The Great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide: S. John
Listen to S. Augustine expounding these words of Christ (lib. De Spec. c. i). “ God is a Spirit incomprehensible, incorporeal, immutable , that cannot be bounded by space, everywhere whole, nowhere divided : everywhere present, ineffably penetrating all things, containing all things, knowing all things, beholding all things; Almighty, governing all things : wholly in heaven, wholly in earth, wholly everywhere. Always working, always resting, gathering, but needing not, carrying all things without being burdened, filling all things, but not included in them, creating and protecting, nourishing and perfecting all things. Thou seekest, but Thou never wantest anything. Loving, but not inflamed. Thou art jealous, but untroubled. Thou repentest without grieving. Thou art angry, and tranquil all the while. Thou changest Thy works, but Thy counsel knows no alteration. Thou holdest all things, fillest all things, embracest all things, art above all things, sustainest all things. Nor dost Thou in one part sustain, and in another super-exceed : nor in one part dost Thou fill, and in another include.
In sustaining Thou super-exceedest, and in super-exceeding Thou sustainest. Thou teachest the hearts of the faithful without the service of words, ‘ reaching from one end to another mightily, and sweetly disposing all things.’”
What is God? Listen to Arnobius invoking Him (lib. 1, Cont.
Gent.). “O greatest and highest Creator of things invisible: Thou art invisible, and art never comprehended by any other natures. Worthy, indeed worthy art Thou, if only Thou mayest be called worthy by mortal lips, after whom all intelligent nature aspires, and to whom it never ceases to give thanks : to whom every living thing ought continually to bend the knee, and supplicate with unceasing prayers. For Thou art the First Cause : the locality and space of things : the foundation of whatsoever is infinite, unborn, immortal, eternal, the Only One, whom no corporeal form outlines, no circumscription bounds, without quality or size, without situation, motion, or hold: concerning whom nothing can be said or expressed by mortal words : and that Thou mayest be understood, we must be silent ; and that as in a shadow a fallible look may seek after Thee, nothing whatsoever must be muttered.”
Ver. 25. — The woman saith, &c. Cometh , Greek, ἔρχεται, present tense, is come , who will presently solve all things that are doubtful to us in religion, and will teach us where, when, and how God is to be worshipped. The woman knew this by common speech and report
For already the sceptre had been transferred from Judah to Herod, and Daniel’s seventy weeks were fulfilled, so that all men knew that the time for the Advent of Messiah was close at hand. The Jews thought that John the Baptist was Messiah : but he himself attested that Jesus was Messiah. Wherefore through this assertion of the Baptist the report was widely diffused that Messiah had come.
Who is called Christ. These are not the words of the woman, who spake only in the Hebrew or Syrian language, but of the Evangelist interpreting the Hebrew word Messiah , by Christ, the Anointed One .
Ver. 26. — Jesus saith , &c. “I am the Messias, or the Christ. Have faith in Me : receive My doctrine and my law, that thou mayest be saved and blessed.” Christ both spoke this with the outward voice, but still more with an inward voice, illuminating the woman’s mind, and kindling her will, to love and reverence Him. Whereon the woman believed straightway, and moved her whole city to believe in Him.
Ver. 27. — And immediately , &c. Origen, S. Cyril, and others, think it is meant that the disciples marvelled at the humility of Christ that He should condescend to talk with a poor and foreign woman. But if so, the Evangelist would have written, that He should talk with such a woman . Wherefore S. Cyprian (Tract. de Sing. Clericorum) and others better explain thus ; — that Christ was not accustomed to talk with women alone, and with this end in view, that He might give an example of chastity and prudence to all the faithful, but especially to clerics, priests, preachers, and religious. For rightly says the wise man, “ A moth proceedeth from a garment, and so doth the iniquity of man from the woman ” (Ecclus. xlii. 13).
Hence Eliseus and all the saints most carefully avoided converse with women. It was their common opinion that women can be approached with but little profit, and with great peril, either to the woman or the man — peril of chastity, or at the least, of reputation.
You will say — Are then women to be neglected ? I answer, By no means : but let them be taught in public preaching, or catechising . If they are sick, or there be any other reason why the priest should come to them, let it be in an open place, acting as Christ here did : and let a witness be present, as S. Charles Borromeo took care should always be in his own case.
