Homilies on John, Homily 34

“The woman then left her water pot, went into the city, and said to the men, Come, see a Man who told me everything I ever did; isn't this the Christ?” [1.] We need great fervor and awakened zeal, because without them it is impossible to obtain the blessings promised to us. To show this, Christ says at one point, “Unless a man takes up his cross and follows Me, he is not worthy of Me” ( Matt. x. 38 ); at another, “I have come to send fire on the earth, and what more do I want if it is already kindled?” ( Luke xii. 49 ). Through both sayings He wants to show us a disciple full of heat and fire, prepared for every danger. This woman was such a disciple. His words so set her on fire that she left her water pot and the purpose for which she had come, ran into the city, and drew all the people to Jesus. “Come,” she says, “see a Man who told me everything I ever did.” Notice her zeal and wisdom. She came to draw water, and when she found the true Well, she no longer cared about the material one. Even through this small incident, she teaches us to overlook the things of this life and give them no importance when we are listening to spiritual matters. For this woman, too, did what the Apostles did, as far as she was able. When they were called, they left their nets; she leaves her water pot of her own accord, without anyone's command, and, given wings by joy, does the work of Evangelists. And she does not call just one or two, as Andrew and Philip did; she stirs up an entire city and its people and brings them to Him. Notice, too, how wisely she speaks. She did not say, “Come and see the Christ.” Instead, she draws the men to Him by accommodating their weakness, just as Christ had accommodated hers when He caught her in His net. “Come,” she says, “see a Man who told me everything I ever did.” She was not ashamed to say that He “told me everything I ever did.” Yet she could have put it differently: “Come, see someone who prophesies.” But when the soul is ablaze with holy fire, it pays attention to nothing earthly, neither glory nor shame, but belongs to one thing alone: the flame that fills it. “Isn't this the Christ?” Notice again the woman's great wisdom here. She neither stated the fact outright nor kept silent. She did not want to draw them in through her own assertion, but to have them share this opinion by hearing Him, which made her words more readily acceptable to them. Yet He had not told her about her entire life; rather, what He had said convinced her (that He was informed) about the rest. Nor did she say, “Come, believe,” but, “Come, see”—a gentler expression that attracted them more. Do you see the woman's wisdom? She knew, she knew for certain, that once they had tasted that Well, they would be affected just as she was. Yet anyone with a coarser character would have concealed Jesus' rebuke; she, however, puts her own life on display and brings it before everyone, to attract and capture them all. Ver. 31. “Meanwhile His disciples asked Him, saying, Master, eat.” “Asked” here means “implored” in their native language. Seeing Him exhausted by the journey and the oppressive heat, they pleaded with Him. Their request about food came from loving affection for their Teacher, not impatience. What, then, does Christ say? Ver. 32, 33. “I have food to eat that you know nothing about. Therefore” (says the Evangelist) “the disciples said to one another, Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?” Why, then, are you surprised that when the woman heard about “water,” she still thought He meant ordinary water, when even the disciples are in the same position, still thinking of nothing spiritual and remaining puzzled? Still, they show their usual modesty and reverence toward their Master, talking with one another but not daring to ask Him any question. They do this elsewhere, too, wanting to ask Him but not asking. What, then, does Christ say? Ver. 34. “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work.” Here He calls the salvation of human beings “food,” showing how eagerly He desires to provide for us. Just as we long for food, He longs for us to be saved. And notice how He never reveals everything immediately, but first puzzles His hearer. This way, after the hearer begins searching for the meaning of what has been said and finds himself puzzled and at a loss, he will welcome the answer more readily when it appears and listen more attentively. Why did He not say at once, “My food is to do the will of My Father”? (Even this would not have been clear, but it would have been clearer than the other saying.) Instead, what does He say? “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” As I said, He first wants to make them more attentive through their uncertainty, and through obscure sayings like these to train them to listen to His words. But what is “the will of the Father”? He speaks about this next and explains it. Ver. 35. “Don't you say that there are still four months, and then the harvest comes? Look, I tell you, Lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest.” [2.] See how He again uses familiar words to lead them to consider greater things. When He spoke of “food,” He meant nothing other than the salvation of the people who would come to Him. Again, the “field” and the “harvest” mean the very same thing: the multitude of souls prepared to receive the preaching. The “eyes” He speaks of are those of both the mind and the body (for they could now see the crowd of Samaritans approaching). He calls their willing readiness “fields already white.” For just as heads of grain become white and ready for reaping, so these people, He says, are prepared and ready for salvation. And why, instead of calling them “fields” and “harvest,” did He not say plainly