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8 </head> |
| 35 | 9 <body style="text-align:justify"> |
| 10 <blockquote> | |
| 11 <center> | |
| 12 <p style="text-align: center"><span style= | |
| 13 "font-size: 60pt">4</span></p> | |
| 14 <p><span style="font-weight: bold">LECTURE I</span></p> | |
| 15 </center> | |
| 16 <blockquote> | |
| 17 <p>1 When, therefore, Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard | |
| 18 that he was making more disciples and baptizing more than John 2 | |
| 19 (although Jesus did not himself baptize, but his disciples did), 3 | |
| 20 he left Judea, and went again to Galilee. 4 He had, however, to | |
| 21 pass through Samaria. 5 He came therefore to a city of Samaria, | |
| 22 called Sychar, near the plot of land which Jacob had given to his | |
| 23 son Joseph. 6 This was the site of Jacob’s well. Jesus, tired | |
| 24 from his journey, rested there at the well. It was about the sixth | |
| 25 hour. 7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to | |
| 26 her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (His disciples had gone to | |
| 27 the town to buy some food.) 9 So the Samaritan woman said to him, | |
| 28 “How is it that you, being a Jew, ask me, a woman of Samaria, | |
| 29 for a drink?” (Recall that the Jews had nothing to do with | |
| 30 the Samaritans.)</p> | |
| 31 </blockquote> | |
| 32 <p>549 Having set forth the teaching of Christ on spiritual | |
| 33 regeneration, and that Christ had given this grace of spiritual | |
| 34 regeneration to the Jews, he now shows how Christ gave this grace | |
| 35 to the Gentiles. Now the salutary grace of Christ had been | |
| 36 dispensed in two ways to the Gentiles: through teaching and through | |
| 37 miracles. “Going forth, they preached everywhere”: this | |
| 38 is the teaching; “the Lord cooperated with them, and | |
| 39 confirmed the word with signs”. These are the miracles (Mk | |
| 40 16:20).</p> | |
| 41 <p>First, he shows the future conversion of the Gentiles through | |
| 42 teaching. Secondly, their future conversion through miracles (v | |
| 43 43). As to the first, he does two things. First, he sets down | |
| 44 certain matters preliminary to the teaching. Secondly, he presents | |
| 45 the teaching and its effect (v 10). As to the first, he sets down | |
| 46 three preliminary facts. First, what relates to the one teaching. | |
| 47 Secondly, something about the matter taught. Thirdly, something | |
| 48 about who received the instruction (v 7). As to the person | |
| 49 teaching, the preliminary remark is about his journey to the place | |
| 50 where he taught. Here he does three things. First, he gives the | |
| 51 place which he left, that is, from Judea. Secondly, the place where | |
| 52 he was going, to Galilee. Thirdly, the place through which he | |
| 53 passed, Samaria. As to the first, he does three things. First, he | |
| 54 gives the reason for his leaving Judea. Secondly, he explains | |
| 55 certain facts included in this reason. Thirdly, he describes | |
| 56 Christ’s departure from Judea (v 3).</p> | |
| 57 <p>550 The Evangelist says, <span style="font-weight: bold">When, | |
| 58 therefore, Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard,</span> | |
| 59 because he wished to show that after the Baptist had calined the | |
| 60 envy of his disciples, Jesus avoided the ill will of the | |
| 61 Pharisees.</p> | |
| 62 <p>551 Since we read: “All things were known to the Lord God | |
| 63 before they were created” (Sir 23:29), and “All things | |
| 64 are naked and open to his eyes” (Heb 4:13), it seems that we | |
| 65 should ask why Jesus is said to acquire new knowledge. We must | |
| 66 answer that Jesus, in virtue of his divinity, knew from eternity | |
| 67 all things, past, present and to come, as the scriptural passages | |
| 68 cited above indicate. Nevertheless, as man, he did begin to know | |
| 69 certain things through experiential knowledge. And it is this | |
| 70 experiential knowledge that is indicated when it says here, | |
| 71 <span style="font-weight: bold">When Jesus learned,</span> after | |
| 72 the news was brought to him, <span style="font-weight: bold">that | |
| 73 the Pharisees had heard.</span> And Christ willed to acquire this | |
| 74 knowledge anew as a concession, to show the reality of his human | |
| 75 nature, just as he willed to do and endure many other things | |
| 76 characteristic of human nature.</p> | |
| 77 <p>552 Why does he say: <span style="font-weight: bold">the | |
| 78 Pharisees had heard that he was making more disciples and baptizing | |
| 79 more than John,</span> when this would seem to be of no concern to | |
| 80 them? For they persecuted John and did not believe in him: for as | |
| 81 Matthew says (21:25), when the Lord questioned them about the | |
| 82 source of John’s baptism, they said: “ ‘If we say | |
| 83 from heaven, he will say to us, “Why then did you not believe | |
| 84 him?” “ Thus they did not believe in John.</p> | |
| 85 <p>There are two answers to this. One is that those disciples of | |
| 86 John who had spoken against Christ were either Pharisees or allies | |
| 87 of the Pharisees. For we see in Matthew (9:11, 14), that the | |
| 88 Pharisees along with the disciples of John raised questions against | |
| 89 the disciples of Christ. And so according to this explanation, | |
| 90 then, the Evangelist says that <span style= | |
| 91 "font-weight: bold">When, therefore, Jesus learned that the | |
| 92 Pharisees had heard,</span> that is, after he learned that | |
| 93 John’s disciples, who were Pharisees or allied with the | |
| 94 Pharisees, had raised questions and had been disturbed about his | |
| 95 baptism and that of his disciples, <span style= | |
| 96 "font-weight: bold">he left Judea.</span></p> | |
| 97 <p>Or, we might say that the Pharisees were disturbed at | |
| 98 John’s preaching due to their envy, and for this reason they | |
| 99 persuaded Herod to arrest him. This is plain from Matthew (17:12), | |
| 100 where Christ, speaking of John, says, “Elijah has already | |
| 101 come ... and they did with him whatever they wanted,” and | |
| 102 then he adds, “so also will the Son of Man suffer from | |
| 103 them.” The Gloss comments on this that it was the Pharisees | |
| 104 who incited Herod to arrest John and put him to death. Thus it | |
| 105 seems probable that they felt the same way toward Christ because of | |
| 106 what he was preaching. And this is what it says, that is, the | |
| 107 envious Pharisees and persecutors of Christ <span style= | |
| 108 "font-weight: bold">had heard,</span> with the intention of | |
| 109 persecuting him, <span style="font-weight: bold">that he was making | |
| 110 more disciples and baptizing more than John.</span></p> | |
| 111 <p>553 This kind of hearing is described by Job (28:22): | |
| 112 “Death and destruction have said: We have heard of his | |
| 113 deeds.” The good, on the other hand, hear in order to obey: | |
| 114 “We have heard him in Ephrathah” (Ps 131:6), followed | |
| 115 by, “We will adore at his footstool.”</p> | |
| 116 <p>The Pharisees heard two things. First, that Christ made more | |
| 117 disciples than John. This was right and reasonable, for as we read | |
| 118 above (3:30), Christ must increase and John must decrease. The | |
| 119 second thing was that Christ baptized; and rightly so, because he | |
| 120 cleanses: “Wash me from my injustice” (Ps 50:4), and | |
| 121 again in Psalm (7:7): “Rise up, O Lord,” by baptizing, | |
| 122 “in the command you have given,” concerning baptism, | |
| 123 “and a congregation of people,” united through baptism, | |
| 124 “will surrond you.”</p> | |
| 125 <p>554 Then when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">although | |
| 126 Jesus did not himself baptize,</span> he explains what he has just | |
| 127 said about Christ’s baptizing. Augustine says that there is | |
| 128 an apparent inconsistency here: for he had stated that Jesus was | |
| 129 baptizing, whereas now he says, as though correcting himself, | |
| 130 <span style="font-weight: bold">Jesus did not himself | |
| 131 baptize.</span></p> | |
| 132 <p>There are two ways to understand this. This first way is that of | |
| 133 Chrysostom. What the Evangelist now says is true, i.e., that Christ | |
| 134 did not baptize. When he said above that Jesus was baptizing, this | |
| 135 was the report received by the Pharisees. For certain people came | |
| 136 to the Pharisees and said: You are envious of John because he has | |
| 137 disciples and is baptizing. But Jesus is making more disciples than | |
| 138 John. and is also baptizing. Why do you put up with him? So the | |
| 139 Evangelist is not himself saying that Jesus was baptizing, but only | |
| 140 that the Pharisees heard that he was. It is with the intention of | |
| 141 correcting this false rumor that the Evangelist says: It is true | |
| 142 that the Pharisees heard that Christ was baptizing, but this is not | |
| 143 true. So he adds: <span style="font-weight: bold">although Jesus | |
| 144 did not himself baptize, but his disciples did.</span> And so for | |
| 145 Chrysostom, Christ did not baptize, because the Holy Spirit was not | |
| 146 given at any time before the passion of Christ in the baptism of | |
| 147 John and his disciples. The purpose of John’s baptism was to | |
| 148 accustom men to the baptism of Christ and to gather people in order | |
| 149 to instruct them, as he says. Moreover, it would not have been | |
| 150 fitting for Christ to baptize if the Holy Spirit were not given in | |
| 151 his baptism; but the Spirit was not given until after the passion | |
| 152 of Christ, as we read below (7:39): “The Spirit had not yet | |
| 153 been given, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.”</p> | |
| 154 <p>According to Augustine, however, one should say, and this is the | |
| 155 preferable, way, that the disciples did baptize with the baptism of | |
| 156 Christ, that is, in water and the Spirit, and the Spirit was given | |
| 157 in this baptism, and also that Christ did and did not baptize. | |
| 158 Christ did baptize because he performed the interior cleansing; but | |
| 159 he did not baptize because he did not wash them externally with the | |
| 160 water. It was the office of’ the disciples to wash the body, | |
| 161 while Christ gave the Spirit which cleansed within. So in the | |
| 162 proper sense Christ did baptize, according to: “The man on | |
| 163 whom you see the Spirit come down and rest is the one who is to | |
| 164 baptize with the Holy Spirit,” as was said above (1:33).</p> | |
| 165 <p>With respect to the opinion of Chrysostorn that the Holy Spirit | |
| 166 was not yet given and so on, we might say that the Spirit was not | |
| 167 yet given in visible signs, as he was given to the disciples after | |
| 168 the resurrection; nevertheless, the Spirit had been given and was | |
| 169 being given to believers through an interior sanctification.</p> | |
| 170 <p>The fact that Christ was not always baptizing gives an example | |
| 171 to us that the major prelates of the churches should not occupy | |
| 172 themselves with things that can be performed by others, but should | |
| 173 allow them to be done by those of lesser rank: “Christ did | |
| 174 not send me to baptize, but to preach the Gospel” (1 Cor | |
| 175 1:17).</p> | |
| 176 <p>555 If someone should ask whether Christ’s disciples had | |
| 177 been baptized, it could be said, as Augustine answered Stelentius, | |
| 178 that they had been baptized with the baptism of John, because some | |
| 179 of Christ’s disciples had been disciples of John. Or, which | |
| 180 is more likely, they were baptized with the baptism of Christ, in | |
| 181 order that Christ might have baptized servants through whom he | |
| 182 would baptize others. This is the meaning of what is said below | |
| 183 (13:10): “He who has bathed does not need to wash, except his | |
| 184 feet,” and then follows, “and you are clean, but not | |
| 185 all.”</p> | |
| 186 <p>556 He then mentions Christ’s going away, <span style= | |
| 187 "font-weight: bold">he left Judea.</span> He left for three | |
| 188 reasons. First, to get away from the envy of the Pharisees, who | |
| 189 were disturbed because of what they had heard about Christ, and | |
| 190 were preparing to harass him. By this he gives us the example that | |
| 191 we should, with gentleness, yield ground to evil for a time: | |
| 192 “Do not pile wood on his fire” (Sir 8:4). Another | |
| 193 reason was to show us that it is not sinful to flee from | |
| 194 persecution: “If they persecute you in one town, flee to | |
| 195 another” (Mt 10:23). The third reason was that the time of | |
| 196 his passion had not yet come: “My time has not yet | |
| 197 come” (above 2:4). And there is an additional reason, a | |
| 198 mystical one: he indicated by his leaving that because of | |
| 199 persecution the disciples were destined to abandon the Jews and go | |
| 200 to the Gentiles.</p> | |
| 201 <p>557 Then when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">and went | |
| 202 again to Galilee,</span> he shows where he was going. He says, | |
| 203 <span style="font-weight: bold">again,</span> because above (2:12) | |
| 204 he had mentioned another time when Christ went to Galilee: when he | |
| 205 went to Capernaum after the miracle at the wedding. Since the other | |
| 206 three evangelists did not mention this first trip, the Evangelist | |
| 207 says <span style="font-weight: bold">again</span> to let us know | |
| 208 that the other evangelists had mentioned none of the matters he | |
| 209 mentions up to this point, and that he is now beginning to give his | |
| 210 account contemporaneous with theirs. According to one | |
| 211 interpretation, Galilee is understood to signify the Gentile world, | |
| 212 to which Christ passed from the Jews; for Galilee means | |
| 213 “passage.” According to another interpretation, Galilee | |
| 214 signifies the glory of heaven, for Galilee also means | |
| 215 “revelation.”</p> | |
| 216 <p>558 Then he describes the intermediate place through which | |
| 217 Christ passed; first in a general way, then specifically.</p> | |
| 218 <p>559 On his way to Galilee, Christ passes through Samaria; hence | |
| 219 he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">He had to pass through | |
| 220 Samaria.</span> He says, <span style="font-weight: bold">had to | |
| 221 pass,</span> lest he seem to be acting contrary to his own | |
| 222 teaching, for Christ says in Matthew (10:5): “Do not go on | |
| 223 the roads of the Gentiles.” Now since Samaria was Genthe | |
| 224 territory, he shows that he went there of necessity and not by | |
| 225 choice. Thus he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">had to | |
| 226 pass,</span> the reason being that Samaria was between Judea and | |
| 227 Galilee.</p> | |
| 228 <p>It was Amri, the king of Israel, who bought the hill of Samaria | |
| 229 from a certain Somer (1 Kgs 16:24); and it was there he built the | |
| 230 city which he called Samaria, after the name of the person from | |
| 231 whom he bought the land. After that, the kings of Israel used it as | |
| 232 their royal city, and the entire region surrounding this city was | |
| 233 called Samaria. When we read here that Christ <span style= | |
| 234 "font-weight: bold">had to pass through Samaria,</span> we should | |
| 235 understand the region rather than the city.</p> | |
| 236 <p>560 Describing it in more detail, he adds, <span style= | |
| 237 "font-weight: bold">He came therefore to a city of Samaria,</span> | |
| 238 i.e., of the region of Samaria, <span style= | |
| 239 "font-weight: bold">called Sychar.</span> This Sychar is the same | |
| 240 as Shechem. Genesis (33:18) says that Jacob camped near here and | |
| 241 that two of his sons, enraged at the rape of Dinah, Jacob’s | |
| 242 daughter, by the son of the king of Shechem, killed all the males | |
| 243 in that city. And so Jacob took possession of the city, and he | |
| 244 lived there and dug many wells. Later, as he lay dying, he gave the | |
| 245 land to his son Joseph: “I am giving you a portion more than | |
| 246 your brothers” (Gn 48:22). And this is what he says: | |
| 247 <span style="font-weight: bold">near the plot of land which Jacob | |
| 248 had given to his son Joseph.</span></p> | |
| 249 <p>The Evangelist is so careful to record all these matters in | |
| 250 order to show us that all the things which happened to the | |
| 251 patriarchs were leading up to Christ, and that they pointed to | |
| 252 Christ, and that he descended from them according to the flesh.</p> | |
| 253 <p>561 Then when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">This was | |
| 254 the site of Jacob’s well,</span> the Evangelist gives the | |
| 255 material setting for the spiritual doctrine about to be taught. And | |
| 256 this was most fitting: for the doctrine about to be taught was | |
| 257 about water and a spiritual font, and so he mentions the material | |
| 258 well, thus giving rise to a discussion of the spiritual font, which | |
| 259 is Christ: “For with you is the fountain of life” (Ps | |
| 260 35:10), namely, the Holy Spirit, who is the spirit of life. | |
| 261 Likewise, the well symbolizes baptism: “On that day a | |
| 262 fountain will be open to the house of David, to cleanse the sinner | |
| 263 and the unclean” (Zec 13:1).</p> | |
| 264 <p>He does three things here. First, he describes the well. | |
| 265 Secondly, Christ’s rest at the well. Thirdly, the time.</p> | |
| 266 <p>562 He describes the water source saying, <span style= | |
| 267 "font-weight: bold">the site of Jacob’s well.</span> Here one | |
| 268 might object that further on (v 11) he says this source is deep; | |
| 269 thus it did not gush water like a fountain. I answer, as does | |
| 270 Augustine, that it was both a well and gushed water like a | |
| 271 fountain. For every well is a fountain, although the converse is | |
