righteous man, since he was the father of twelve patriarchs: the twelve tribes of Israel trace their origins to Jacob. She also knew, of course, that he fought with God and turned out to be so strong that God said to him: “Let Me go, for the dawn has risen.” Even God, wrestling with man, said: “Let Me go, because you are my friend, and the dawn has risen.” And he answers: “I will not let you go until you bless me” (Gen. 32:26). What kind of struggle is this between God and man and what does it mean if not that God had to put on our flesh for our sake? What did God tell him? You will no longer be called Jacob, but your name will be Israel: “For you have wrestled with God, and you will overcome men” (Gen. 32:28). That is why the Samaritan woman had a high opinion of this patriarch, that is why she said to the Lord: “Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself, and his children, and his cattle?” . What does Christ have to do with this? Notice the wisdom of the Lord, notice the condescension of the Mentor. He did not say to her: Yes, I am greater than your father Jacob. Nor did he tell her the way he told the Jews: “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58), or else: “Truly I say to you, many prophets and righteous people wanted to see what you see, but they did not see it” (Matthew 13:17). He did not say anything of the kind to her, but he is fighting with the patriarch and in a clear way he is fighting very strongly. Of course, if He had told her: yes, I am greater than Jacob: after all, he received the blessing from Me, and I gave it to him, then she could not so quickly raise her gaze to such a height of revelation and she would have had to run away. He did not tell her anything of the kind, but from visible phenomena he presented her with clear and indisputable proof. What exactly is He telling her? “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life” (John 4:13-14). There were persons mediating between Jacob and Christ, but He leaves the debate about persons and turns to the comparison between visible and invisible water - grace. After all, if He had said: yes, I am greater than Jacob, she would have immediately left, run away into the city, evaded the answer and, without listening to the explanation, would have begun to say in the city: is He crazy or crazy? He's either raging or delirious; a strange and insignificant man, and suddenly says that He is greater than our father, or better to say, the one who was the father of the twelve tribes of Israel, received a blessing from God, left his country poor, and returned - according to the special Providence of God for him - rich. But the Lord condescended to the woman and, applying himself to her weakness, little by little raised His interlocutor to the highest heights. Fishermen (as they do, listen carefully) throw a hook into the sea, and when they notice that the fish has taken it, they do not immediately pull it out, but gradually lower it to it so that without hindrance it swallows the bait properly, and when they feel that the hook has penetrated into its very entrails, then quickly, without any hesitation, they pull out the fish. This is what Christ did with the woman. He did not reveal to her from the very beginning the beauty of the Divine and did not give her promises of great blessings, did not announce Himself as the Creator of Jacob, but gradually prepares her soul for the perception of the truth with the following words: “Whoever drinks this water will thirst again, and whoever drinks the water that I will give him will never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life” (John 4:13-14). Without going into a comparison of persons, He points to the abundance of grace-filled gifts and thus actually shows His advantage over those, that is, Jacob and his sons. What does a woman have to do with this? “Mister! - she says, “give me this water, so that I won’t thirst and won’t have to come here to draw” (John 4:15). Do you see how quickly she believed that the water given by Christ no longer left room for thirst? “Mister! give me this water so that I won’t be thirsty and won’t have to come here to draw.” Gradually Christ aroused in her a strong desire for His spiritual water. She believed that there is water, after drinking which you no longer feel thirsty, the use of which destroys the writing of sins. “Mister! give me this water so that I won’t be thirsty and won’t have to come here to draw. Jesus says to her, “Go, call your husband and come here” (John 4:15–16). If you have, he says, a companion in life, let him share his faith with you; do not accept the gift of spiritual grace alone, but “go, call your husband and come here.” I did not come to save Eve alone through the Ever-Virgin and the Mother of God Mary, but I also want to call my husband back to Paradise, having become a husband myself. “Go, call your husband and come here.” Well, beloved, the teacher of the universe, Paul, wrote to the Corinthians for the same purpose: “Why do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband?” (1 Cor. 7:16). But let's not shy away. “Go, call your husband and come here. The woman answered: I don’t have a husband.” The wife had already begun to reveal her sins, began to confess and say, first of all: “I don’t have a husband.” I am plunged into the abyss of fornication and intemperance, and I have no husband. “Jesus says to her: You said the truth that you have no husband. For you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband; This is true what you said” (John 4:17–18). What does it mean: “For you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband”? Needs to be explained. This woman had five husbands, and they all died; after that she fell into fornication, and then no one wanted to enter into a legal marriage with her. She, not being able to curb her passions, had a secret affair. Thus, she was neither an obvious harlot nor a legal wife, she had a husband secretly: but she thought to deceive Christ as a man, saying to Him: “I have no husband.” To this, Christ, who knows the innermost secrets of hearts and knows everything before it happens, says to her: “You said the truth that you do not have a husband, for you had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband; That's right what you said. The woman says to Him: Lord! I see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where we should worship is in Jerusalem” (John 4:17-20). What kind of prophet do you see in Him, woman? Is it the one about whom Moses wrote: “A prophet... from your brothers... like me, the Lord your God will raise up for you” (Deut. 18:15), or some other one? Do you see Him in the One Who knows all the secrets of your heart? After all, it was the Lord’s indication of her secret sin that prompted her to recognize Him as a prophet: “Lord! I see that you are a prophet! Together with David, she had to exclaim now: “Cleanse me from my secrets” (Ps. 19:13). 