that “the people were coming to believe and were ready to receive the Word, having been taught by the Prophets and now bearing fruit”? What do these figures of speech mean? He uses them throughout the Gospel, not just here, and the Prophets also follow the same method, saying many things through metaphors. What, then, is the reason for this? The grace of the Spirit did not arrange it this way without a reason. But why, and for what purpose? For two reasons. First, to make the discourse more vivid and bring what is said more clearly before our eyes. When the mind grasps a familiar image of the subject being discussed, it becomes more alert and, seeing it as though in a picture, becomes more deeply engaged with it. This is one reason. The other is to make the statement more pleasing and its memory more lasting. A bare assertion does not win over and draw in an ordinary hearer as effectively as a story told through concrete things and a portrayal of experience. We can see how wisely this parable accomplishes that. Ver. 36. “And he who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life.” The fruit of an earthly harvest benefits this temporary life, not eternal life; spiritual fruit benefits the life that knows neither aging nor death. Do you see that the expressions concern things we perceive with our senses, while the thoughts are spiritual, and that His very words distinguish earthly things from heavenly ones? When He spoke about water, He identified this as the special property of the heavenly Water: “he who drinks it will never thirst.” He does the same here when He says “that this fruit is gathered for eternal life.” “So that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.” Who is “he who sows”? Who is “he who reaps”? The Prophets sowed, but they did not reap; the Apostles did. “Yet this does not deprive them of the pleasure and reward of their labors. They rejoice and are glad with us, although they do not reap with us. For harvesting is different work from sowing. I have therefore reserved you for the work with less toil and greater pleasure, rather than for sowing, which involves much hardship and toil. In harvesting the return is large and the labor less; indeed, the work is very easy.” Through these arguments He wants to show here that “the Prophets' desire is for everyone to come to Me.” The Law, too, worked toward this, and they sowed for this purpose, to produce this fruit. He also shows that He sent them as well, and that the New Covenant and the Old are very closely connected. He accomplishes all of this at once through this parable. He also mentions a widely used proverb. Ver. 37. “In this,” He says, “the saying is true, One sows and another reaps.” People used these words whenever one party had done the work and another had reaped the fruits. He says “that the proverb is especially true in this instance, for the Prophets labored, and you reap the fruits of their labors.” He did not say “the rewards” (for their great labor did not go unrewarded), but “the fruits.” Daniel did this too, for he also mentions a proverb: “Wickedness comes from the wicked.” And David, in his lament, mentions a similar proverb. That is why He said beforehand “that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.” Since He was about to declare that “one has sown and another reaps,” He makes a strange and paradoxical assertion so that no one will think the Prophets have been deprived of their reward. It describes something that never happens in the material world and is unique to spiritual things. In the material world, if one person sows and another reaps, they do not “rejoice together.” Those who sowed are sad because they labored for others, and only those who reap rejoice. But here it is different: those who do not reap what they sowed rejoice just as much as those who reap. This makes it clear that they, too, share the reward. Ver. 38. “I sent you to reap what you did not labor over; others labored, and you have entered into their labors.” By this He encourages them still more. When it seemed very hard to go throughout the world and preach the Gospel, He shows them that it is actually very easy. The other work was the very difficult work, requiring great labor: planting the seed and introducing the untaught soul to the knowledge of God. But why does He say these things? So that when He sends them to preach, they will not be overwhelmed as though sent on a difficult task. “For the Prophets' work,” He says, “was more difficult, and the facts bear out My words that you have come to the easy part. At harvesttime the fruits are easily collected, and in a moment the threshing floor is filled with sheaves, without waiting for the cycle of the seasons, winter, spring, and rain. So it is now. The facts proclaim it aloud.” While He was saying these things, the Samaritans came out, and the fruit was gathered at once. That is why He said, “Lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are white.” He spoke these words, and the facts were clear; what happened showed His words to be (true). For St. John says, Ver. 39. “Many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the woman's testimony, He told me everything I ever did.” They realized that the woman would not have admired someone who had rebuked her sins simply out of partiality toward Him, or put her own way of life on display to please someone else. [3.] Let us also imitate this woman, then, and when it comes to our own sins, let us fear God as we should, rather than be ashamed before people. He sees what we do now and will later punish those who do not repent now. At present we do the opposite: we do not fear Him who will judge us, but shudder before people who do us no harm at all and tremble at the shame they bring on us. And so