| 272 not true. For when water gushes from the earth we have a fountain; | |
| 273 and if this happens just on the surface, the source is only a | |
| 274 fountain. But if the water gushes both on the surface and below, we | |
| 275 have a well; although it is also still called a fountain. It is | |
| 276 called Jacob’s well because he had dug this well there due to | |
| 277 a shortage of water, as we read in Genesis (c 34).</p> | |
| 278 <p>563 <span style="font-weight: bold">Jesus, tired from his | |
| 279 journey, rested there at the well.</span> Jesus reveals his | |
| 280 weakness (even though his power was unlimited), not because of a | |
| 281 lack of power, but to show us the reality of the [human] nature he | |
| 282 assumed. According to Augustine, Jesus is strong, for “In the | |
| 283 beginning was the Word” (above 1:1); but he is weak, for | |
| 284 “the Word was made flesh” (above 1:14). And so Christ, | |
| 285 wishing to show the truth of his human nature, allowed it to do and | |
| 286 to endure things proper to men; and to show the truth of his divine | |
| 287 nature, he worked and performed things proper to God. Hence when he | |
| 288 checked the inflow of divine power to his body, he became hungry | |
| 289 and tired; but w4en he let his divine power influence his body, he | |
| 290 did not become hungry in spite of a lack of food, and he did not | |
| 291 become tired in his labors. “He had fasted forty days and | |
| 292 forty nights, and was hungry” (Mt 4:2).</p> | |
| 293 <p>564 Seeing Jesus becoming tired from his journey is an example | |
| 294 to us not to shrink from our work for the salvation of others: | |
| 295 “I am poor, and have labored since my youth” | |
| 296 (Ps,87:16). We also have an example of poverty, as Jesus | |
| 297 <span style="font-weight: bold">rested there,</span> upon the bare | |
| 298 earth.</p> | |
| 299 <p>In its mystical meaning, this resting [literally, a sitting] of | |
| 300 Christ indicates the abasement of his passion: “You know when | |
| 301 I sit down (i.e., the passion), and when I rise” (Ps 138:2). | |
| 302 Also, it indicates the authority of his teaching, for he speaks as | |
| 303 one having power; thus we read in Matthew (5:1) that Christ, | |
| 304 “sitting down, taught them.”</p> | |
| 305 <p>565 He indicates the time, saying, <span style= | |
| 306 "font-weight: bold">It was about the sixth hour.</span> There are | |
| 307 both literal and mystical reasons for fixing the time. The literal | |
| 308 reason was to show the cause of his tiredness: for men are more | |
| 309 weary from work in the heat and at the sixth hour [at noon]. Again, | |
| 310 it shows why Christ was resting: for men gladly rest near the water | |
| 311 in the heat of the day.</p> | |
| 312 <p>There are three mystical reasons for mentioning the time. First, | |
| 313 because Christ assumed flesh and came into the world in the sixth | |
| 314 age of the world. Another is that man was made on the sixth day, | |
| 315 and Christ was conceived in the sixth month. Third, at the sixth | |
| 316 hour the sun is at its highest, and there is nothing left for it | |
| 317 but to decline. In this context, the “sun” signifies | |
| 318 temporal prosperity, as suggested by Job (31:26): “If I had | |
| 319 looked at the sun when it shone, etc.” Therefore Christ came | |
| 320 when the prosperity of the world was at its highest, that is, it | |
| 321 flourished through love in the hearts of men; but because of him | |
| 322 natural love was bound to decline.</p> | |
| 323 <p>566 Next, we have a preliminary remark concerning the one who | |
| 324 listens to Christ. First, we are introduced to the person who is | |
| 325 taught. Secondly, we are given her preparation for his | |
| 326 teaching.</p> | |
| 327 <p>567 The teaching is given to a Samaritan woman; so he says, a | |
| 328 <span style="font-weight: bold">Samaritan woman came to draw | |
| 329 water.</span> This woman signifies the Church, not yet justified, | |
| 330 of the Gentiles. It was then involved in idolatry, but was destined | |
| 331 to be justified by Christ. She <span style= | |
| 332 "font-weight: bold">came</span> from foreigners, i.e., from the | |
| 333 Samaritans, who were foreigners, even though they lived in the | |
| 334 neighboring territory: because the Church of the Gentiles, foreign | |
| 335 to the Jewish race, would come to Christ: “Many will come | |
| 336 from the East and the West, and will sit down with Abraham, and | |
| 337 Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven,” as we find in | |
| 338 Matthew (8:11).</p> | |
| 339 <p>568 Christ prepares this woman for his teaching when he says, | |
| 340 <span style="font-weight: bold">Give me a drink.</span> First, we | |
| 341 have the occasion for his asking her. Secondly, the Evangelist | |
| 342 suggests why it was opportune to make this request (v 8).</p> | |
| 343 <p>569 The occasion and the preparation of the woman was the | |
| 344 request of Christ; thus he says, <span style= | |
| 345 "font-weight: bold">Give me a drink.</span> He asks for a drink | |
| 346 both because he was thirsty for water on account of the heat of the | |
| 347 day, and because he thirsted for the salvation of man on account of | |
| 348 his love. Accordingly, while hanging on the cross he cried out: | |
| 349 “I thirst.”</p> | |
| 350 <p>570 Christ had the opportunity to ask this of the woman because | |
| 351 his disciples, whom he would have asked for the water, were not | |
| 352 there, thus the Evangelist says, <span style= | |
| 353 "font-weight: bold">His disciples had gone to the town.</span></p> | |
| 354 <p>Here we might notice three things about Christ. First, his | |
| 355 humility, because <span style="font-weight: bold">he was left | |
| 356 alone. This</span> is an example to his disciples that they should | |
| 357 suppress all pride. Someone might ask what need there was to train | |
| 358 the disciples in humility, seeing that they had been but lowly | |
| 359 fishermen and tentmakers. Those who say such things should remember | |
| 360 that these very fishermen were suddenly made more deserving of | |
| 361 respect than any king, more eloquent than philosophers and orators, | |
| 362 and were the intimate companions of the Lord of creation. Persons | |
| 363 of this kind, when they are suddenly promoted, ordinarily become | |
| 364 proud, not being accustomed to such great honor.</p> | |
| 365 <p>Secondly, note Christ’s temperance: for he was so little | |
| 366 concerned about food that he did not bring anything to eat. | |
| 367 Thirdly, note that he was also left alone on the cross: “I | |
| 368 have trodden the wine press alone, and no one of the people was | |
| 369 with me” (Is 63:3).</p> | |
| 370 <p>571 Our Lord prepared the woman to receive his spiritual | |
| 371 teaching by giving her an occasion to question him. First, her | |
| 372 question is given. Secondly, her reason for asking it (v 9).</p> | |
| 373 <p>572 Here we should point out that our Lord, when asking the | |
| 374 woman for a drink, had in mind more a spiritual drink than a merely | |
| 375 physical one. But the woman, not yet understanding about such a | |
| 376 spiritual drink, though only of a physical drink. So she responds: | |
| 377 <span style="font-weight: bold">How is it that you, being a Jew, | |
| 378 ask me, a woman of Samaria, for a drink?</span> For Christ was a | |
| 379 Jew, because it was promised that he would be from Judah: | |
| 380 “The scepter will not be taken away from Judah ... until he | |
| 381 who is to be sent comes” (Gn 49:10); and he was born from | |
| 382 Judah: “It is evident that our Lord came from Judah” | |
| 383 (Heb 7:14). The woman knew that Christ was Jewish from the way he | |
| 384 dressed: for as Numbers (15:37) says, the Lord commanded the Jews | |
| 385 to wear tassels on the comers of their garments, and put a violet | |
| 386 cord on each tassel, so that they could be distinguished from other | |
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387 people.</p> |
| 35 | 388 <p>573 Then the reason for this question is given: either by the |
| 389 Evangelist, as the Gloss says, or by the woman herself, as | |
| 390 Chrysostom says; the reason being, <span style= | |
| 391 "font-weight: bold">the Jews had nothing to do with | |
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392 Samaritans.</span></p> |
| 35 | 393 <p>Apropos of this, we should note that, as mentioned in 2 Kings, |
| 394 it was on account of their sins that the people of Israel, i.e., of | |
| 395 the ten tribes, who were worshipping idols, were captured by the | |
| 396 king of the Assyrians, and led as captives into Babylonia. Then, so | |
| 397 that Samaria would not remain unpopulated, the king gathered people | |
| 398 from various nations and forced them to live there. While they were | |
| 399 there, the Lord sent lions and other wild beasts to trouble them; | |
| 400 he did this to show that he let the Jews be captured because of | |
| 401 their sins, and not because of any lack in his own power. When news | |
| 402 of their trouble reached the Assyrian king and he was informed that | |
| 403 this was happening because these people were not observing the | |
| 404 rites of the God of that territory, he sent them a priest of the | |
| 405 Jews who would teach them God’s law as found in the law of | |
| 406 Moses. This is why, although these people were not Jewish, they | |
| 407 came to observe the Mosaic law. However, along with their worship | |
| 408 of the true God, they also worshipped idols, paid no attention to | |
| 409 the prophets, and referred to themselves as Samaritans, from the | |
| 410 city of Samaria which was built on a hill called Somer (1 Kgs | |
| 411 16:24). After the Jews returned to Jerusalem from their captivity, | |
| 412 the Samaritans were a constant source of trouble, and as we read in | |
| 413 Ezra, interfered with their building of the temple and the city. | |
| 414 Although the Jews did not mix with other people, they especially | |
| 415 avoided these Samaritans and would have nothing to do with them. | |
| 416 And this is what we read: <span style="font-weight: bold">Jews had | |
| 417 nothing to do with the Samaritans.</span> He does not say that the | |
| 418 Samaritans do not associate with Jews, for they would have gladly | |
| 419 done so and have cooperated with them. But the Jews rebuffed them | |
| 420 in keeping with what is said in Deuteronomy (7:2): “Do not | |
| 421 make agreements with them.”</p> | |
| 422 <p>574 If it was not lawful for the Jews to associate with | |
| 423 Samaritans, why did God ask a Samaritan woman for a drink? One | |
| 424 might answer, as Chrysostorn does, that the Lord asked her because | |
| 425 he knew that she would not give him the drink. But this is not an | |
| 426 adequate answer, because one who asks what is not lawful is not | |
| 427 free from sin—not to mention the scandal—even though | |
| 428 what he asks for is not given to him. So we should say, as we find | |
| 429 in Matthew (12:8): “The Son of Man is Lord even of the | |
| 430 sabbath.” Thus, as Lord of the law, he was able to use or not | |
| 431 use the law and its observances and legalities as it seemed | |
| 432 suitable to him. And because the time was near when the nations | |
| 433 would be called to the faith, he associated with those nations.</p> | |
| 434 <p style="margin-bottom: 0.125in; margin-bottom: 0.125in"> | |
| 435 </p> | |
| 436 <p style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 0.125in"><span style= | |
| 437 "font-weight: bold">LECTURE 2</span></p> | |
| 438 <blockquote> | |
| 439 <p>10 Jesus replied and said:</p> | |
| 440 <p style="margin-left: 0.5in">“If you knew the gift of | |
| 441 God,<br /> | |
| 442 and realized who it is who says to you,<br /> | |
| 443 ‘Give me a drink,’<br /> | |
| 444 You perhaps would have asked him<br /> | |
| 445 that he give you living water.”</p> | |
| 446 <p style="text-align: justify">11 The woman challenged him: | |
| 447 “You, sir, have no bucket, and the well is deep. How then | |
| 448 could you have living water? 12 Are you greater than our father | |
| 449 Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it with his sons and | |
| 450 his flocks?” 13 Jesus replied and said:</p> | |
| 451 <p style="margin-left: 0.5in">“Whoever drinks this | |
| 452 water<br /> | |
| 453 will be thirsty again,<br /> | |
| 454 but whoever drinks the water that I give,<br /> | |
| 455 will never be thirsty again.<br /> | |
| 456 14 The water that I give<br /> | |
| 457 will become a fountain within him,<br /> | |
| 458 leaping up to provide eternal life.”</p> | |
| 459 <p style="text-align: justify">15 “Lord,” the woman | |
| 460 said, “Give me this water so that I shall not grow thirsty | |
| 461 and have to keep coming here to draw water.” 16 Jesus said to | |
| 462 her: “Go, call your husband, and then come back here.” | |
| 463 17 “1 have no husband,” replied the woman. Jesus said, | |
| 464 “You are right in saying you have no husband, 18 for you have | |
| 465 had five, and the man you are living with now is not your husband. | |
| 466 What you said is true.” 19 “Sir,” said the woman, | |
| 467 “I see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on | |
| 468 this mountain, but you people claim that Jerusalem is the place | |
| 469 where men must worship God.” 21 Jesus said to her:</p> | |
| 470 <p style="margin-left: 0.5in">“Believe me, woman,<br /> | |
| 471 the hour is coming<br /> | |
| 472 when you will worship the Father<br /> | |
| 473 neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.<br /> | |
| 474 22 You people worship what<br /> | |
| 475 you do not understand,<br /> | |
| 476 while we understand what we worship,<br /> | |
| 477 since salvation is from the Jews.<br /> | |
| 478 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here,<br /> | |
| 479 when true worshipers will worship the Father<br /> | |
| 480 in spirit and in truth.<br /> | |
| 481 Indeed, it is just such worshipers the Father seeks.<br /> | |
| 482 24 God is spirit,<br /> | |
| 483 and those who worship him<br /> | |
| 484 ought to worship in spirit and truth.”</p> | |
| 485 <p style="text-align: justify">25 The woman said to him: “I | |
| 486 know that the Messiah is coming, the one called Christ; when he | |
| 487 comes he will tell us everything.” 26 Jesus replied:</p> | |
| 488 <p style="margin-left: 0.5in">“I who speak to you am | |
| 489 he.”</p> | |
| 490 </blockquote> | |
| 491 <p>575 Now (v 10), the Evangelist gives us Christ’s spiritual | |
| 492 teaching. First, he gives the teaching itself. Secondly, the effect | |
| 493 it had (v 27). As to the first, he does two things. First, a | |
| 494 summary of the entire instruction is given. Secondly, he unfolds it | |
| 495 part by part (v 11).</p> | |
| 496 <p>576 He said therefore: You are amazed that I, a Jew, should ask | |
| 497 you, a Samaritan woman, for water; but you should not be amazed, | |
| 498 because I have come to give drink, even to the Gentiles. Thus he | |
| 499 says: <span style="font-weight: bold">If you knew the gift of God, | |
| 500 and realized who it is who says to you, Give me a drink, you | |
| 501 perhaps would have asked him.</span></p> | |
| 502 <p>577 We may begin with what is last, and we should know first | |
| 503 what is to be understood by water. And we should say that water | |
| 504 signifies the grace of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes this grace is | |
| 505 called fire, and at other times water, to show that it is neither | |
| 506 one of these in its nature, but like them in the way it acts. It is | |
| 507 called fire because it lifts up our hearts by its ardor and heat: | |
| 508 “ardent in Spirit” (Rom 12:11), and because it burns up | |
| 509 sins: “Its light is fire and flame” (Sg 8:6). Grace is | |
| 510 called water because it cleanses: “I will pour clean water | |
| 511 upon you, and you will be cleansed from all your uncleanness” | |
| 512 (Ez 36:25), and because it brings a refreshing relief from the heat | |
| 513 of temptations: “Water quenches a flaming fire” (Sir | |
| 514 3:33), and also because it satisfies our desires, in contrast to | |
| 515 our thirst for earthly things and all temporal things whatever: | |
| 516 “Come to the waters, all you who thirst” (Is 5 5:1 | |
| 517 ).</p> | |
| 518 <p>Now water is of two kinds: living and non-living. Non-living | |
| 519 water is water which is not connected or united with the source | |
| 520 from which it springs, but is collected from the rain or in other | |
| 521 ways into ponds and cisterns, and there it stands, separated from | |
| 522 its source. But living water is connected with its source and flows | |
| 523 from it. So according to this understanding, the grace of the Holy | |
| 524 Spirit is correctly called living water, because the grace of the | |
| 525 Holy Spirit is given to man in such a way that the source itself of | |
| 526 the grace is also given, that is, the Holy Spirit. Indeed, grace is | |
| 527 given by the Holy Spirit: “The love of God is poured out into | |
| 528 our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Rom | |
| 529 5:5). For theHoly Spirit is the unfailing fountain from whom all | |
| 530 gifts of grace flow”One and the same Spirit does all these | |
| 531 things” (1 Cor 1251,1.). And so, if anyone has a gift of the | |
| 532 Holy Spirit without having the Spirit, the water is not united with | |
| 533 its source, and so is not living but dead: “Faith without | |
| 534 works is dead” (Jas 2:20).</p> | |
| 535 <p>578 Then we are shown that in the case of adults, living water, | |
| 536 i.e., grace, is obtained by desiring it, i.e., by asking. | |
| 537 “The Lord has heard the desire of the poor” (Ps. 9:17), | |
| 538 for grace is not given to anyone without their asking and desiring | |
| 539 it. Thus we say that in the justification of a sinner an act of | |