3. Thus God sat, talking with the woman. Oh, great philanthropy! He who sits on the Cherubim talks with the prodigal wife. "God! I see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where we should worship is in Jerusalem." The harlot speaks about objects of faith; making sure that she is talking with the prophet, she does not ask Him about anything everyday. She confessed Him as Lord, but did not ask Him for wealth. "God! I see that you are a prophet." She confessed the Lord, but does not ask about anything other than the teachings of her father. “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where they should worship is in Jerusalem.” [On this mountain of Somor, Abraham sacrificed his own son Isaac to God, and in Jerusalem Jacob, on the way to Mesopotamia to Laban the Syrian, saw in a dream a ladder ascending from earth to heaven, and wrestled with God, which is why he said: “God Almighty appeared to me in Luz” (Gen. 48:3). Therefore, the Samaritan woman touches the teaching and says: “Lord! I see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where we should worship is in Jerusalem." What about the Lord? Again He answers with due wisdom. Since she saw Him as a Jew, and she herself was a Samaritan, the Lord did not want to give a direct answer to her question, not wanting to upset her or mislead her. After all, He was looking for only one thing - to guide this woman on the path of salvation, and nothing else was included in His goals. Therefore, He avoids everything that could lead her astray or shame her. Meanwhile, if He had told her that in Jerusalem there was a place where one should worship, as Moses commanded the children of Israel, then, of course, he would have aroused great discontent in her; especially since, as we have already said, she had for herself an ancient tradition about Mount Shechem, according to which on this very mountain Abraham, by the command of God, had to sacrifice Isaac. On the other hand, if He, condescending to her, said that this is precisely the mountain, and that the Samaritans, bowing on it, are doing well, then such words would, of course, not be true. Therefore, leaving earthly disputes to the earth, He raises His interlocutor to the thought of spiritual worship and says: “Believe Me that the time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem; ...true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such worshipers for Himself. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth” (John 4:21, 23–24). Do you see the best instruction, do you see the wisdom of a skillful Teacher? “Jesus says to her: Believe Me.” See how He stirs up a woman's faith. See how her soul is gradually raised to heaven, not shaming her for her appearance as a harlot, but serving the salvation of her soul. Why? Because He “came to call not the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32), because for the lost sheep, without departing from the bosom of His Fathers, He descended to us, bending the heavens, and became a perfect man, remaining Who He was. “Jesus says to her: Believe Me that ... the time will come and has already come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such worshipers for Himself. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth." The worship of God is not limited to a place, but the knowledge of Divine grace spreads everywhere; Jews and Samaritans no longer appropriate to themselves the symbols of the law. Whoever swears to God in spirit and in truth bows down with dignity. From now on, worship of God no longer lies in other people’s burnt offerings, bulls and rams; no more circumcision or Sabbath keeping; there is no church, no altar, no scapegoat, no Holy of Holies; the shadow and service and perverted Sabbaths were abolished. “New Moon and Saturdays,” says God through the prophet, “I cannot endure festive gatherings; ...your new moons and your festivals my soul hates” (Is. 1:13–14). “Those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.” All this passed like a shadow; the ancient has passed away; everything became new. Grace turned away from the letters. I no longer demand that those who worship God gather in one place according to the law; I want to spread the grace-filled gifts of salvation to the entire universe. “Their voice went out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world” (Rom. 10:18). “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth. The woman says to Him: I know that the Messiah will come, that is, Christ; when He comes, He will tell us everything” (John 4:24–25). Here is a harlot who philosophizes about spiritual things! Here is a harlot who can't get the Scripture off her tongue! And although her body was immersed in the uncleanness of fornication, her soul was cleansed by diligent reading of the Divine Scriptures. “I know that the Messiah will come.” "Messiah" literally means "Anointed One." That is why the Samaritan woman says: I am waiting for the Anointed One, whose flesh will be anointed with Divinity. “When He comes, He will tell us everything.” Oh, spiritual height! Oh, the woman is a harlot and knows everything! Look how she strives from the earthly to the heavenly. The Messiah calls the Messenger, the awaited Christ, coming to save the whole world. Prophet again! Lord again! And he no longer calls the Lord a Jew, no longer inquires about the gift of water, no longer says to Him: “How can you, being a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink? for Jews do not communicate with Samaritans” (John 4:9). But what? "God! I see that You are a prophet” (John 4:19) - and immediately about faith: “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where we should worship is in Jerusalem” (John 4:20). Notice how she admires the goodness of spiritual gifts. Notice how everything she does is based on Scripture. “I know that the Messiah will come, that is, Christ; when He comes, He will tell us everything” (John 4:25). I seek Him, I expect Him, I strive for Him. “Jesus says to her: It is I who speak to you” (John 4:26). Oh, great and extraordinary miracle! The Lord so clearly revealed to the harlot that which had not yet been revealed to many of the apostles. 