Ver. 28. — She left ; &c. “ Having heard Him say,” saith S. Augustine , “I am He that talketh with thee,” and having received the Lord Christ into her heart, what could she do but leave her pitcher, and run to preach the Gospel ? ” For she knew that Jesus must be a Prophet because He had revealed to her the secrets of her heart. When therefore He declared that He was Messias, she believed in Him, knowing that He was a man worthy of credit, who could neither deceive, nor be deceived. Wherefore she ran into the city without delay, fearing lest Jesus might go away if she tarried. As S. Chrysostom says, “ She had come to draw water, but as soon as she found the true Fountain she despised the other ; and by the grace which came down upon her from above, she discharges the office of an Apostle.”
For this is the Spirit of Christ, to infuse into those whom He converts zeal for converting others, that they may make others partakers of that great benefit which they feel in themselves. Elegantly and piously does S. Ambrose write of this ( Serm . 30) : “ By a new kind of marvel, the woman, who came to the well of Samaria a harlot, went away chaste from the fountain of Christ. And she who came to fetch water carried back modesty. For as soon as the Lord showed her her sins, she knew and confessed them : she announced Christ to be the Saviour. And leaving her water-pot at the well, she does not carry a pitcher back to the city, but she brings grace. She seems to return without a load, but she goes back full of sanctity. She returned full, I say, because she came a sinner, she returns a preacher. And she who had left her water-pot carried back the fulness of Christ. She brought back no harm to her city, for though, it is true, she carried no water to it, she brought the whole well of salvation.”
Ver. 29 . — Come and see , &c. Saith Cyril, “Giving an account of the miracle, she prepared her hearers to believe:” because although, as S. Chrysostom says, she had not heard the whole history of her life from Christ, from what she did hear she believed (He knew) the rest.
Is not this the Christ? “She speaks as though hesitating, that they might give their opinion,” said Euthymius. For she herself had no doubt, but firmly believed Jesus to be the Messiah. As S. Chrysostom says, “ Observe the immense wisdom of this woman : she neither affirms nor denies that He is the Christ. She did not wish that she should be the author of their believing in Him. She wished them to be persuaded by hearing Him for themselves, which persuasion would be far more likely to happen in that way. For without doubt she understood that if they once tasted of that Fountain, they would have the same opinion about it that she had.” This Samaritan woman then, by the conversation and grace of Christ, from a sinner became a penitent and a saint, yea a preacher of Christ like Mary Magdalen.
Her proper name was Photina, who is reckoned among the Saints in the Roman Martyrology on the 20th of March, in the words following : “ On the same day Saint Photina, the Samaritan woman, her sons, Joseph and Victor: also Sebastian, a general, Anatolius, Photius, &c., brothers, who all confessed Christ and obtained martyrdom.” On which Baronius says, “The Greek Menology assigns this day for her commemoration.” Her head is religiously preserved at Rome, in the basilica of S. Paul, where I have seen it amongst other relics of the saints.
Ver. 30 . — They went out, &c. And from what they saw of the wisdom and holiness of His words and manners, they believed in Him as the Messiah, as is plain from verse 42. “The hardness of the Jews,” says Cyril, “ is reproved by the readiness to believe of the Samaritans.” For the Samaritans were converted by one conversation of Christ, but the Jews after three years of His preaching , and after all the many miracles which He had wrought, would not believe.
Ver. 31 . — In the meanwhile , &c. “This,” says S. Chrysostom, “they did out of love and zeal for their Master, seeing Him wearied with the heat and the journey.” At the same time they were thinking about themselves. Hungry and tired as they were, they wished to eat, but did not venture to do so until Christ should commence, and bless the meal, as was His wont. “Jesus was accustomed,” says Theophylact, “to accept the gift of food when offered, though He giveth food to all flesh. This He did, that they who presented it might gain merit, and that no one might be ashamed to be poor, nor think it hard to be fed by others.” For it is fitting that Teachers should have other persons to provide food for them, that they themselves having no other cares may be careful only about the ministry of the word.