| 540 free will is necessary to detest sin and to desire grace, according | |
| 541 to Matthew (7:7): “Ask and you will receive.” In fact, | |
| 542 desire is so important that even the Son himself is told to ask: | |
| 543 “Ask me, and I will give to you” (Ps 2:8). Therefore, | |
| 544 no one who resists grace receives it, unless he first desires it; | |
| 545 this is clear is the case of Paul who, before he received grace, | |
| 546 desired it, saying: “Lord, what do you want me to do?” | |
| 547 (Acts 9:6). Thus it is significant that he says, you perhaps would | |
| 548 have asked him. He says perhaps on account of free will, with which | |
| 549 a person sometimes desires and asks for grace, and sometimes does | |
| 550 not.</p> | |
| 551 <p>579 There are two things which lead a person to desire and ask | |
| 552 for grace: a knowledge of the good to be desired and a knowledge of | |
| 553 the giver. So, Christ offers these two to her. First of all, a | |
| 554 knowledge of the gift itself; hence he says, If you knew the gift | |
| 555 of God, which is every desirable good which comes from the Holy | |
| 556 Spirit: “I know that I cannot control myself unless God | |
| 557 grants it to me” (Wis 8:2 1). And this is a gift of God, and | |
| 558 so forth. Secondly, he mentions the giver; and he says, and | |
| 559 realized who it is who says to you, i.e., if you knew the one who | |
| 560 can give it, namely, that it is I: “When the Paraclete comes, | |
| 561 whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth ... he | |
| 562 will bear witness to me” (below 15:26); “You have given | |
| 563 gifts to men” (Ps 67:19).</p> | |
| 564 <p>Accordingly, this teaching concerns three things: the gift of | |
| 565 living water, asking for this gift, and the giver himself.</p> | |
| 566 <p>580 When he says, The woman challenged him, he treats these | |
| 567 three things explicitly. First, the gift; secondly, asking for the | |
| 568 gift (v 19); and thirdly, the giver (v 25). He does two things | |
| 569 about the first. First, he explains the gift by showing its power. | |
| 570 Secondly, he considers the perfection of the gift (v 15). About the | |
| 571 first he does two things. First, he gives the woman’s | |
| 572 request. Secondly, Christ’s answer (v 13).</p> | |
| 573 <p>581 We should note, with respect to the first, that this | |
| 574 Samaritan woman, because she was sensual, understood in a worldly | |
| 575 sense what the Lord understood in a spiritual sense: “The | |
| 576 sensual man does not perceive those things that pertain to the | |
| 577 Spirit of God” ( 1 Cor 2:14). Consequently, she tried to | |
| 578 reject what our Lord said as unreasonable and impossible with the | |
| 579 following argument: You promise me living water; and it must come | |
| 580 either from this well or from another one. But it cannot come from | |
| 581 this well because <span style="font-weight: bold">You, sir, have no | |
| 582 bucket, and the well is deep;</span> and it does not seem probable | |
| 583 that you can get if from some other well, because you are not | |
| 584 <span style="font-weight: bold">greater than our father Jacob, who | |
| 585 gave us this well.</span></p> | |
| 586 <p>582 Let us first examine what she says, <span style= | |
| 587 "font-weight: bold">You, sir, have no bucket,</span> i.e., no pail | |
| 588 to use to draw water from the well, <span style= | |
| 589 "font-weight: bold">and the well is deep</span>, so you cannot | |
| 590 reach the water by hand without a bucket.</p> | |
| 591 <p>The depth of the well signifies the depth of Sacred Scripture | |
| 592 and of divine wisdom: “It has great depth. Who can find it | |
| 593 out?” (Ecc 7:25). The bucket with which the water of wisdom | |
| 594 is drawn out is prayer: “If any of you lack wisdom, ask | |
| 595 God” (Jas 1:5).</p> | |
| 596 <p>583 The second point is given at, <span style= | |
| 597 "font-weight: bold">Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave | |
| 598 us this well?</span> As if to say: Have you better water to give us | |
| 599 than Jacob? She calls Jacob her father not because the Samaritans | |
| 600 were descendants of the Jews, as is clear from what was said | |
| 601 before, but because the Samaritans had the Mosaic law, and because | |
| 602 they occupied the land promised to the descendants of Jacob.</p> | |
| 603 <p>The woman praised this well on three counts. First, on the | |
| 604 authority of the one who gave it; so she says: our father Jacob, | |
| 605 who gave us this well. Secondly, on account of the freshness of its | |
| 606 water, saying: Jacob drank from it with his sons: for they would | |
| 607 not drink it if it were not fresh, but only give it to their | |
| 608 cattle. Thirdly, she praises its abundance, saying, and his flocks: | |
| 609 for since the water was fresh, they would not have given it to | |
| 610 their flocks unless it were also abundant.</p> | |
| 611 <p>So, too, Sacred Scripture has great authority: for it was given | |
| 612 by the Holy Spirit. It is delightfully fresh: “How sweet are | |
| 613 your words to my palate” (Ps 118:103). Finally, it is | |
| 614 exceedingly abundant, for it is given not only to the wise, but | |
| 615 also to the unwise.</p> | |
| 616 <p>584 Then when he says, Jesus replied and said, he sets down the | |
| 617 Lord’s response, in which he explains the power of his | |
| 618 doctrine. First, with respect to the fact that he had called it | |
| 619 water. Secondly, with respect to the fact that he called it living | |
| 620 water (v 14).</p> | |
| 621 <p>585 He shows that his doctrine is the best water because it has | |
| 622 the effect of water, that is, it takes away thirst much more than | |
| 623 does that natural water. He shows by this that he is greater than | |
| 624 Jacob. So he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">Jesus replied | |
| 625 and said,</span> as if to say: You say that Jacob gave you a well; | |
| 626 but I will give you better water, because <span style= | |
| 627 "font-weight: bold">whoever drinks this water,</span> that is, | |
| 628 natural water, or the water of sensual desire and concupiscence, | |
| 629 although it may satisfy his appetite for a while, <span style= | |
| 630 "font-weight: bold">will be thirsty again,</span> because the | |
| 631 desire for pleasure is insatiable: “When will I wake up and | |
| 632 find wine again?” (Prv 23:35). <span style= | |
| 633 "font-weight: bold">But whoever drinks the water,</span> that is, | |
| 634 spiritual water, <span style="font-weight: bold">that I give, will | |
| 635 never be thirsty again.</span> “My servants will drink, and | |
| 636 you will be thirsty,” as said in Isaiah (65:13).</p> | |
| 637 <p>586 Since we read in Sirach (24:29): “Those who drink me | |
| 638 will still thirst,” how is it possible that we will never be | |
| 639 thirsty if we drink this water of divine wisdom, since this Wisdom | |
| 640 itself says we will still thirst? I answer that both are true: | |
| 641 because he who drinks the water that Christ gives still thirsts and | |
| 642 does not thirst. But whoever drinks natural water will become | |
| 643 thirsty again for two reasons. First, because material and natural | |
| 644 water is not eternal, and it does not have an eternal cause, but an | |
| 645 impermanent one; therefore its effects must also cease: “All | |
| 646 these things have passed away like a shadow” (Wis 5:9). But | |
| 647 spiritual water has an eternal cause, that is, the Holy Spirit, who | |
| 648 is the unfailing fountain of life. Accordingly, he who drinks of | |
| 649 this will never thirst; just as someone who had within himself a | |
| 650 fountain of living water would never thirst.</p> | |
| 651 <p>The other reason is that there is a difference between a | |
| 652 spiritual and a temporal thing. For although each produces a | |
| 653 thirst, they do so in different ways. When a temporal thing is | |
| 654 possessed it causes us to be thirsty, not for the thing itself, but | |
| 655 for something else; while a spiritual thing when possessed takes | |
| 656 away the thirst for other things, and causes us to thirst for it. | |
| 657 The reason for this is that before temporal things are possessed, | |
| 658 they are highly regarded and thought satisfying; but after they are | |
| 659 possessed, they are found to be neither so great as thought nor | |
| 660 sufficient to satisfy our desires, and so our desires are not | |
| 661 satisfied but move on to something else. On the other hand, a | |
| 662 spiritual thing in not known unless it is possessed: “No one | |
| 663 knows but he who receives it” (Rv 2:17). So, when it is not | |
| 664 possessed, it does not produce a desire; but once it is possessed | |
| 665 and known, then it brings pleasure and produces desire, but not to | |
| 666 possess something else. Yet, because it is imperfectly known on | |
| 667 account of the deficiency of the one receiving it, it produces a | |
| 668 desire in us to possiss it perfectly. We read of this thirst: | |
| 669 “My soul thirsted for God, the living fountain” (Ps | |
| 670 41:2). This thirst is not completely taken away in this world | |
| 671 because in this life we cannot understand spiritual things; | |
| 672 consequently, one who drinks this water will still thirst for its | |
| 673 completion. But he will not always be thirsty, as though the water | |
| 674 will run out, for we read (Ps 35:9): “They will be | |
| 675 intoxicated from the richness of your house.” In the life of | |
| 676 glory, where the blessed drink perfectly the water of divine grace, | |
| 677 they will never be thirsty again: “Blessed are they who | |
| 678 hunger and thirst for what is right,” that is, in this world, | |
| 679 “for they will be satisfied,” in the life of | |
| 680 glory” (Mt 5:6).</p> | |
| 681 <p>587 Then when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">The water | |
| 682 that I give will become a fountain within him, leaping up to | |
| 683 provide eternal life,</span> he shows from the movement of the | |
| 684 water that his doctrine is living water; thus he says that it is a | |
| 685 leaping fountain: “The streams of the river bring joy to the | |
| 686 city of God” (Ps 45:4).</p> | |
| 687 <p>The course of material water is downward, and this is different | |
| 688 from the course of spiritual water, which is upward. Thus he says: | |
| 689 I say that material water is such that it does not slake your | |
| 690 thirst; but the water that I give not only quenches your thirst, | |
| 691 but it is a living water because it is united with its source. | |
| 692 Hence he says that this water <span style="font-weight: bold">will | |
| 693 become a fountain within</span> one: a fountain leading, through | |
| 694 good works, to eternal life. So he says, <span style= | |
| 695 "font-weight: bold">leaping up</span>, that is, making us leap up, | |
| 696 <span style="font-weight: bold">to eternal life,</span> where there | |
| 697 is no thirst: “He who believes in me, out of his heart there | |
| 698 will flow rivers “ that is, of good desires, “of living | |
| 699 water” (below 7:38); “With you is the fountain of | |
| 700 life” (Ps 3 5:10).</p> | |
| 701 <p>588 Then when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">The woman | |
| 702 said,</span> he states her request for the gift. First, her | |
| 703 understanding of the gift is noted. Secondly, the woman is found | |
| 704 guilty (v 17). As was said, the way to obtain this gift is by | |
| 705 prayer and request. And so first, we have the woman’s | |
| 706 request. Secondly, Christ’s answer (v 16).</p> | |
| 707 <p>589 We should note with respect to the first that at the | |
| 708 beginning of this conversation the woman did not refer to Christ as | |
| 709 “Lord,” but simply as a Jew, for she said: “How | |
| 710 is it that you, being a Jew, ask me, a woman of Samaria, for a | |
| 711 drink?” But now as soon as she hears that he can be of use to | |
| 712 her and give her water, she calls him “Lord”: Lord, | |
| 713 give me this water. For she was thinking of natural water, and was | |
| 714 subject to the two natural necessities of thirst and labor, that | |
| 715 is, of going to the well and of carrying the water. So she mentions | |
| 716 these two things when asking for the water: saying in reference to | |
| 717 the first, <span style="font-weight: bold">so that I shall not grow | |
| 718 thirsty;</span> and in reference to the second, <span style= | |
| 719 "font-weight: bold">and have to keep coming here to draw | |
| 720 water,</span> for man naturally shrinks from labor: “They do | |
| 721 not labor as other men” (Ps 72:5).</p> | |
| 722 <p>590 Then (v 16), the answer of Jesus is given. Here we should | |
| 723 note that our Lord answered her in a spiritual way, but she | |
| 724 understood in a sensual way. Accordingly, this can be explained in | |
| 725 two ways. One way is that of Chrysostom, who says that our Lord | |
| 726 intended to give the water of spiritual instruction not only to | |
| 727 her, but especially to her husband, for as is said, “Man is | |
| 728 the head of woman” (1 Cor 11:3), so that Christ wanted | |
| 729 God’s precepts to reach women through men, and “If the | |
| 730 wife wishes to learn anything, let her ask her husband at | |
| 731 home” (1 Cor 14:35). So he says, <span style= | |
| 732 "font-weight: bold">Go, call your husband, and then come back | |
| 733 here;</span> and then I will give it to you with him and through | |
| 734 him.</p> | |
| 735 <p>Augustine explains it another way, mystically. For as Christ | |
| 736 spoke symbolically of water, he did the same of her husband. Her | |
| 737 husband, according to Augustine, is the intellect: for the will | |
| 738 brings forth and conceives because of the cognitive power that | |
| 739 moves it; thus the will is like a woman, while the reason, which | |
| 740 moves the will, is like her husband. Here the woman, i.e., the | |
| 741 will, was ready to receive, but was not moved by the intellect and | |
| 742 reason to a correct understanding, but was still detained on the | |
| 743 level of sense. For this reason the Lord said to her, Go, you who | |
| 744 are still sensual, <span style="font-weight: bold">call your | |
| 745 husband,</span> call in the reasoning intellect so you can | |
| 746 understand in a spiritual and intellectual way what you now | |
| 747 perceive in a sensual way; <span style="font-weight: bold">and then | |
| 748 come back here,</span> by understanding under the guidance of | |
| 749 reason.</p> | |
| 750 <p>591 Here (v 17), the woman is found guilty by Christ. First, her | |
| 751 answer is set down. Secondly, the encounter in which she is found | |
| 752 guilty by Christ.</p> | |
| 753 <p>592 As to the first, we should note that the woman, desiring to | |
| 754 hide her wrongdoing, and regarding Christ as only a mere man, did | |
| 755 answer Christ truthfully, although she keep silent about her sin, | |
| 756 for as we read, “A fornicating woman will be walked on like | |
| 757 dung in the road” (Sir 9:10). She said, <span style= | |
| 758 "font-weight: bold">I have no husband.</span> This was true; for | |
| 759 although she previously had a number of husbands, five of them, she | |
| 760 did not now have a lawful husband, but was just living with a man; | |
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761 and it is for this that the Lord judges her.</p> |
| 35 | 762 <p>593 Then the Evangelist reports that Jesus said to her: |
| 763 <span style="font-weight: bold">You are right in saying you have no | |
| 764 husband,</span> a legitimate husband; <span style= | |
| 765 "font-weight: bold">for you have had five,</span> before this one, | |
| 766 <span style="font-weight: bold">and the man you are living with | |
| 767 now,</span> using as a husband, <span style="font-weight: bold">is | |
| 768 not your husband. What you said is true,</span> because you do not | |
| 769 have a husband. The reason our Lord spoke to her about these things | |
| 770 he had not learned from her and which were her secrets, was to | |
| 771 bring her to a spiritual understanding so that she might believe | |
| 772 there was something divine about Christ.</p> | |
| 773 <p>594 In the mystical sense, her five husbands are the five books | |
| 774 of Moses: for, as was said, the Samaritans accepted these. And so | |
| 775 Christ says, <span style="font-weight: bold">you have had | |
| 776 five,</span> and then follows [understanding Christ’s words | |
| 777 in a slightly different sense, as meaning:] <span style= | |
| 778 "font-weight: bold">and he whom you now have,</span> i.e., he to | |
| 779 whom you are now listening, i.e., Christ, <span style= | |
| 780 "font-weight: bold">is not your husband,</span> because you do not | |
| 781 believe.</p> | |
| 782 <p>This explanation, as Augustine says, is not very good. For this | |
| 783 woman came to her present “husband” after having left | |
| 784 the other five, whereas those who come to Christ do not put aside | |
| 785 the five books of Moses. We should rather say, <span style= | |
| 786 "font-weight: bold">you have had five,</span> i.e., the five | |
| 787 senses, which you have used up to this time; but <span style= | |
| 788 "font-weight: bold">the man you are living with now,</span> i.e., | |
| 789 an erring reason, with which you still understand spiritual things | |
| 790 in a sensual way, <span style="font-weight: bold">is not | |
| 791 your</span> lawful <span style="font-weight: bold">husband,</span> | |
| 792 but an adulterer who is corrupting you. <span style= | |
| 793 "font-weight: bold">Call your husband,</span> i.e., your intellect, | |
| 794 so that you may really understand me.</p> | |
| 795 <p>595 Now the Evangelist treats of the request by which the gift | |
| 796 is obtained, which is prayer. First there is the woman’s | |
| 797 inquiry about prayer. Secondly, Christ’s answer (v 21). | |
| 798 Concerning the first the woman does two things. First, she admits | |