4. He did not immediately reveal himself to the apostles—Cleopas and his companion—but when He opened their eyes, then He became invisible to them, so that they later said: “Didn’t our heart burn within us when He spoke to us on the road and when He explained the Scripture to us?” (Luke 24:32). He did not reveal himself to them, but he said to the Samaritan woman: “It is I who speak to you.” What He did for Paul alone, who ascended to the third heaven, was caught up in Paradise and heard ineffable words, grasped the universe, he did the same much earlier for the Samaritan woman. The Lord clearly revealed himself to Paul in words spoken from heaven: “Saul, Saul! Why are you persecuting Me? It's hard for you to go against the grain. Saul said: Who are you, Lord? He said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting” (Acts 26:14–15, 9:4–5). The Lord now says the same thing to the Samaritan woman: “It is I who speak to you.” At this time, the disciples come and find Him talking with a woman: “and they were surprised that He was talking with a woman” (John 4:27). The One Worshiped by the Angels talked with a harlot; He who shares the infinite Kingdom with the Father talked privately with the woman. And she, leaving the waterpot, hurried to the city. She left the waterpot, because she was filled with living water, and, coming to the townspeople, she loudly exclaimed: “Come, see the Man who told me everything that I did: is not this the Christ?” (John 4:29). "Come See the Man". She didn’t say: go, see God among people, so that they wouldn’t take her for madness, so that people wouldn’t say: she’s in a frenzy. In fact, has anyone ever seen God walking on earth? Has anyone ever seen God among people? “Come and see the Man who told me all that I have done.” She aroused in them the desire to go and become His prey; just as she herself was caught, so she caught others. She herself began with the “Jew” and reached the “Lord,” and she leads them from man to the knowledge of God. O harlot preacher! O harlot who surpassed the apostles! After all, only after the completion of the entire economy, only then did the apostles begin the apostolic preaching, and the harlot preaches the gospel of Christ even before suffering and atonement and resurrection. “Come and see the Man who told me all that I have done.” For your benefit I publicly declare my sins; I am divulging my vices so that you can see God who has come to people and worship Christ, who does not disdain sinners. “Come, see a man, who told me all things that I have done: whether this is the Christ.” Do you see the woman's wisdom? Do you see the good thoughts of the harlot? Christ told her about only one sin - namely fornication - and she left the waterpot and ran into the city, saying: “Come, see the Man who told me everything that I have done.” She preaches about His omniscience, and her preaching surpasses the preaching of the apostles. She did not see Him risen from the dead, did not see how He called Lazarus four days old from the tomb, did not see His victory over death, did not see the sea tamed by the word, did not see how the One who created Adam with clay made up for the lack of creation in the blind - and she preached about the One who in Paradise created from clay with a word. “Come and see the Man who told me everything that I have done. And many Samaritans from that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman, who testified that He told her everything that she had done” (John 4:29, 39). Let us also imitate this Samaritan woman in not being ashamed of our sins, but fearing God. And what happens now, as I see, is the opposite: we are not afraid of those who are coming to judge us, but we are afraid and ashamed of those who cannot harm us in the least. And for what we are ashamed of, we are punished for it. After all, the one who is ashamed to reveal a person’s sins, and is not ashamed to sin before the eyes of God, and then does not want to either confess his sins or repent, will be put to shame on that day, not before one or two, but before the entire universe. So, let's talk with Christ: He even now stands among us and talks with us through the prophets and apostles. Let us listen to Him and obey Him. How long will we live in vain and in vain? If we spend the time given to us here without benefit, then, when we leave here, we will be subject to severe punishment for careless spending. God gave us this present life and breathed into us a rational soul, not so that we would enjoy only this temporary life, but so that everyone would receive a future life. Unreasonable animals are given only real life, and this is why we have an immortal soul, in order to prepare for life there, in order to shine there, in order to rejoice with the Angels, in order to stand before the King always - to endless ages. For this reason, our soul is immortal, and our body will be returned to us. If, when the heavenly things are before you, you are tied to the earth, think what kind of offense you are inflicting on your Benefactor. He offers you heavenly things, but you, not paying attention to this, prefer earth? Neglected, He threatened you with Gehenna, so that you would learn from here what blessings you were deprived of. But may God save us from the danger of experiencing this punishment in practice! May those who have pleased Him be honored with eternal blessings, by the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom be glory and power with the Father and the All-Holy and Life-Giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen. Creations attributed to St. John Chrysostom and classified in the Minya edition as Spuria. You might be interested in: