John 4:28Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

We must greatly stir up zeal and diligence within ourselves. Without this it is impossible to obtain the good things promised to us.

Christ shows this when He says, “He who does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me” (Mt 10:38). Or again, “I came to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled” (Lk 12:49).

In both cases He wishes to present to us a disciple who is burning, aflame, and ready for every danger. Such was the Samaritan woman.

She was so set on fire by everything Christ had said to her that she left both her water jar and the task for which she had come. Hurrying into the city, she drew the whole people to Jesus.

From the Lord's words the woman's heart burned so greatly that she left even her water jar. So quickly did she prefer the water of Christ to Jacob's well. By faith, which embraced her heart, she is raised to the rank of apostle. She teaches and draws a whole city.

This woman now proves to be above bodily cares, though yesterday and the day before she had had many husbands and had often surrendered herself to empty pleasures. Now she overcomes the body’s natural need, despises thirst and drink, and is transformed by faith toward another life.

At once giving herself wholly to love for others, the fairest of all virtues, she runs with great haste into the city, in order to announce to others the good that had been revealed to her.

The Savior’s voice was probably sounding within her and secretly whispering in her mind: “Freely you have received, freely give” (Mt 10:8).

Through this we must learn not to emulate that sloth-loving servant (Mt 25:18), who, because of laziness, buries the talent in the ground. Rather, we must strive to cultivate it.

Hear, “I who speak to you am He.” Having received the Lord Christ in her heart, what else could she do but leave her hydria and go to proclaim the good news?

She cast away desire and hastened to announce the truth. Let this be instruction for those who wish to preach the Gospel: let them leave the hydria at the well.

Remember what I said earlier about the hydria. It is a vessel for drawing water; in Greek it is called hydria, because in Greek hydor means water. It is as though we said “bucket.”

So she threw away the hydria, which was no longer useful to her but only weighed her down. For she longed eagerly to drink that water.

To announce Christ, having left the burden behind, she rushed into the city and said to the people there, “Come, see a Man who told me all that I ever did.”

She came to the sensible spring, but finding the spiritual one, she burned so with the fire of spiritual streams that she left the vessel and the need for which she had come. She ran into the city and drew all the people to Jesus Christ. By this she teaches us also to despise everything earthly when we have attained the spiritual.

When the Merciful One was at the well, as they tell, the Samaritan woman lifted a vessel onto her shoulders and came, leaving Sychar, her native city. Who would not bless her departure and her coming? For she went out in uncleanness and came in the image of the spotless Church. She went out and absorbed life like a sponge. She went out with water and came with God. Who would not bless this woman? More than this, who would not honor in her the image of the Church, which came forth from the Gentiles and received joy and forgiveness?

At once, as one truly chosen to proclaim the Gospel, she rose. Leaving the water jar, she ran into the city, and by the following words she turns everyone and leads them to faith in the One she had seen.

Behold her zeal for faith and the ardor of her soul. She came to the well to draw material water. But since there she was counted worthy to drink life-giving water, she at once left her water jar there, just as the divine Apostles left their nets.

She ran into the city, preaching and proclaiming the good news, and bestowing on others the gift of salvation. “Come,” she says to her fellow citizens, “and see a Man who told me everything I ever did.”

Humility overcame natural shame. She did not say to them, “Go and see a prophet,” or, “a knower of hearts.” Rather she says, “Go, see a Man who told me everything I ever did,” that is, even my secret deeds.

Overjoyed by the unexpected happiness of seeing the Messiah, the Samaritan woman leaves her water jar at the well. She hastens into the city to announce to all the coming of the Messiah, that He is here, now sitting at the well.

Meanwhile the woman, forgetting even her water jar from the amazement that had seized her, ran into the city to tell of her wondrous meeting. A man had appeared who disclosed to her the very secrets of her life. Could He be the Christ, the Messiah? The Samaritans, who in every Gospel notice concerning them appear simpler and more receptive to persuasion than the Jews, soon ran out of the city at her word. When their approach could already be seen, the disciples urged the Savior to eat, for it was already past noon, and He was so exhausted from the journey.

"Then," after the disciples came, by whom the woman's conversation with the Lord was interrupted. "She left her water jar." This is outwardly a small detail, but inwardly important in meaning. "She burned so with the fire of spiritual thoughts that she left the vessel and the need for which she had come" (Euthymius Zigabenus; cf. Theophylact).

Verses 28-30. The Samaritan woman was so struck by all that she had seen and heard that she forgot why she had come to the well. She leaves her water jars and runs into the city to share her impressions.

Both from the modesty of her soul and from the position in which a woman was then placed, she does not take it upon herself to assure her fellow citizens that she has found the Messiah.

She tells them what she heard from Jesus and leaves them to decide whether He is not the Messiah.

“He told me all that I ever did,” she says. Her soul was filled with reverence for the One sent and with dissatisfaction with herself. Before everyone she speaks of her sins and of the glory of God.

She thinks neither of human rumor nor of shame. How she has been reborn for a new life! The Shechemites were so sensible that they listened to the sensible woman and went to Jesus.