| 799 that Christ is qualified to answer her question. Secondly, she asks | |
| 800 the question (v 20).</p> | |
| 801 <p>596 And so this woman, hearing what Christ had told her about | |
| 802 things that were secret, admits that the one who up to now she | |
| 803 believed was a mere man, is a prophet, and capable of settling her | |
| 804 doubts. For it is characteristic of prophets to reveal what is not | |
| 805 present, and hidden: “He who is now called a prophet was | |
| 806 formerly called a seer” (I Sin 9:9). And so she says, | |
| 807 <span style="font-weight: bold">Sir, I see that you are a | |
| 808 prophet.</span> As if to say: You show that you are a prophet by | |
| 809 revealing hidden things to me. It is clear from this, as Augustine | |
| 810 says, that her husband was beginning to return to her. But he did | |
| 811 not return completely because she regarded Christ as a prophet: for | |
| 812 although he was a prophet—“A prophet is not without | |
| 813 honor except in his own country” (Mt 13:57)—he was more | |
| 814 than a prophet, because he produces prophets: “Wisdom | |
| 815 produces friends of God and prophets” (Wis 7:27)</p> | |
| 816 <p>597 Then she asks her question about prayer, saying: | |
| 817 <span style="font-weight: bold">Our ancestors worshiped on this | |
| 818 mountain, but you people claim that Jerusalern is the place where | |
| 819 men must worship God.</span> Here we should admire the | |
| 820 woman’s diligence and attention: for women are considered | |
| 821 curious and unproductive, and not only unproductive, but also | |
| 822 lovers of ease (1 Tim 5), whereas she did not ask Christ about | |
| 823 worldly affairs, or about the future, but about the things of God, | |
| 824 in keeping with the advice, “Seek first the kingdom of | |
| 825 God” (Mt 6:33)</p> | |
| 826 <p>She first asks a question about a matter frequently discussed in | |
| 827 her country, that is, about the place to pray; this was the subject | |
| 828 of argument between Jews and Samaritans. She says, <span style= | |
| 829 "font-weight: bold">Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but | |
| 830 you people say.</span> We should mention that the Samaritans, | |
| 831 worshiping God according to the precepts of the law, built a temple | |
| 832 in which to adore him; and they did not go to Jerusalem where the | |
| 833 Jews interfered with them. They built their temple on Mount | |
| 834 Gerizim, while the Jews built their temple on Mount Sion. The | |
| 835 question they debated was which of these places was the more | |
| 836 fitting place of prayer; and each presented reasons for its own | |
| 837 side. The Samaritans said that Mount Gerizim was more fitting, | |
| 838 because their ancestors worshiped the Lord there. So she says, | |
| 839 <span style="font-weight: bold">Our ancestors worshiped on this | |
| 840 mountain.</span></p> | |
| 841 <p>598 How can this woman say, <span style="font-weight: bold">our | |
| 842 ancestors,</span> since the Samaritans were not descended from | |
| 843 lsrael? The answer, according to Chrysostom, is that some claim | |
| 844 that Abraham offered his son on that mountain; but others claim | |
| 845 that is was on Mount Zion. Or, we could say that <span style= | |
| 846 "font-weight: bold">our ancestors</span> means Jacob and his sons, | |
| 847 who as stated in Genesis (33) and as mentioned before, lived in | |
| 848 Shechem, which is near Mount Gerizim, and who probably worshiped | |
| 849 the Lord there on that mountain. Or it could be said that the | |
| 850 children of Israel worshiped on this mountain when Moses ordered | |
| 851 them to ascend Mount Gerizim that he might bless those who observed | |
| 852 God’s precepts, as recorded in Deuteronorny (6). And she | |
| 853 calls them her ancestors either because the Samaritains observed | |
| 854 the law given to the children of Israel, or because the Samaritans | |
| 855 were now living in the land of Israel, as said before.</p> | |
| 856 <p>The Jews said that the place to worship was in Jerusalem, by | |
| 857 command of the Lord, who, had said: “Take care not to offer | |
| 858 your holocausts in every place, but offer them in the place the | |
| 859 Lord will choose” (Dt 12:13). At first, this place of prayer | |
| 860 was in Shiloh, and then after, on the authority of Solomon and the | |
| 861 prophet Nathan, the arc was taken from Shiloh to Jerusalem, and it | |
| 862 was there the temple was built: so we read: “He left the | |
| 863 tabernacle in Shiloh,” and a few verses later, “But he | |
| 864 chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loved” (Ps | |
| 865 77:60). Thus the Samaritans appealed to the authority of the | |
| 866 patriarchs, and the Jews appealed to the authority of the prophets, | |
| 867 whom the Samaritans did not accept. This is the issue the woman | |
| 868 raises. It is not surprising that she was taught about this, for it | |
| 869 often happens in places where there are differences in beliefs that | |
| 870 even the simple people are instructed about them. Because the | |
| 871 Samaritans were continually arguing with the Jews over this, it | |
| 872 came to the knowledge of the women and ordinary people.</p> | |
| 873 <p>599 Christ’s answer is now set down (v 21). First he | |
| 874 distinguishes three types of prayer. Secondly, he compares them to | |
| 875 each other (v 22).</p> | |
| 876 <p>600 As to the first, he first of all gains the woman’s | |
| 877 attention, to indicate that he was about to say something | |
| 878 important, saying, <span style="font-weight: bold">Believe | |
| 879 me,</span> and have faith, for faith is always necessary: “To | |
| 880 come to God, one must believe” (Heb 11:6); “If you do | |
| 881 not believe, you will not understand” (Is 7:9).</p> | |
| 882 <p>Secondly, he mentions the three kinds of worship: two of these | |
| 883 were already being practiced, and the third was to come. Of the two | |
| 884 that were current, one was practiced by the Samaritans, who | |
| 885 worshiped on Mount Gerizini-, he refers to this when he says, | |
| 886 <span style="font-weight: bold">the hour is coming when you will | |
| 887 worship the Father neither on this mountain,</span> of Gerizim. The | |
| 888 other way was that of the Jews, who prayed on Mount Zion; and he | |
| 889 refers to this when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">nor in | |
| 890 Jerusalem.</span></p> | |
| 891 <p>The third type of worship was to come, and it was different from | |
| 892 the other two. Christ alludes to this by excluding the other two: | |
| 893 for if the hour is coming when they will no longer worship on Mount | |
| 894 Gerizim or in Jerusalem, then clearly the third type to which | |
| 895 Christ refers will be a worship that does away with the other two. | |
| 896 For if someone wishes to unite two people, it is necessary to | |
| 897 eliminate that over which they disagree, and give them something in | |
| 898 common on which they will agree. And so Christ, wishing to unite | |
| 899 the Jews and Gentiles, eliminated the observances of the Jews and | |
| 900 the idolatry of the Gentiles; for these two were like a wall | |
| 901 separating the peoples. And he made the two people one: “He | |
| 902 is our peace, he who has made the two of us one” (Eph 2:14). | |
| 903 Thus the ritual observances [of the Jews] and the idolatry of the | |
| 904 Gentiles were abolished, and the true worship of God established by | |
| 905 Christ.</p> | |
| 906 <p>601 As for the mystical sense, and according to Origen, the | |
| 907 three types of worship are three kinds of participation in divine | |
| 908 wisdom. Some participate in it under a dark cloud of error, and | |
| 909 these adore on the mountain: for every error springs from pride: | |
| 910 “I am against you, destroying mountain” (Jer 51:25). | |
| 911 Others participate in divine wisdom without error, but in an | |
| 912 imperfect way, because they see in a mirror and in an obscure way; | |
| 913 and these worship in Jerusalem, which signifies the present Church: | |
| 914 “The Lord is building Jerusalem” (Ps 146:2). But the | |
| 915 blessed and the saints participate in divine wisdom without error | |
| 916 in a perfect way, for they see God as he is, as said in 1 John | |
| 917 (3:2). And so Christ says, <span style="font-weight: bold">the hour | |
| 918 is coming,</span> i.e., is waited for, when you will participate in | |
| 919 divine wisdom neither in error nor in a mirror in an obscure way, | |
| 920 but as it is.</p> | |
| 921 <p>602 Then (v 22), he compares the different kinds of worship to | |
| 922 each other. First, he compares the second to the first, Secondly, | |
| 923 the third to the first and second (v 23). As to the first he does | |
| 924 three things. First, he shows the shortcomings of the first type of | |
| 925 worship. Secondly, the truth of the second (v 22b). Thirdly, the | |
| 926 reason for each statement.</p> | |
| 927 <p>603 As to the first he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">You | |
| 928 people worship what you do not understand.</span></p> | |
| 929 <p>Some might think that the Lord should have explained the truth | |
| 930 of the matter and solve the woman’s problem. But the Lord | |
| 931 does not bother to do so because each of these kinds of worship was | |
| 932 due to end.</p> | |
| 933 <p>As to his saying, <span style="font-weight: bold">You people | |
| 934 worship,</span> and so on, it should be pointed out that, as the | |
| 935 Philosopher says, knowledge of complex things is different than | |
| 936 knowledge of simple things. For something can be known about | |
| 937 complex things in such a way that something else about them remains | |
| 938 unknown; thus there can be false knowledge about them. For example, | |
| 939 if someone has true knowledge of an animal as to its substance, he | |
| 940 might be in error touching the knowledge of one of its accidents, | |
| 941 such as whether it is black or white; or of a difference, such as | |
| 942 whether it has wings or is four-footed. But there cannot be false | |
| 943 knowledge of simple things: because they are either perfectly known | |
| 944 inasmuch as their quiddity is known; or they are not known at all, | |
| 945 if one cannot attain to a knowledge of them. Therefore, since God | |
| 946 is absolutely simple, there cannot be false knowledge of him in the | |
| 947 sense that something might be known about him and something remain | |
| 948 unknown, but only in the sense that knowledge of him is not | |
| 949 attained. Accordingly, anyone who believes that God is something | |
| 950 that he is not, for example, a body, or something like that, does | |
| 951 not adore God but something else, because he does not know him, but | |
| 952 something else.</p> | |
| 953 <p>Now the Samaritans had a false idea of God in two ways. First of | |
| 954 all, because they thought he was corporeal, so that they believed | |
| 955 that he should be adored in only one definite corporeal place. | |
| 956 Further, because they did not believe that he transcended all | |
| 957 things, but was equal to certain creatures, they adored along with | |
| 958 him certain idols, as if they were equal to him. Consequently, they | |
| 959 did not know him, because they did not attain to a true knowledge | |
| 960 of him. So the Lord says, <span style="font-weight: bold">You | |
| 961 people worship what you do not understand,</span> i.e., you do not | |
| 962 adore God because you do not know him, but only soipe imaginary | |
| 963 being you think is God, “as the Gentiles do, with their | |
| 964 foolish ideas” (Eph 4:17).</p> | |
| 965 <p>604 As to the second, i.e., the truth of the worship of the | |
| 966 Jews, he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">we understand what | |
| 967 we worship.</span> He includes himself among the Jews, because he | |
| 968 was a Jew by race, and because the woman thought he was a prophet | |
| 969 and a Jew. <span style="font-weight: bold">We understand what we | |
| 970 worship,</span> because through the law and the prophets the Jews | |
| 971 acquired a true knowledge or opinion of God, in that they did not | |
| 972 believe that he was corporeal nor in one definite place, as though | |
| 973 his greatness could be enclosed in a place: “If the heavens, | |
| 974 and the heavens of the heavens cannot contain you, how much less | |
| 975 this house that I have built” (1 Kgs 8:27). And neither did | |
| 976 they worship idols: “God is known in Judah” (Ps | |
| 977 75:2).</p> | |
| 978 <p>605 He gives the reason for this when he says, <span style= | |
| 979 "font-weight: bold">since salvation is from the Jews.</span> As if | |
| 980 to say: The true knowledge of God was possessed exclusively by the | |
| 981 Jews, for it had been determined that salvation would come from | |
| 982 them. And as the source of health should itself be healthy, so the | |
| 983 source of salvation, which is acquired by the true knowledge and | |
| 984 the true worship of God, should possess the true knowledge of God. | |
| 985 Thus, since the source of salvation and its cause, i.e., Christ, | |
| 986 was to come from them, according to the promise in Genesis (22:18): | |
| 987 “All the nations will be blessed in your descendents,” | |
| 988 it was fitting that God be known in Judah.</p> | |
| 989 <p>606 Salvation comes from the Jews in three ways. First in their | |
| 990 teaching of the truth, for all other peoples were in error, while | |
| 991 the Jews held fast to the truth, according to Romans (3:2): | |
| 992 “What advantage do Jews have? First, they were entrusted with | |
| 993 the words of God.” Secondly, in their spiritual gifts: for | |
| 994 prophecy and the other gifts of the Spirit were given to them | |
| 995 first, and from them they reached others: “You,” i.e., | |
| 996 the Gentiles, “a wild olive branch, are ingrafted on | |
| 997 them,” i.e., on the Jews (Rom 11:17); “If the Gentiles | |
| 998 have become sharers in their (i.e., the Jews’) spiritual | |
| 999 goods, they ought to help the Jews as to earthly goods” (Rom | |
| 1000 15:27). Thirdly, since the very author of salvation is from the | |
| 1001 Jews, since “Christ came from then in the flesh” (Rom | |
| 1002 9:5).</p> | |
| 1003 <p>607 Now (v 23), he compares the third kind of worship to the | |
| 1004 first two. First, he mentions its superiority to the others. | |
| 1005 Secondly, how appropriate this kind of worship is (v 23b).</p> | |
| 1006 <p>608 As to the first point, we should note, as Origen says, that | |
| 1007 when speaking above of the third kind of worship, the Lord said, | |
| 1008 <span style="font-weight: bold">the hour is coming when you will | |
| 1009 worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in | |
| 1010 Jerusalem;</span> but he did not then add, <span style= | |
| 1011 "font-weight: bold">and is now here.</span> But now, in speaking of | |
| 1012 it, he does say, <span style="font-weight: bold">the hour is | |
| 1013 coming, and is now here.</span> The reason is because the first | |
| 1014 time he was speaking of the worship found in heaven, when we will | |
| 1015 participate in the perfect knowledge of God, which is not possessed | |
| 1016 by those still living in this mortal life. But now he is speaking | |
| 1017 of the worship of this life, and which has now come through | |
| 1018 Christ.</p> | |
| 1019 <p>609 So he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">But the hour is | |
| 1020 coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the | |
| 1021 Father in spirit and in truth.</span></p> | |
| 1022 <p>We can understand this, as Chrysostom does, as showing the | |
| 1023 superiority of this worship to that of the Jews. So that the sense | |
| 1024 is: Just as the worship of the Jews is superior to that of the | |
| 1025 Samaritans, so the worship of the Christians is superior to that of | |
| 1026 the Jews. It is superior in two respects. First, because the | |
| 1027 worship of the Jews is in bodily rites: “Rites for the body, | |
| 1028 imposed only until the time they are reformed” (Heb 9:10); | |
| 1029 while the worship of the Christians is in spirit. Secondly, because | |
| 1030 the worship of the Jews is in symbols: for the Lord was not pleascd | |
| 1031 with their sacrificial victims insofar as they were things; so we | |
| 1032 read, “Shall I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of | |
| 1033 goats?” (Ps 49:13), and again, “You would not be | |
| 1034 pleased with a holocaust” (Ps 50:18), that is, as a | |
| 1035 particular thing; but such a sacrificial victim would be pleasing | |
| 1036 to the Lord as a symbol of the true victim and of the true | |
| 1037 sacrifice: “The law has only a shadow of the good things to | |
| 1038 come” (Heb 10:1). But the worship of the Christians is in | |
| 1039 truth, because it is pleasing to God in itself: “grace and | |
| 1040 truth have come through Jesus Christ,” as we saw above | |
| 1041 (1:17). So he is saying here that <span style= | |
| 1042 "font-weight: bold">true worshipers will worship in spirit,</span> | |
| 1043 not in bodily rites, <span style="font-weight: bold">and in | |
| 1044 truth,</span> not in symbols.</p> | |
| 1045 <p>610 This passage can in interpreted in a second way, by saying | |
| 1046 that when our Lord says, <span style="font-weight: bold">in spirit | |
| 1047 and in truth,</span> he wants to show the difference between the | |
| 1048 third kind of worship and not just that of the Jews, but also that | |
| 1049 of the Samaritans. In this case, <span style="font-weight: bold">in | |
| 1050 truth,</span> refers to the Jews: for the Samaritans, as was said, | |
| 1051 were in error, because they worshiped what they did not understand. | |
| 1052 But the Jews worshiped with a true knowledge of God.</p> | |
| 1053 <p>611 <span style="font-weight: bold">In spirit and in | |
| 1054 truth</span> can be understood in a third way, as indicating the | |