we suffer punishment in the very thing we fear. Anyone who now cares only about people's reproach, but feels no shame about doing anything disgraceful while God watches, and will not repent and turn back, will be publicly exposed on that day, before the whole world, not merely one or two people. To learn that a vast assembly sits there to witness righteous actions as well as unrighteous ones, look to the parable of the sheep and the goats, and also to blessed Paul when He says, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive what is due for the things done in his body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” ( 2 Cor. v. 10 ), and again, “Who will bring to light the hidden things of darkness.” ( 1 Cor. iv. 5.) Have you done or imagined something evil and hidden it from people? Yet you have not hidden it from God. But you care nothing about that; people's eyes are what you fear. Consider, then, that on that day you will not be able to escape even people's sight. Everything will then be set before our very eyes, as in a picture, so that each person will condemn himself. This is clear even from the example of Dives: he saw standing before his eyes the poor man he had neglected—I mean Lazarus—and he begged that the finger he had so often loathed might then bring him comfort. I urge you, therefore, even if no one sees what we do, to let each of us enter his own conscience, appoint reason as his judge, and bring forward his transgressions. If he does not want them exposed to public view on that fearful day, let him heal his wounds now and apply the medicines of repentance to them. For someone covered with ten thousand wounds can, yes, can leave this life whole. For He says, “If you forgive, your sins are forgiven you.” ( Matt. vi. 14 , not verbally quoted.) Just as sins buried in Baptism appear no more, these sins too will disappear if we are willing to repent. And repentance means not doing the same thing again. Anyone who puts his hand to the same thing again is like the dog returning to its own vomit, and like the man in the proverb who combs wool into the fire and draws water into a barrel full of holes. We must therefore turn away, both in action and in thought, from what we have dared to do. Once we have turned away, we must apply remedies to our wounds that are the opposites of our sins. For example, have you been grasping and greedy? Stop plundering, and apply almsgiving to the wound. Have you been having sex outside marriage? Stop having sex outside marriage, and apply chastity to the wound. Have you spoken evil of your brother and injured him? Stop finding fault, and apply kindness. Let us act this way in every matter in which we have sinned, and let us not carelessly pass over our sins. For a time of accounting awaits us in the life to come, awaits us. That is also why Paul said, “The Lord is near: be anxious about nothing.” ( Philip. iv. 5, 6.) But perhaps we must add the opposite: “The Lord is near, be concerned.” They could rightly hear, “Be anxious about nothing,” living as they did in affliction, labor, and trials. But those who live by plundering or in luxury, and will have to give a terrible account, would reasonably hear the other saying instead: “The Lord is near, be concerned.” For little time now remains until the consummation; the world is hurrying toward its end. The wars declare this, the afflictions declare it, the earthquakes declare it, and so does the love that has grown cold. Just as a body in its last gasp and close to death draws ten thousand sufferings upon itself, and just as many pieces usually fall from the roof and walls before a house collapses, so the end of the world is near, at the very doors, and that is why ten thousand woes are scattered everywhere. If the Lord was “near” then, He is much more “near” now. If three hundred years ago, when those words were spoken, Paul called that period “the fullness of time,” he would all the more have called the present that. But perhaps this very reason makes some people disbelieve, though it should make them believe all the more. For how do you know, you who question this, that the end is not “near” and that these words will not soon be fulfilled? We speak of the end of the year as including the last month, even though it has thirty days, and not just the last day. In the same way, if out of so many years I call even four hundred years “the end,” I will not be wrong. And so Paul spoke of the end in anticipation at that time. Let us put our lives in order, then; let us delight in the fear of God. For if we live here without fearing Him, His coming will take us by surprise, suddenly, when we are neither concerned nor expecting Him. Christ declared this when He said, “For as in the days of Noah, and as in the days of Lot, so it will be at the end of this world.” ( Matt. xxiv. 37 , not verbally quoted.) Paul also declared it when he said, “For when they say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them, like labor pains upon a pregnant woman.” ( 1 Thess. v. 3.) What does “like labor pains upon a pregnant woman” mean? Pregnant women have often been suddenly seized by their pains while enjoying themselves, eating a meal, or spending time in the bath or marketplace, without any warning of what was coming. Since our situation is like theirs, let us always be prepared. We will not always hear these things; we will not always have the power to do them. “In the grave,” David says, “who will give You thanks?” ( Ps. vi. 5.) Let us repent here, then, so that we may find God merciful to us on the coming day and be able to enjoy abundant forgiveness. May we all obtain it through the grace and loving kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and dominion now and forever, and for ages without end. Amen.