| 1055 characteristics of true worship. For two things are necessary for a | |
| 1056 true worship: one is that the worship be spiritual; so he says, | |
| 1057 <span style="font-weight: bold">in spirit,</span> i.e., with fervor | |
| 1058 of spirit: “I will pray with spirit, and I will pray with my | |
| 1059 mind” (1 Cor 14:15); “Singing to the Lord in your | |
| 1060 hearts” (Eph 5:19). Secondly, the worship should be | |
| 1061 <span style="font-weight: bold">in truth.</span> First, in the | |
| 1062 truth of faith, because no fervent spiritual desire is meritorious | |
| 1063 unless united to the truth of faith, “Ask with faith, without | |
| 1064 any doubting” (Jas 1:6). Secondly, <span style= | |
| 1065 "font-weight: bold">in truth,</span> i.e., without pretense or | |
| 1066 hypocrisy; against such attitudes we read: “They like to pray | |
| 1067 at street cofners, so people can see them” (Mt 6:5).</p> | |
| 1068 <p>This prayer, then, requires three things: first, the fervor of | |
| 1069 love; secondly, the truth of faith; and thirdly, a correct | |
| 1070 intention.</p> | |
| 1071 <p>He says, the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit | |
| 1072 and in truth, because under the law, worship was not given to the | |
| 1073 Father, but to the Lord. We worship in love, as sons; whereas they | |
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1074 worshiped in fear, as slaves.</p> |
| 35 | 1075 <p>612 He says <span style="font-weight: bold">true</span> |
| 1076 worshipers, in opposition to three things mentioned in the above | |
| 1077 interpretations. First, in opposition to the false worship of the | |
| 1078 Samaritans: “Put aside what is not true, and speak the | |
| 1079 truth” (Eph 4:25). Secondly, in opposition to the fruitless | |
| 1080 and transitory character of bodily rites: “Why do you love | |
| 1081 what is without profit, and seek after lies” (Ps 4:3). | |
| 1082 Thirdly, it is opposed to what is symbolic: “Grace and truth | |
| 1083 have come through Jesus Christ” (above 1:17).</p> | |
| 1084 <p>613 Then when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">Indeed, | |
| 1085 it is just such worshipers the Father seeks,</span> he shows that | |
| 1086 this third kind of worship is appropriate for two reasons. First, | |
| 1087 because the One worshiped wills and accepts this worship. Secondly, | |
| 1088 because of the nature of the One worshiped (v 24).</p> | |
| 1089 <p>614 Concerning the first, we should note that for a man to merit | |
| 1090 receiving what he asks, he should ask for things which are not in | |
| 1091 opposition to the will of the giver, and also ask for them in a way | |
| 1092 which is acceptable to the giver. And so when we pray to God, we | |
| 1093 ought to be such as God seeks. But God seeks those who will worship | |
| 1094 him in spirit and in truth, in the fervor of love and in the truth | |
| 1095 of faith; “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God want | |
| 1096 from you, but that you fear the Lord your God, and walk in his | |
| 1097 ways, and love him, and serve the Lord your God with all your | |
| 1098 heart” (Dt 10:12); and in Micah (6:8): “1 will show | |
| 1099 you, man, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you: to do | |
| 1100 what is right, and to love mercy, and to walk attentively with your | |
| 1101 God.”</p> | |
| 1102 <p>615 Then he shows that the third type of worship is appropriate | |
| 1103 from the very nature of God, saying, <span style= | |
| 1104 "font-weight: bold">God is spirit.</span> As is said in Sirach | |
| 1105 (13:19), “Every animal loves its like”; and so God | |
| 1106 loves us insofar as we are like him. But we are not like him by our | |
| 1107 body, because he is incorporeal, but in what is spiritual in us, | |
| 1108 for <span style="font-weight: bold">God is spirit:</span> “Be | |
| 1109 renewed in the spirit,” of your mind (Eph 4:23).</p> | |
| 1110 <p>In saying, <span style="font-weight: bold">God is spirit,</span> | |
| 1111 he means that God is incorporeal: “A spirit does not have | |
| 1112 flesh and bones” (Lk 24:39); and also that he is a | |
| 1113 life-giver, because our entire life is from God, as its creative | |
| 1114 source. God is also truth: “I am the way, and the truth, and | |
| 1115 the life” (below 14:6). Therefore, we should worship him in | |
| 1116 spirit and in truth.</p> | |
| 1117 <p>616 When he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">The woman said | |
| 1118 to him,</span> he mentions the one who gives the gift; and this | |
| 1119 corresponds to what our Lord said before, <span style= | |
| 1120 "font-weight: bold">If you knew the gift of God, and realized who | |
| 1121 it is who says to you, Give me a drink, you perhaps would have | |
| 1122 asked him.</span> First, we have the woman’s profession. | |
| 1123 Secondly, the teaching of Christ (v 26). As to the first, he does | |
| 1124 two things. First, the woman professes her faith in the Christ to | |
| 1125 come. Secondly, in the fulness of his teaching, <span style= | |
| 1126 "font-weight: bold">he will tell us everything.</span></p> | |
| 1127 <p>617 The woman, wearied by the profound nature of what Christ was | |
| 1128 saying, was confused and unable to understand all this. She says: | |
| 1129 <span style="font-weight: bold">I know that the Messiah is coming, | |
| 1130 the one called Christ.</span> As if to say: I do not understand | |
| 1131 what you are saying, but a time will come when the Messiah will | |
| 1132 arrive, and then we will understand all these things. For | |
| 1133 “Messiah” in Hebrew means the same as “Anointed | |
| 1134 One” in Latin, and “Christ” in Greek. She knew | |
| 1135 that the Messiah was coming because she had been taught by the | |
| 1136 books of Moses, which foretell the coming of Christ: “The | |
| 1137 scepter will not be taken away from Judah ... until he who is to be | |
| 1138 sent comes” (Gn 49:10). As Augustine says, this is the first | |
| 1139 time the woman mentions the name “Christ”: and we see | |
| 1140 by this that she is now beginning to return to her lawful | |
| 1141 husband.</p> | |
| 1142 <p>618 When this Messiah comes, he will give us a complete | |
| 1143 teaching. Hence she says, <span style="font-weight: bold">when he | |
| 1144 comes he will tell us everything.</span> This was foretold by | |
| 1145 Moses: “I will raise up a prophet for them, from among their | |
| 1146 own brothers, like them; and I will put my words in his mouth, and | |
| 1147 he will tell them all I command him” (Dt 18:18). Because this | |
| 1148 woman had now called her husband, i.e., intellect and reason, the | |
| 1149 Lord now offers her the water of spiritual teaching by revealing | |
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1150 himself to her in a most excellent way.</p> |
| 35 | 1151 <p>619 And so Jesus says: <span style="font-weight: bold">I who |
| 1152 speak to you am he,</span> i.e., I am the Christ: “Wisdom | |
| 1153 goes to meet those who desire her, so she may first reveal herself | |
| 1154 to them” (Wis 6:14), and below (14:21): “I will love | |
| 1155 him, and reveal myself to him.”</p> | |
| 1156 <p>Our Lord did not reveal himself to this woman at once because it | |
| 1157 might have seemed to her that he was speaking out of vainglory. But | |
| 1158 now, having brought her step by step to a knowledge of himself, | |
| 1159 Christ revealed himself at the appropriate time: “Words | |
| 1160 appropriately spoken are like apples of gold on beds of | |
| 1161 silver” (Prv 25:11). In contrast, when he was asked by the | |
| 1162 Pharisees whether he was the Christ, “If you are the Christ, | |
| 1163 tell us clearly” (below 10:24), he did not reveal himself to | |
| 1164 them clearly, because they did not ask to learn but to test him. | |
| 1165 But this woman is speaking in all simplicity.</p> | |
| 1166 <p style="margin-bottom: 0.125in; margin-bottom: 0.125in"> | |
| 1167 </p> | |
| 1168 <p style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 0.125in"><span style= | |
| 1169 "font-weight: bold">LECTURE 3</span></p> | |
| 1170 <blockquote> | |
| 1171 <p style="text-align: justify">27 His disciples, returning at this | |
| 1172 point, were amazed that Jesus was speaking with a woman. But no one | |
| 1173 said, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking | |
| 1174 to her?” 28 The woman then left her water jar and went off to | |
| 1175 the town. And she said to the people: 29 “Come, and see the | |
| 1176 man who told me everything that I have done. Could he not be the | |
| 1177 Christ?” 30 At that they set out from the town to meet him. | |
| 1178 31 Meanwhile, his disciples asked him saying, “Rabbi, eat | |
| 1179 something.” 32 But he said to them,</p> | |
| 1180 <p style="margin-left: 0.5in">“I have food to eat of which | |
| 1181 you do not know.”</p> | |
| 1182 <p>33 At this the disciples said to one another, “Do you | |
| 1183 suppose that someone has brought him something to eat?”</p> | |
| 1184 </blockquote> | |
| 1185 <p>620 After presenting the teaching on spiritual water, the | |
| 1186 Evangelist now deals with the effect of this teaching. First, he | |
| 1187 sets down the effect itself. Secondly, he elaborates on it (v 3 1). | |
| 1188 The effect of this teaching is its fruit for those who believe. And | |
| 1189 first we have its fruit which relates to the disciples, who were | |
| 1190 surprised at Christ’s conduct. Secondly, its fruit in | |
| 1191 relation to the woman, who proclaimed Christ’s power (v | |
| 1192 28).</p> | |
| 1193 <p>621 We are told three things about the disciples. First, their | |
| 1194 return to Christ: he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">His | |
| 1195 disciples, returning at this point.</span> As Chrysostorn reminds | |
| 1196 us, it was very convenient that the disciples returned after Christ | |
| 1197 had revealed himself to the woman, since this shows us that all | |
| 1198 events are regulated by divine providence: “He made the small | |
| 1199 and the great, and takes care for all alike” (Wis 6:8); | |
| 1200 “There is a time and fitness for everything” (Ecc | |
| 1201 8:6).</p> | |
| 1202 <p>622 Secondly, we see their surprise at what Christ was doing; he | |
| 1203 says, they <span style="font-weight: bold">were amazed that Jesus | |
| 1204 was speaking with a woman.</span> They were amazed at what was | |
| 1205 good; and as Augustine says, they did not suspect any evil. They | |
| 1206 were amazed at two things. First, at the extraordinary gentleness | |
| 1207 and humility of Christ: for the Lord of the world stooped to speak | |
| 1208 with a poor woman, and for a long time, giving us an example of | |
| 1209 humility: “Be friendly to the poor” (Sir 4:7). | |
| 1210 Secondly, they were amazed that he was speaking with a Samaritan | |
| 1211 and a foreigner, for they did not know the mystery by which this | |
| 1212 woman was a symbol of the Church of the Gentiles; and Christ sought | |
| 1213 the Gentiles, for he came “to seek and to save what was | |
| 1214 lost” (Lk 19:10).</p> | |
| 1215 <p>623 Thirdly, we see the disciples’ reverence for Christ, | |
| 1216 shown by their silence. For we show our reverence for God when we | |
| 1217 do not presume to discuss his affairs: “It is to the glory of | |
| 1218 God to conceal things; and to the glory of kings to search things | |
| 1219 out” (Prv 25:2). So the Evangelist says that although his | |
| 1220 disciples were surprised, none of them said, <span style= | |
| 1221 "font-weight: bold">What do you want?</span> or asked him, | |
| 1222 <span style="font-weight: bold">Why are you talking to her?</span> | |
| 1223 “Listen in silence” (Sir 32:9). Yet the disciples had | |
| 1224 been so trained to observe order, because of their reverence and | |
| 1225 filial fear toward Christ, that now and then they would question | |
| 1226 him about matters that concerned themselves, i.e., when Christ said | |
| 1227 things relating to them, but which were beyond their understanding: | |
| 1228 “Young men, speak if you have to” (Sir 3 2:10). At | |
| 1229 other times they did not question him; in those matters that were | |
| 1230 not their business, as here.</p> | |
| 1231 <p>624 Then (v 28), we have the fruit which relates to the woman; | |
| 1232 by what she said to her people, she was taking on the role of an | |
| 1233 apostle. From what she says and does, we can learn three things. | |
| 1234 First, her affective devotion; secondly, her way of preaching; | |
| 1235 thirdly the effect her preaching had (v 30).</p> | |
| 1236 <p>625 Her affection is revealed in two ways. First, because her | |
| 1237 devotion was so great that she forgot why she had come to the well, | |
| 1238 and left without the water and her water jar. So he says, | |
| 1239 <span style="font-weight: bold">the woman then left her water jar | |
| 1240 and went off to the town,</span> to tell of the wonderful things | |
| 1241 Christ had done; and she was not now concerned for her own bodily | |
| 1242 comfort but for the welfare of others. In this respect she was like | |
| 1243 the apostles, who “leaving their nets, followed the | |
| 1244 Lord” (Mt 4:20). The water jar is a symbol of worldly | |
| 1245 desires, by which men draw out pleasures from the depths of | |
| 1246 darkness—symbolized by the well—i.e., from a worldly | |
| 1247 manner of life. Accordingly, those who abandon worldly desires for | |
| 1248 the sake of God leave their water jars: “No soldier of God | |
| 1249 becomes entangled in the business of this world” (2 Tim 2:4). | |
| 1250 Secondly, we see her affection from the great number of those to | |
| 1251 whom she brings the news: not to just one or two, but to the entire | |
| 1252 town; we read that she <span style="font-weight: bold">went off to | |
| 1253 the town.</span> This signifies the duty Christ gave to the | |
| 1254 apostles: “Go, teach all nations” (Mt 28:19); and | |
| 1255 “I have chosen you to go and bring forth fruit” (below | |
| 1256 15:16).</p> | |
| 1257 <p>626 Next we see her manner of preaching (v 29). She first | |
| 1258 invites them to see Christ, saying, <span style= | |
| 1259 "font-weight: bold">Come and see the man.</span> Although she had | |
| 1260 heard Christ say that he was the Christ, she did not at once tell | |
| 1261 the people that they should come to the Christ, or believe, so as | |
| 1262 not to give them a reason for scoffing. So at first she mentions | |
| 1263 things that were believable and evident about Christ, as that he | |
| 1264 was a man: “made in the likeness of men” (Phil 2:7). | |
| 1265 Neither did she say, “believe,” but <span style= | |
| 1266 "font-weight: bold">Come, and see</span>; for she was convinced | |
| 1267 that if they were to taste from that well by seeing him, they would | |
| 1268 be affected in the same way she was: “Come, and I will tell | |
| 1269 you the great things he has done for me” (Ps 65:16). In this | |
| 1270 she is imitating the example of a true preacher, not calling men to | |
| 1271 himself, but to Christ: “What we preach is not ourselves, but | |
| 1272 Jesus Christ” (2 Cor 4:5).</p> | |
| 1273 <p>627 Secondly, she mentions a clue to Christ’s divinity, | |
| 1274 saying, <span style="font-weight: bold">who told me everything that | |
| 1275 I have done,</span> that is, how many husbands she had had. For it | |
| 1276 is the function and sign of the divinity to disclose hidden things | |
| 1277 and the secrets of hearts. Although the things she had done would | |
| 1278 cause her shame, she is still not ashamed to mention them; for as | |
| 1279 Chrysostom says: “When the soul is on fire with the divine | |
| 1280 fire, it no longer pays attention to earthly things, neither to | |
| 1281 glory nor to shame, but only to that flame that holds it | |
| 1282 fast.”</p> | |
| 1283 <p>628 Thirdly, she infers the greatness of Christ, saying, | |
| 1284 <span style="font-weight: bold">Could he not be the Christ?</span> | |
| 1285 She did not dare to say that he was the Christ, lest she seem to be | |
| 1286 trying to teach them; they could have become angry at this and | |
| 1287 refuse to go with her. Yet she was not entirely silent on this | |
| 1288 point, but submitting it to their judgment, set it forth in the | |
| 1289 form of a question, saying, <span style="font-weight: bold">Could | |
| 1290 he not be the Christ?</span> For this is an easier way to persuade | |
| 1291 someone.</p> | |
| 1292 <p>629 This insignificant woman signifies the condition of the | |
| 1293 apostles, who were sent out to preach: “Not many of you are | |
| 1294 learned in the worldly sense, not many powerful ... But God chose | |
| 1295 the simple ones of the world to embarrass the wise” (1 Cor | |
| 1296 1:26). Thus in Proverbs (9:3) the apostles are called handmaids: | |
| 1297 “She,” divine wisdom, i.e., the Son of God, “sent | |
| 1298 out her handmaids,” the apostles, “to summon to the | |
| 1299 tower.”</p> | |
| 1300 <p>630 The fruit of her preaching is given when he says, | |
| 1301 <span style="font-weight: bold">At that</span> they set | |
| 1302 <span style="font-weight: bold">out from the town,</span> to where | |
| 1303 she had returned, to meet him, Christ. We see by this that if we | |
| 1304 desire to come to Christ, we must set out from the town, i.e., | |
| 1305 leave behind our carnal desires: “Let us go out to him | |
| 1306 outside the camp, bearing the abuse he took,” as we read in | |
| 1307 Hebrews (13:13).</p> | |
| 1308 <p>631 Now the effect of this spiritual teaching is elaborated. | |
| 1309 First, by what Christ said to his disciples; secondly, by the | |
| 1310 effect of all this on the Samaritans (v 39). Concerning the first | |
| 1311 he does two things. First, we have the situation in which Christ | |
| 1312 speaks to his disciples; secondly, what he said (v 32).</p> | |
| 1313 <p>632 The situation is the insistence of the apostles that Christ | |
| 1314 eat. He says, <span style="font-weight: bold">Meanwhile,</span> | |
| 1315 i.e., between the time that Christ and the woman spoke and the | |
| 1316 Samaritans came, <span style="font-weight: bold">his disciples | |
| 1317 asked him,</span> that is, Christ, <span style= | |
| 1318 "font-weight: bold">Rabbi, eat something:</span> for they thought | |
| 1319 that then was a good time to eat, before the crowds came from the | |
| 1320 town. For the disciples did not usually offer Christ food in the | |
| 1321 presence of strangers: so we read in Mark (6:3 1), that so many | |
| 1322 people came to him that he did not even have time to eat.</p> | |
| 1323 <p>633 After presenting the situation, he gives its fruit. First, | |
| 1324 it is given in figurative language. Secondly, we see the disciples | |
| 1325 are slow in understanding this. Thirdly, the Lord explains what he | |
| 1326 meant (v 34).</p> | |
| 1327 <p>634 The fruit of his spiritual teaching is proposed under the | |
| 1328 symbols of’ food and nourishment, so the Lord says, | |
| 1329 <span style="font-weight: bold">I have food to eat.</span> We | |
| 1330 Should note that just as bodily nourishment is incomplete miless | |
| 1331 there is both food and drink, so also both Should be found in | |
| 1332 spirittial notirishment: “The Lord fed him with the bread of | |
| 1333 life and understanding,” this is the food, “and gave | |
| 1334 him a drink of the water of saving wisdom,” and this is the | |
| 1335 drink (Sir 15:3). So it was appropriate for Christ to speak of food | |
| 1336 after having given drink to the Samaritan woman. And just as water | |
| 1337 is a symbol for saving wisdom, so food is a symbol of good | |
| 1338 works.</p> | |
| 1339 <p>The food that Christ had to eat is the salvation of men; this | |
| 1340 was what he desired. When he says that he has food to eat, he shows | |
| 1341 how great a desire he has for our salvation. For just as we desire | |
| 1342 to eat when we are hungry, so he desires to save us: “My | |
| 1343 delight is to be with the children of men” (Prv 8:3 1). So he | |
| 1344 says, <span style="font-weight: bold">I have food to eat,</span> | |
| 1345 i.e., the conversion of the nations, <span style= | |
| 1346 "font-weight: bold">of which you do not know;</span> for they had | |
| 1347 no way of knowing beforehand about this conversion of the | |
| 1348 nations.</p> | |
| 1349 <p>635 Origen explains this in a different way, as follows. | |
| 1350 Spiritual food is like bodily food. The same amount of bodily food | |
| 1351 is not enough for everyone; some need more, others less. Again, | |
| 1352 what is good for one is harmful to another. The same thing happens | |
| 1353 in spiritual nourishment: for the same kind and amount should not | |
| 1354 be given to everyone, but adjusted to what is appropriate to the | |
| 1355 disposition and capacity of each. “Like newborn babes, desire | |
| 1356 spiritual milk” (1 Pt 2:2). Solid food is for the perfect; | |
| 1357 thus Origen says that the man who understands the loftier doctrine, | |
| 1358 and who has charge of others in spiritual matters, can teach this | |
| 1359 doctrine to those who are weaker and have less understanding. | |
| 1360 Accordingly, the Apostle says in 1 Corinthians (3:2): “Being | |
| 1361 little ones in Christ, I gave you milk, not solid food.” And | |
| 1362 Jesus could say this with much more truth: <span style= | |
| 1363 "font-weight: bold">I have food to eat</span>; and “I have | |
| 1364 many things to tell you, but you cannot bear them now” (below | |
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1365 16:12).</p> |
| 35 | 1366 <p>636 The slowness of the disciples to understand these matters is |
| 1367 implied by the fact that what our Lord said about spiritual food, | |
| 1368 they understood as referring to bodily food. For even they were | |
| 1369 still without understanding, as we see from Matthew (15:16). It is | |
| 1370 not surprising that this Samaritan woman did not understand about | |
| 1371 spiritual water, for even the Jewish disciples did not understand | |
| 1372 about spiritual food.</p> | |
| 1373 <p>In their saying to each other, <span style= | |
| 1374 "font-weight: bold">Do you suppose that someone has brought him | |
| 1375 something to eat?</span> we should note that it was customary for | |
| 1376 Christ to accept food from others; but not because he needs our | |
| 1377 goods: “He does not need our goods” (Ps 15:2), nor our | |
| 1378 food, because it is he who gives food to every living thing.</p> | |
| 1379 <p>637 Then why did he desire and accept goods from others? For two | |
| 1380 reasons. First, so that those who give him these things might | |
| 1381 acquire merit. Secondly, in order to give us an example. that those | |
| 1382 engrossed in spiritual matters should not be ashamed of their | |
| 1383 poverty, nor regard it burdensome to be supported by others. For it | |
| 1384 is fitting that teachers have others provide their food so that, | |
| 1385 being free from such concerns, they may carefully pay attention to | |
| 1386 the ministry of the word, as Chrysostorn says, and as we find in | |
| 1387 the Gloss. “Let the elders who rule well be regarded as | |
| 1388 worthy of a double compensation; especially those concerned with | |
| 1389 preaching and teaching (1 Tim 5:17).</p> | |
| 1390 <p style="margin-bottom: 0.125in; margin-bottom: 0.125in"> | |
| 1391 </p> | |
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1392 <p style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 0.125in">LECTURE 4</p> |
| 35 | 1393 <blockquote> |
| 1394 <p style="text-align: justify">34 Jesus explained to them,</p> | |
| 1395 <p style="margin-left: 0.5in">“My food is to do the will of | |
| 1396 him<br /> | |
| 1397 who sent me, to accomplish his work.<br /> | |
| 1398 35 Do you not have a saying:<br /> | |
| 1399 ‘There are still four months, and it will be harvest | |
| 1400 time’?<br /> | |
| 1401 So I say to you: Lift up your eyes,<br /> | |
| 1402 look at the fields, because they are<br /> | |
| 1403 already white for the harvest!<br /> | |
| 1404 36 He who reaps receives his wages<br /> | |
| 1405 and gathers fruit for eternal life,<br /> | |
| 1406 so that the sower can rejoice<br /> | |
| 1407 at the same time as the reaper.<br /> | |
| 1408 37 For here the saying is verified:<br /> | |
| 1409 ‘One man sows, another reaps.’<br /> | |
| 1410 38 I have sent you to reap<br /> | |
| 1411 what you have not worked for.<br /> | |
| 1412 Others have done the work,<br /> | |
| 1413 and you have entered into their labors.”</p> | |
| 1414 </blockquote> | |
| 1415 <p>638 Since the disciples were slow to understand the Lord’s | |
| 1416 figure of speech, the Lord now explains it. First, we have its | |
| 1417 explanatiot; secondly, its application (v 35).</p> | |
| 1418 <p>639 As to the first, we should note that just as Christ | |
| 1419 explained to the Samaritan woman what he had told her in figurative | |
| 1420 language about water, so he explains to his apostles what he told | |
| 1421 them in figurative language about food. But he does not do so in | |
| 1422 the same way in both cases. Since the apostles were able to | |
| 1423 understand these matters more easily, he explains to them at once | |
| 1424 and in few words; but to the Samaritan woman, since she Could not | |
| 1425 understand as well, our Lord leads her to the truth with a longer | |
| 1426 explanation.</p> | |
| 1427 <p>640 It is perfectly reasonable for Christ to say, <span style= | |
| 1428 "font-weight: bold">My food is to do the will of him who sent me, | |
| 1429 to accomplish his work.</span> For as bodily food sustains a man | |
| 1430 and brings him to perfection, the spiritual food of the soul and of | |
| 1431 the rational creature is that by which he is sustained and | |
| 1432 perfected; and this consists in being joined to his end and | |
| 1433 following a higher rule. David, understanding this, said: | |
| 1434 “For me, to adhere to God is good” (Ps 72:28). | |
| 1435 Accordingly, Christ, as man, fittingly says that his food is to do | |
| 1436 the will of God, to accomplish his work.</p> | |
| 1437 <p>641 These two expressions can be understood as meaning the same | |
| 1438 thing, in the sense that the second is explaining the first. Or, | |
| 1439 they can be understood in different ways.</p> | |
| 1440 <p>If we understand them as meaning the same, the sense is this: My | |
| 1441 food is, i.e., in this is my strength and nourishment, <span style= | |
| 1442 "font-weight: bold">to do the will of him who sent me;</span> | |
| 1443 according to, “My God, I desired to do your will, and your | |
| 1444 law is in my heart” (Ps 39:9), and, “I came down from | |
| 1445 heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent | |
| 1446 me” (below 6:38). But because “to do the will” | |
| 1447 (<i>facere voluntatem</i>) of another can be understood in two | |
| 1448 ways—one, by making him will it, and second, by fulfilling | |
| 1449 what I know he wills—therefore, explaining what it means to | |
| 1450 do the will of him who sent him, the Lord says, <span style= | |
| 1451 "font-weight: bold">to accomplish his work,</span> that is, that I | |
| 1452 might complete the work I know he wants: “I must do the works | |
| 1453 of him who sent me while it is day” (below 9:4).</p> | |
| 1454 <p>If these two expressions are understood as different, then we | |
| 1455 should point out that Christ did two things in this world. First, | |
| 1456 he taught the truth, in inviting and calling us to the faith; and | |
| 1457 by this he fulfilled the will of the Father: “This is the | |
| 1458 will of my Father, who sent me: that everyone who sees the Son and | |
| 1459 believes in him should have eternal life” (below 6:40). | |
| 1460 Secondly, he accomplished the truth by opening in us, by his | |
| 1461 passion, the gate of life, and by giving us the power to arrive at | |
| 1462 complete truth: “I have accomplished the work which you gave | |
| 1463 me to do” (below 17:4). Thus he is saying: <span style= | |
| 1464 "font-weight: bold">My food is to do the will of him who sent | |
| 1465 me,</span> by calling men to the faith, <span style= | |
| 1466 "font-weight: bold">to accomplish his work,</span> by leading them | |
| 1467 to what is perfect.</p> | |
| 1468 <p>642 Another interpretation, given by Origen, is that every man | |
| 1469 who does good works should direct his intention to two things: the | |
| 1470 honor of God and the good of his neighbor: for as it is said: | |
| 1471 “The end of the commandment is love” (1 Tim 1:5), and | |
| 1472 this love embraces both God and our neighbor. And so, when we do | |
| 1473 something for God’s sake, the end of the commandment is God; | |
| 1474 but when it is for our neighbor’s good, the end of the | |
| 1475 commandment is our neighbor. With this in mind, Christ is saying, | |
| 1476 <span style="font-weight: bold">My food is to do the will of him | |
| 1477 who sent me,</span> God, i.e., to direct md regulate my intention | |
| 1478 to those matters that concern the honor of God, <span style= | |
| 1479 "font-weight: bold">to accomplish his work,</span> i.e., to do | |
| 1480 things for the benefit and perfection of man.</p> | |
| 1481 <p>643 On the other hand, since the works of God are perfect, it | |
| 1482 does not seem proper to speak of accomplishing or completing them. | |
| 1483 I answer that among lower creatures, man is the special work of | |
| 1484 God, who made him to his own image and likeness (Gn 1:26). And in | |
| 1485 the beginning God made this a perfect work, because as we read in | |
| 1486 Ecclesiastes (7:30): “God made man upright.” But later, | |
| 1487 man lost this perfection by sin, and abandoned what was right. And | |
| 1488 so, this work of the Lord needed to be repaired in order to become | |
| 1489 right again; and this was accomplished by Christ, for “Just | |
| 1490 as by the disobedience of one man, many were made sinners, so by | |
| 1491 the obedience of one man, many will be made just” (Rom 5:19). | |
| 1492 Thus Christ says, to <span style="font-weight: bold">accomplish his | |
| 1493 work,</span> i.e., to bring man back to what is perfect.</p> | |
| 1494 <p>644 Then when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">Do you | |
| 1495 not have a saying: There are still four months, and it will be | |
| 1496 harvest time?</span> he makes use of a simile. Note that when | |
| 1497 Christ asked the Samaritan woman for a drink, “Give me a | |
| 1498 drink,” he made use of a simile concerning water. But here, | |
| 1499 the the disciples are urging the Lord to eat, and now he makes use | |
| 1500 of a simile concerning spiritual food.</p> | |
| 1501 <p>There are some persons whom God asks for a drink, as this | |
| 1502 Samaritan woman; and there are some who offer a drink to God. But | |
| 1503 no one offers food to God unless God first asks him for it: for we | |
| 1504 offer spiritual food to God when we ask him for our salvation, that | |
| 1505 is, when we ask, “Your will be done on earth as it is in | |
| 1506 heaven” (Mt 6:10). We cannot obtain salvation of ourselves, | |
| 1507 unless we are pre-moved by “prevenient grace,” | |
| 1508 according to the statement in Lamentations (5:21): “Make us | |
| 1509 come back to you, O Lord, and we will come back” (Lam 5:21). | |
| 1510 The Lord himself, therefore, first asks for that which makes us ask | |
| 1511 through “prevenient grace.”</p> | |
| 1512 <p>In this simile, we have first, the harvest. Secondly, those who | |
| 1513 reap the harvest (v 36). He does two things concerning the first. | |
| 1514 First, he states the simile concerning the natural harvest; | |
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1515 secondly, concerning the spiritual harvest (v 35b).</p> |
| 35 | 1516 <p>645 <span style="font-weight: bold">Do you not have a saying: |
| 1517 There are still four months, and it will be harvest time?</span> We | |
| 1518 can see from this that, as stated in Matthew (4:12), Christ left | |
| 1519 Judea and traveled through Samaria right after John was arrested, | |
| 1520 and that all this happened during the winter. So, because the | |
| 1521 harvests ripen there more according to the season, there were four | |
| 1522 months froin that time till the harvest. Thus he says, Do | |
| 1523 <span style="font-weight: bold">you not have a saying,</span> ahow | |
| 1524 the natural harvest, <span style="font-weight: bold">There are | |
| 1525 still four months</span> that must pass, <span style= | |
| 1526 "font-weight: bold">and it will be harvest time?</span> i.e., the | |
| 1527 time for gathering up the harvest. So I say to you, speaking of the | |
| 1528 spiritual harvest, Lift up your eyes, <span style= | |
| 1529 "font-weight: bold">look at the fields, because they are already | |
| 1530 white for the harvest.</span></p> | |
| 1531 <p>646 Here we should point out that harvest time is the time when | |
| 1532 the fruit is gathered; and so whenever fruit is gathered can be | |
| 1533 regarded as a harvest time. Now fruit is gathered at two times: for | |
| 1534 both in temporal and in spiritual matters there is nothing to | |
| 1535 prevent what is fruit in relation to an earlier state from being | |
| 1536 seed in relation to something later. For example, good works are | |
| 1537 the fruit of spiritual instruction, as is faith and other such | |
| 1538 things; but these in turn are seeds of eternal life, because | |
| 1539 eternal life is acquired through them. So Sirach (24:23) says: | |
| 1540 “My blossoms,” in relation to the fruit to follow, | |
| 1541 “bear the fruit of of honor and riches,” in relation to | |
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1542 what preceded.</p> |
| 35 | 1543 <p>With this in mind, there is a certain gathering of a spiritual |
| 1544 harvest; and this concerns an eternal fruit, i.e., the gathering of | |
| 1545 the faithful into eternal life, of which we read: “The | |
| 1546 harvest is the end of the world” (Mt 13:39). We are not here | |
| 1547 concerned with this harvest. Another spiritual harvest is gathered | |
| 1548 in the present; and this is understood in two ways. In the first, | |
| 1549 the gathering of the fruit is the converting of the faithful to be | |
| 1550 assembled in the Church; in the second, the gathering is the very | |
| 1551 knowing of the truth, by which a person gathers the fruit of truth | |
| 1552 into his soul. And we are concerned with these two gatherings of | |
| 1553 the harvest, depending on the different expositions.</p> | |
| 1554 <p>647 Augustine and Chrysostom understand the gathering of the | |
| 1555 harvest in the first way, as follows. You say that it is not yet | |
| 1556 the time for the natural harvest; but this is not true of the | |
| 1557 spiritual harvest. Indeed, <span style="font-weight: bold">I say to | |
| 1558 you: Lift up your eyes</span>, i.e., the eyes of your mind, by | |
| 1559 thinking, or even your physical eyes, <span style= | |
| 1560 "font-weight: bold">look at the fields, because they are already | |
| 1561 white for the harvest:</span> because the entire countryside was | |
| 1562 full of Samaritans coming to Christ.</p> | |
| 1563 <p>The statement that the fields are already white is metaphorical: | |
| 1564 for when sown fields are white, it is a sign that they are ready | |
| 1565 for harvest. And so he only means to say by this that the people | |
| 1566 were ready for salvation and to hear the word. He says, | |
| 1567 <span style="font-weight: bold">look at the fields,</span> because | |
| 1568 not only the Jews, but the Gentiles as well, were ready for the | |
| 1569 faith: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few” | |
| 1570 (Mt 9:37). And just as harvests are made white by the presence of | |
| 1571 the burning heat of the summer sun, so by the coming of the Sun of | |
| 1572 justice, i.e., Christ, and his preaching and power, men are made | |
| 1573 ready for salvation. Malachi (4:2) says: “The sun of justice | |
| 1574 will rise on you who fear my name.” Thus it is that the time | |
| 1575 of Christ’s coming is called the time of plenitude or | |
| 1576 fulness: “When the fulness of time had come, God sent his | |
| 1577 Son” (Gal 4:4).</p> | |
| 1578 <p>648 Origen deals with the second gathering of the harvest, i.e., | |
| 1579 the gathering of truth in the soul. He says that one gathers as | |
| 1580 much of the fruit of truth in the harvest as the truths he knows. | |
| 1581 And he says that everything said here (v 35) was presented as a | |
| 1582 parable. In this interpretation, the Lord does two things. First, | |
| 1583 he mentions a false doctrine held by some. Secondly, he rejects it, | |
| 1584 I say to you.</p> | |
| 1585 <p>Some thought that man could not acquire any truth about | |
| 1586 anything. This opinion gave rise to the heresy of the Academicians, | |
| 1587 who maintained that nothing can be known as certain in this life; | |
| 1588 about which we read: “I tested all things by wisdom. I said: | |
| 1589 ‘I will acquire wisdom,’ and it became further from | |
| 1590 me” (Ecc 7:24). Our Lord mentions this opinion when he says, | |
| 1591 Do you not have a saying: There are <span style= | |
| 1592 "font-weight: bold">still four months and it will be harvest | |
| 1593 time?</span> i.e., this whole present life, in which man serves | |
| 1594 under the four elements, must end, so that after it truth may be | |
| 1595 gathered in another life.</p> | |
| 1596 <p>Our Lord rejects this opinion when he says: This is not true, I | |
| 1597 say to you: Lift up your eyes. Sacred Scripture usually uses this | |
| 1598 expression when something subtle and profound is being presented; | |
| 1599 as, “Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these | |
| 1600 things” (Is 40:26). For when our eyes are not lifted away | |
| 1601 from earthly things or from the desires of the flesh, they are not | |
| 1602 fit to know spiritual fruit. For sometimes they are prevented from | |
| 1603 considering divine things because they have stooped to earthly | |
| 1604 things: “They have fixed their eyes on the earth” (Ps | |
| 1605 16:11); sometimes they are blinded by concupiscence: “They | |
| 1606 have averted their eyes so as not to look at heaven or remember the | |
| 1607 judgments of God” (Dn 13:9).</p> | |
| 1608 <p>649 So he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">Lift up your | |
| 1609 eyes, look at the fields, because they are already white for the | |
| 1610 harvest,</span> i.e., they are such that the truth can be learned | |
| 1611 from them: for by the “fields” we specifically | |
| 1612 understand all those things from which truth can be acquired, | |
| 1613 especially the Scriptures: “Search the Scriptures ... they | |
| 1614 bear witness to me” (below 5:39). Indeed, these fields | |
| 1615 existed in the Old Testament, but they were not white for the | |
| 1616 harvest because men were not able to pick spiritual fruit from them | |
| 1617 until Christ came, who made them white by opening their | |
| 1618 understanding: “He opened their minds so they could | |
| 1619 understand the Scriptures” (Lk 24.45). Again, creatures are | |
| 1620 harvests from which the fruit of truth is gathered: “The | |
| 1621 invisible things of God are clearly known by the things that have | |
| 1622 been made” (Rom 1:20). None the less, the Gentiles who | |
| 1623 pursued a knowledge of these things gathered the fruits of error | |
| 1624 rather than of truth from them, because as we read, “they | |
| 1625 served the creature rather than the Creator” (Rom 1:25). So | |
| 1626 the harvests were not yet white; but they were made white for the | |
| 1627 harvest when Christ came.</p> | |
| 1628 <p>650 Next (v 36), he deals with the reapers. First, he gives | |
| 1629 their reward. Secondly, he mentions a proverb. And thirdly, he | |
| 1630 explains it, i.e., applies it (v 38).</p> | |
| 1631 <p>651 Concerning the first, we should note that when the Lord was | |
| 1632 explaining earlier about spiritual water, he mentioned the way in | |
| 1633 which spiritual water differs from natural water: a person who | |
| 1634 drinks natural water will become thirsty again, but one who drinks | |
| 1635 spiritual water will never be thirsty again. Here, too, in | |
| 1636 explaining about the harvest, he points out the difference between | |
| 1637 a natural and a spiritual harvest. Three things are mentioned.</p> | |
| 1638 <p>First, the way in which the two harvests are similar: namely, in | |
| 1639 that the person who reaps either harvest receives a wage. But the | |
| 1640 one who reaps spiritually is the one who gathers the faithful into | |
| 1641 the Church, or who gathers the fruit of truth into his soul. Each | |
| 1642 of these will receive a wage, according to: “Each one will | |
| 1643 receive his own wage according to his work” (1 Cor 3:8).</p> | |
| 1644 <p>The two other points he mentions concern the ways the two | |
| 1645 harvests are unlike each other. First, the fruit gathered from a | |
| 1646 natural harvest concerns the life of the body; but the fruit | |
| 1647 gathered by one who reaps a spiritual harvest concerns eternal | |
| 1648 life. So he says, he who reaps, i.e., he who reaps spiritually, | |
| 1649 <span style="font-weight: bold">gathers fruit for eternal | |
| 1650 life,</span> that is, the faithful, who will obtain eternal life: | |
| 1651 “Your fruit is sanctification, your end is eternal | |
| 1652 life” (Rom 6:22). Or, this fruit is the very knowing and | |
| 1653 explaining of the truth by which man acquires eternal life: | |
| 1654 “Those who explain me will have eternal life,” as we | |
| 1655 read in Sirach (24:3 1). Secondly, the two harvests are unlike | |
| 1656 because in a natural harvest it is considered a misfortune that one | |
| 1657 should sow and another reap; hence he who sows is saddened when | |
| 1658 another reaps. But it is not this way when the seed is spiritual, | |
| 1659 for <span style="font-weight: bold">the sower can rejoice at the | |
| 1660 same time as the reaper.</span></p> | |
| 1661 <p>According to Chrysostom and Augustine, the ones who sow | |
| 1662 spiritual seed are the fathers and prophets of the Old Testament, | |
| 1663 for “The seed is the word of God” (Lk 8:11), which | |
| 1664 Moses and the prophets sowed in the land of Judah. But the apostles | |
| 1665 were the reapers, because the former were not able to accomplish | |
| 1666 what they wanted to do, i.e., to bring men to Christ; this was done | |
| 1667 by the apostles. And so both the apostles and the prophets rejoice | |
| 1668 together, in one mansion of glory, over the conversion of the | |
| 1669 faithful: “Joy and gladness will be found there, thanksgiving | |
| 1670 and the voice of praise” (Is 51:3). This refutes the heresy | |
| 1671 of the Manicheans who condemn the fathers of the Old Testament; for | |
| 1672 as the Lord says here, they will rejoice with the apostles.</p> | |
| 1673 <p>According to Origen, however, the “sowers” in any | |
| 1674 faculty [of the soul] are those who confer the very first | |
| 1675 principles of that faculty; but the reapers are those who proceed | |
| 1676 from these principles to further truths. And this is all the more | |
| 1677 true of the science of all the sciences. The prophets are sowers, | |
| 1678 because they handed down many things concerning divine matters; but | |
| 1679 the apostles are the reapers, because in preaching and teaching | |
| 1680 they revealed many things which the prophets did not make known: | |
| 1681 “which was not made known to the sons of men in other | |
| 1682 generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles” | |
| 1683 (Eph 3:5).</p> | |
| 1684 <p>652 Then when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">For here | |
| 1685 the saying is verified,</span> we are given a proverb. As if to | |
| 1686 say: <span style="font-weight: bold">For here</span>, i.e., in this | |
| 1687 fact, <span style="font-weight: bold">the saying is | |
| 1688 verified,</span> i.e., the proverb in current use among the Jews is | |
| 1689 fulfilled: <span style="font-weight: bold">One man sows, another | |
| 1690 reaps.</span> This proverb seems to have grown out of a statement | |
| 1691 in Leviticus (26:16): “You will sow your seed in vain for it | |
| 1692 will be devoured by your enemies.” As a result, the Jews used | |
| 1693 this proverb when one person labored on something, but another | |
| 1694 received the pleasure from it. This then is what our Lord says: The | |
| 1695 proverb is verified here because it was the prophets who sowed and | |
| 1696 labored, while you are the ones to reap and rejoice.</p> | |
| 1697 <p>Another interpretation would be this. <span style= | |
| 1698 "font-weight: bold">For here the saying is verified,</span> i.e. | |
| 1699 what I am saying to you, <span style="font-weight: bold">One man | |
| 1700 sows, another reaps,</span> because you will reap the fruits of the | |
| 1701 labor of the prophets. Now the prophets and the apostles are | |
| 1702 different, but not in faith, for they both had faith: “But | |
| 1703 now the justice of God has been manifested outside the law; the law | |
| 1704 and the prophets bore witness to it” (Rom 3:21). They are | |
| 1705 different in their manner of life, for the prophets lived under the | |
| 1706 ceremonies of the law, from which the apostles and Christians have | |
| 1707 been freed: “When we were children, we were slaves under the | |
| 1708 elements of this world. But when the fulness of time came, God sent | |
| 1709 his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem those who | |
| 1710 were under the law, so that we could receive adoption as | |
| 1711 sons” (Gal 4:3). And although the apostles and prophets labor | |
| 1712 at different times, nevertheless they will rejoice equally and | |
| 1713 receive wages <span style="font-weight: bold">for eternal life, so | |
| 1714 that the sower can rejoice at the same time as the reaper.</span> | |
| 1715 This was prefigured in the transfiguration of Christ, where all had | |
| 1716 their own glory, both the fathers of the Old Testament, that is, | |
| 1717 Moses and Elijah, and the fathers of the New Testament, that is, | |
| 1718 Peter, John and James. We see from this that the just of the New | |
| 1719 and of the Old Testaments will rejoice together in the glory to | |
| 1720 come.</p> | |
| 1721 <p>653 Then (v 38), he applies the proverb. First, he calls the | |
| 1722 apostles reapers. Secondly, he says they are laborers (v 38b).</p> | |
| 1723 <p>654 he says concerning the first: I say that it is one who | |
| 1724 reaps, because you are reapers, and another who sows, for | |
| 1725 <span style="font-weight: bold">I have sent you to reap what you | |
| 1726 have not worked for.</span> He does not say, “I will send | |
| 1727 you,” but I have sent you. He says this because he sent them | |
| 1728 twice. One time was before his passion, when he sent them to the | |
| 1729 Jews, saying: “Do not go on the roads of the Gentiles ... but | |
| 1730 go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Mt | |
| 1731 10:5). In this case, they were sent to reap that on which they did | |
| 1732 not work, that is, to convert the Jews, among whom the prophets | |
| 1733 worked. After the resurrection, Christ sent them to the Gentiles, | |
| 1734 saying: “Go to the whole world, and preach the good news to | |
| 1735 every creature,” as we find in Mark (16:15). This time they | |
| 1736 were sent to sow for the first time; for as the Apostle says: | |
| 1737 “I have preached the good news, but not where Christ was | |
| 1738 already known, so as not to build on another’s foundation. | |
| 1739 But as it is written: ‘They to whom he was not proclaimed | |
| 1740 will see, and they who have not heard will | |
| 1741 understand.’” (Rom 15:20). And so Christ says, I have | |
| 1742 sent you, referring to the first time they were sent. This is the | |
| 1743 way, then, the apostles are reapers, and others, the prophets, are | |
| 1744 the sowers.</p> | |
| 1745 <p>655 Accordingly, he says, Others have done the work, by sowing | |
| 1746 the beginnings of the doctrine of Christ, <span style= | |
| 1747 "font-weight: bold">and you have entered into their labors,</span> | |
| 1748 to collect the fruit: “The fruit of good labors is | |
| 1749 glorious” (Wis 3:15). The prophets labored, I say, to bring | |
| 1750 men to Christ: “If you believed Moses, you would perhaps | |
| 1751 believe me, for he wrote of me” (below 5:46). If you do not | |
| 1752 believe his written words, how will you believe my spoken words? | |
| 1753 But the prophets did not reap the fruit; so Isaiah said with this | |
| 1754 in mind: “I have labored for nothing and without reason; in | |
| 1755 vain I have exhausted my strength” (Is 49:4).</p> | |
| 1756 <p style="margin-bottom: 0.125in; margin-bottom: 0.125in"> | |
| 1757 </p> | |
| 1758 <p style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 0.125in"><span style= | |
| 1759 "font-weight: bold">LECTURE 5</span></p> | |
| 1760 <blockquote> | |
| 1761 <p>39 Many Samaritans of that town believed in him on the testimony | |
| 1762 of the woman who said, “He told me everything I ever | |
| 1763 did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they begged him | |
| 1764 to stay with them awhile. So he stayed there two days. 41 And many | |
| 1765 more believed in him because of his own words. 42 And they said to | |
| 1766 the woman, “Now we believe not just because of your story, | |
| 1767 but because we have heard him ourselves, and we know that.here is | |
| 1768 truly the Savior of the world.”</p> | |
| 1769 </blockquote> | |
| 1770 <p>656 Above, the Lord foretold to the apostles the fruit to be | |
| 1771 produced among the Samaritans by the woman’s witness. Now the | |
| 1772 Evangelist deals with this fruit. First, the fruit of the | |
| 1773 woman’s witness is given. Secondly, the growth of this fruit | |
| 1774 produced by Christ (v 41). The fruit of the woman’s witness | |
| 1775 is shown in three ways.</p> | |
| 1776 <p>657 First, by the faith of the Samaritans, for they believed in | |
| 1777 Christ. Thus he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">Many | |
| 1778 Samaritans of that town,</span> to which the woman had returned, | |
| 1779 believed in him, and this, <span style="font-weight: bold">on the | |
| 1780 testimony of the woman,</span> from whom Christ asked for a drink | |
| 1781 of water, who said, <span style="font-weight: bold">He told me | |
| 1782 everything I ever did:</span> for this testimony was sufficient | |
| 1783 inducement to believe Christ. For since Christ had disclosed her | |
| 1784 failures, she would not have mentioned them if she had not been | |
| 1785 brought to believe. And so the Samaritans believed as soon as they | |
| 1786 heard her. This indicates that faith comes by hearing.</p> | |
| 1787 <p>658 Secondly, the fruit of her witness is shown in their coming | |
| 1788 to Christ: for faith gives rise to a desire for the thing believed. | |
| 1789 Accordingly, after they believed, they came to Christ, to be | |
| 1790 perfected by him. So he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">So | |
| 1791 when the Samaritans came to him.</span> “Come to him, and be | |
| 1792 enlightened” (Ps 33:6); “Come to me, all you who labor | |
| 1793 and are burdened, and I will refresh you” (Mt 11:28).</p> | |
| 1794 <p>659 Thirdly, the fruit of her witness is shown in their desire: | |
| 1795 for a believer must not only come to Christ, but desire that Christ | |
| 1796 remain with him. So he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">they | |
| 1797 begged him to stay with them awhile. So he stayed there two | |
| 1798 days.</span></p> | |
| 1799 <p>The Lord remains with us through charity: “If anyone loves | |
| 1800 me, he will keep my word” (below 14:23), and further on he | |
| 1801 adds, “and we will make our abode with him.” The Lord | |
| 1802 remains for two days because there are two precepts of charity: the | |
| 1803 love of God and the love of our neighbor, “On these two | |
| 1804 commandments all the law and the prophets depend” (Mt 22:40). | |
| 1805 But the third day is the day of glory: “He will revive us | |
| 1806 after two days; on the third day he will raise us up” (Hos | |
| 1807 6:3). Christ did not remain there for that day because the | |
| 1808 Samaritans were not yet capable of glory.</p> | |
| 1809 <p>660 Then (v 41), the Evangelist says that the fruit resulting | |
| 1810 from the witness of the woman was increased by the presence of | |
| 1811 Christ; and this in three ways. First, in the number of those who | |
| 1812 believed. Secondly, in their reason for believing. Thirdly, in the | |
| 1813 truth they believed.</p> | |
| 1814 <p>661 The fruit was increased as to the number of those who | |
| 1815 believed because while many believed in Christ on account of the | |
| 1816 woman, <span style="font-weight: bold">many more believed in him | |
| 1817 because of his own words,</span> i.e., Christ’s own words. | |
| 1818 This signifies that although many believed becatise of the | |
| 1819 prophets, many more were converted to the faith after Christ came, | |
| 1820 according to the Psalm (7:7): “Rise up, O Lord, in the | |
| 1821 command you have given, and a congregation of people will surround | |
| 1822 you.”</p> | |
| 1823 <p>662 Secondly, this fruit was increased because of the way in | |
| 1824 which they believed: for they say to the woman: <span style= | |
| 1825 "font-weight: bold">Now we believe not just because of your | |
| 1826 story.</span></p> | |
| 1827 <p>Here we should note that three things are necessary for the | |
| 1828 perfection of faith; and they are given here in order. First, faith | |
| 1829 should be right; secondly, it should be prompt; and thirdly, it | |
| 1830 should be certain.</p> | |
| 1831 <p>Now faith is right when it obeys the truth not for some alien | |
| 1832 reason, but for the truth itself; and as to this he says that they | |
| 1833 said to the woman, Now we believe, the truth, <span style= | |
| 1834 "font-weight: bold">not just because of your story,</span> but | |
| 1835 because of the truth itself. Three things lead us to believe in | |
| 1836 Christ. First of all, natural reason: “Since the creation of | |
| 1837 the world the invisible things of God are clearly known by the | |
| 1838 things that have been made” (Rom 1:20). Secondly, the | |
| 1839 testimony of the law and the prophets: “But now justification | |
| 1840 from God has been manifested outside the law; the law and the | |
| 1841 prophets bore witness to it” (Rom 3:21). Thirdly, the | |
| 1842 preaching of the apostles and others: “How will they believe | |
| 1843 without someone to preach to them?” as Romans (10:14) says. | |
| 1844 Yet when a person, having been thus instructed, believes, he can | |
| 1845 then say that it is not for any of these reasons that he believes: | |
| 1846 i.e., neither on account of natural reason, nor the testimony of | |
| 1847 the law, nor the preaching of others, but solely on account of the | |
| 1848 truth itself: “Abram believed God, who regarded this as his | |
| 1849 justification” (Gn 15:6).</p> | |
| 1850 <p>Faith is prompt if it believes quickly; and this was verified in | |
| 1851 these Samaritans because they were converted to God by merely | |
| 1852 hearing him; so they say: <span style="font-weight: bold">we have | |
| 1853 heard him ourselves,</span> and believe in him, <span style= | |
| 1854 "font-weight: bold">and we know that here is truly the Savior of | |
| 1855 the world,</span> without seeing miracles, as the Jews saw. And | |
| 1856 although to believe men quickly is an indication of | |
| 1857 thoughtlessness, according to Sirach (19:4): “He who believes | |
| 1858 easily is frivolous,” yet to believe God quickly is more | |
| 1859 praisworthy: “When they heard me, they obeyed me” (Ps | |
| 1860 17:45).</p> | |
| 1861 <p>Faith should be certain, because one who doubts in the faith is | |
| 1862 an unbeliever: “Ask with faith, without any doubting” | |
| 1863 (Jas 1:6). And so their faith was certain; thus they say, | |
| 1864 <span style="font-weight: bold">and we know.</span> Sometimes, one | |
| 1865 who believes is said to know (<i>scire</i>), as here, because | |
| 1866 <i>scientia</i> [science, knowledge in a more perfect state] and | |
| 1867 faith agree in that both are certain. For just as <i>scientia</i> | |
| 1868 iscertain, so is faith; indeed, the latter is much more so, because | |
| 1869 the certainty of scientia rests on human reason, which can be | |
| 1870 decieved, while the certainty of faith rests on divine reason, | |
| 1871 which cannot be contradicted. However they differ in mode: because | |
| 1872 faith possesses its certainty due to a divinely infused light, | |
| 1873 while <i>scientia</i> possesses its certainty due to a natural | |
| 1874 light. For as the certitude of <i>scientia</i> rests on first | |
| 1875 principles naturally known, so the principles of faith are known | |
| 1876 from a light divinely infused: “You are saved by grace, | |
| 1877 through faith; and this is not due to yourselves, for it is the | |
| 1878 gift of God” (Eph 2:8).</p> | |
| 1879 <p>663 Thirdly, the fruit was increased in the truth believed; so | |
| 1880 they say, <span style="font-weight: bold">here is truly the Savior | |
| 1881 of the world.</span> Here they are affirming that Christ is the | |
| 1882 unique, true and universal Savior.</p> | |
| 1883 <p>He is the unique Savior for they assert that he is different | |
| 1884 from others when they say, here is, i.e., here he alone is who has | |
| 1885 come to save: “Truly, you are a hidden God, the God of | |
| 1886 Israel, the Savior” (Is 45:15); “There is no other name | |
| 1887 under heaven given to men, by which we are saved” (Acts | |
| 1888 4:12).</p> | |
| 1889 <p>They affirm that Christ is the true Savior when they say, | |
| 1890 <span style="font-weight: bold">truly.</span> For since salvation, | |
| 1891 as Dionysius says, is deliverance from evil and preservation in | |
| 1892 good, there are two kinds of salvation: one is true, and the other | |
| 1893 is not true. Salvation is true when we are freed from true evils | |
| 1894 and preserved in true goods. In the Old Testament, however, | |
| 1895 although certain saviors had been sent, they did not truly bring | |
| 1896 salvation, for they set men free from temporal evils, which are not | |
| 1897 truly evils, nor true goods, because they do not last. But Christ | |
| 1898 is truly the Savior, because he frees men from true evils, that is, | |
| 1899 sins: “He will save his people from their sins” (Mt | |
| 1900 1:21), and he preserves them in true goods, that is, spiritual | |
| 1901 goods.</p> | |
| 1902 <p>They affirm that he is the universal Savior because he is not | |
| 1903 just for some, i.e., for the Jews alone, but is the Savior | |
| 1904 <span style="font-weight: bold">of the world.</span> “God did | |
| 1905 not send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the | |
| 1906 world might be saved through him” (above 3:17).</p> | |
| 1907 <p style="margin-bottom: 0.125in; margin-bottom: 0.125in"> | |
| 1908 </p> | |
| 1909 <p style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 0.125in"><span style= | |
| 1910 "font-weight: bold">LECTURE 6</span></p> | |
| 1911 <blockquote> | |
| 1912 <p>43 After two days he left that place and went to Galilee. 44 | |
| 1913 Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own | |
| 1914 country. 45 When however he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans | |
| 1915 welcomed him, because they had seen all the things he had done in | |
| 1916 Jerusalem on the festive day, where they too had gone. 46a He | |
| 1917 therefore went to Cana in Galilee once more, where he had made the | |
| 1918 water wine.</p> | |
| 1919 </blockquote> | |
| 1920 <p>664 Having described the conversion of the Gentiles due to | |
| 1921 teaching, their conversion due to miracles is now given. The | |
| 1922 Evangelist mentions a miracle performed by Christ: first, giving | |
| 1923 the place; secondly, describing the miracle; and thirdly, its | |
| 1924 effect (v 53). He does two things about the first. First, he gives | |
| 1925 the general location of the miracle, that is, Christ’s own | |
| 1926 homeland. Secondly, the specific place (v 46). With respect to the | |
| 1927 first he does two things. First, he mentions the general place. | |
| 1928 Secondly, he tells how Christ was received there (v 45). Concerning | |
| 1929 the first he does two things. First, he indicates the general | |
| 1930 place. Secondly, he gives a certain reason, at (v 44).</p> | |
| 1931 <p>665 He says first of all: I say that Jesus remained with these | |
| 1932 Samaritans for two days, and <span style="font-weight: bold">after | |
| 1933 two days he left that place,</span> i.e., <span style= | |
| 1934 "font-weight: bold">Samaria, and went to Galilee,</span> where he | |
| 1935 had been raised. This signifies that at the end of the world, when | |
| 1936 the Gentiles have been confirmed in the faith and in the truth, a | |
| 1937 return will be made to convert the Jews, according to: “until | |
| 1938 the full number of the Gentiles enters, and so all Israel will be | |
| 1939 saved” (Rom 11:2 5).</p> | |
| 1940 <p>666 Then he gives a certain reason, saying: <span style= | |
| 1941 "font-weight: bold">Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has | |
| 1942 no honor in his own country.</span> There are two questions here: | |
| 1943 one is about the literal meaning; and the other about the | |
| 1944 continuity of this passage with the first.</p> | |
| 1945 <p>The problem about the literal meaning is that it does not seem | |
| 1946 to be true, as stated here, that a prophet has no honor in his own | |
| 1947 country: for we read that other prophets were honored in their own | |
| 1948 land. Chrysostom answers this by saying that the Lord is speaking | |
| 1949 here about the majority of cases. So, although there might be an | |
| 1950 exception in some individual cases, what is said here should not be | |
| 1951 considered false: for in matters concerning nature and morals, that | |
| 1952 rule is true which is verified in most cases; and if a few cases | |
| 1953 are otherwise, the rule is not considered to be false.</p> | |
| 1954 <p>Now what the Lord says was true with respect to most of the | |
| 1955 prophets, because in the Old Testament it is hard to find any | |
| 1956 prophet who did not suffer persecution, as stated in Acts (7:52): | |
| 1957 “Which of the prophets did your fathers not | |
| 1958 persecute?”; and in Matthew (23:37): “Jerusalem, | |
| 1959 Jerusalem, you kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to | |
| 1960 you.” Further, this statement of our Lord holds true not only | |
| 1961 in the case of the prophets among the Jews, but also, as Origen | |
| 1962 says, with many among the Gentiles, because they were held in | |
| 1963 contempt by their fellow citizens and put to death: for living with | |
| 1964 men in the usual way, and too much familiarity, lessen respect and | |
| 1965 breed contempt. So it is that those with whom we are more familiar | |
| 1966 we come to reverence less, and those with whom we cannot become | |
| 1967 acquainted we regard more highly.</p> | |
| 1968 <p style="margin-bottom: 0.125in; margin-bottom: 0.125in"> | |
| 1969 </p> | |
| 1970 <p>However, the opposite happens with God: lor the more intimate we | |
| 1971 become with God through love and contemplation, realizing how | |
| 1972 superior he is, the more we respect him and the less do we esteem | |
| 1973 ourselves. “I have heard you, but now I see you, and so I | |
| 1974 reprove myself, and do penance in dust and ashes” (Jb 42:5). | |
| 1975 The reason for this is that man’s nature is weak and fragile; | |
| 1976 and when one lives with another for a long time, he notices certain | |
| 1977 weaknesses in him, and this results in a loss of respect for him. | |
| 1978 But since God is infinitely perfect, the more a person knows him | |
| 1979 the more he admires his superior perfection, and as a result the | |
| 1980 more he respects him.</p> | |
| 1981 <p>667 But was Christ a prophet? At first glance it seems not, | |
| 1982 because prophecy involves an obscure knowledge: “If there is | |
| 1983 a prophet of the Lord among you, I will appear to him in a | |
| 1984 vision” (Nm 12:6). Christ’s knowledge, however, was not | |
| 1985 obscure. Yet he was a prophet, as is clear from, “The Lord | |
| 1986 your God will raise up a prophet for you, from your nation and your | |
| 1987 brothers; he will be like me. You will listen to him” (Dt | |
| 1988 18:15). This text is referred to Christ.</p> | |
| 1989 <p>I answer that a prophet has a twofold function. First, that of | |
| 1990 seeing: “He who is now called a prophet was formerly called a | |
| 1991 seer” (I Sm 9:9). Secondly, he makes known, announces; Christ | |
| 1992 was a prophet in this sense for he made known the truth about God: | |
| 1993 “For this was I born, and for this I came into the world: to | |
| 1994 testify to the truth” (below 18:37). As for the seeing | |
| 1995 function of a prophet, we should note that Christ was at once both | |
| 1996 a “wayfarer” and a “comprehensor,” or | |
| 1997 blessed. He was a wayfarer in the sufferings of his human nature | |
| 1998 and in all the things that relate to this. He was a blessed in his | |
| 1999 union with the divinity, by which he enjoyed God in the most | |
| 2000 perfect way. There are two things in the vision or seeing of a | |
| 2001 prophet. First, the intellectual light of his mind; and as regards | |
| 2002 this Christ was not a prophet, because his light was not at all | |
| 2003 deficient; his light was that of the blessed. Secondly, an | |
| 2004 imaginary vision is also involved; and with respect to this Christ | |
| 2005 did have a likeness to the prophets insofar as he was a wayfarer | |
| 2006 and was able to form various images with his imagination.</p> | |
| 2007 <p>668 Secondly, there is the problem about continuity. For the | |
| 2008 Evangelist does not seem to be right in connecting the fact that | |
| 2009 <span style="font-weight: bold">After two days he left that place | |
| 2010 and went to Galilee,</span> with the statement of Jesus that | |
| 2011 <span style="font-weight: bold">a prophet has no honor in his own | |
| 2012 country.</span> It would seem that the Evangelist should have said | |
| 2013 that Christ did not go into Galilee, for if he was not honored | |
| 2014 there, that would be a reason for not going there.</p> | |
| 2015 <p>Augustine answers this by suggesting that the Evangelist said | |
| 2016 this to answer a question that could have been raised, namely: Why | |
| 2017 did Christ return to Galilee since he had lived there for a long | |
| 2018 time, and the Galileans were still not converted to him; while the | |
| 2019 Samaritans were converted in two days? It is the same as saying: | |
| 2020 Even though the Galileans had not been converted, still Jesus went | |
| 2021 there, for <span style="font-weight: bold">Jesus himself had | |
| 2022 testified that a prophet has no honor in his own | |
| 2023 country.</span></p> | |
| 2024 <p>Chrysostom explains this in a different way: After two days he | |
| 2025 left, not for Capernaum, which was his homeland because of his | |
| 2026 continuous residence there, nor for Bethlehem, where he was born, | |
| 2027 nor for Nazareth, where he was educated. Thus he did not go to | |
| 2028 Capernaum; hence in Matthew (11:23) he upbraids them, saying: | |
| 2029 “And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will | |
| 2030 descend even to hell.” He went rather to Cana in Galilee. And | |
| 2031 he gives the reason here [for not going to Capernaum] : because | |
| 2032 they were ill-disposed toward him. This is what he says: | |
| 2033 <span style="font-weight: bold">Jesus himself had testified that a | |
| 2034 prophet has no honor in his own country.</span></p> | |
| 2035 <p>669 Was Christ seeking glory from men? It seems not, for he | |
| 2036 says: “I do not seek my own glory” (below 8:50). 1 | |
| 2037 answer that it is only God who seeks his own glory without sin. A | |
| 2038 man should not seek his own glory from men, but rather the glory of | |
| 2039 God. Christ, however, as God, fittingly sought his own glory, and | |
| 2040 as man, he sought the glory of God in himself.</p> | |
| 2041 <p>670 Then he shows that Christ was received by the Galileans more | |
| 2042 respectfully than before, saying, <span style= | |
| 2043 "font-weight: bold">When however he arrived in Galilee, the | |
| 2044 Galileans welcomed him,</span> respectfully. The reason behind this | |
| 2045 was <span style="font-weight: bold">because they had seen all the | |
| 2046 things he had done in Jerusalem on the festive day, where they too | |
| 2047 had gone,</span> as the law commanded.</p> | |
| 2048 <p>This seems to conflict with the fact that we did not read above | |
| 2049 of any miracles being performed by Christ at Jerusalem. I answer, | |
| 2050 with the opinion of Origen, that the Jews thought it a great | |
| 2051 miracle that Christ drove the traders from the temple with such | |
| 2052 authority (above 2:14). Or, we could say that Christ performed many | |
| 2053 miracles which were not written down, according to, “Jesus | |
| 2054 did many other signs ... which are not written down in this | |
| 2055 book” (below 20:30).</p> | |
| 2056 <p>671 In its mystical sense, this gives us an example that if we | |
| 2057 wish to receive Jesus Christ within ourselves, we should go up to | |
| 2058 Jerusalem on a festive day, that is, we should seek tranquility of | |
| 2059 mind, and examine everything which Jesus does there: “Look | |
| 2060 upon Zion, the city of our festive days” (Is 33:20); “1 | |
| 2061 have meditated on all Your works” (Ps 142:5).</p> | |
| 2062 <p>672 Note that as men were lesser in dignity, they were better | |
| 2063 with respect to God. The Judeans were superior in dignity to the | |
| 2064 Galileans: “Look at the Scriptures and see that the Prophet | |
| 2065 will not come from Galilee” (below 7:52); and the Galileans | |
| 2066 were superior in dignity to the Samaritans: “The Jews had | |
| 2067 nothing to do with the Samaritans” (above 4:9). On the other | |
| 2068 hand, the Samaritans were better than the Galileans because more of | |
| 2069 them believed in Christ in two days without any miracles than the | |
| 2070 Galileans did in a long period of time and even with the miracle of | |
| 2071 the wine: for none of them believed in him except his disciples. | |
| 2072 Finally, the Judeans were worse than the Galileans, because none of | |
| 2073 them believed in Jesus, except perhaps Nicodemus.</p> | |
| 2074 <p>673 Then he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">He therefore | |
| 2075 went to Cana in Galilee</span>. According to Chrysostom, this is | |
| 2076 given as a conclusion from what went before; it is as though he | |
| 2077 were saying: Christ did not go to Capemaurn because he was not held | |
| 2078 in honor there. But he was under an obligation to go to Cana in | |
| 2079 Galilee: for on the first occasion he had been invited to the | |
| 2080 wedding, and now he goes again without being invited. The two trips | |
| 2081 to Cana are mentioned by the Evangelist to show their hardness of | |
| 2082 heart: for at the first miracle of the wine, only his disciples | |
| 2083 believed in Christ; and at the second miracle, only the official | |
| 2084 and his household believed. On the other hand, the Samaritans | |
| 2085 believed on Christ’s words alone.</p> | |
| 2086 <p>674 In the mystical sense, the two visits to Cana signify the | |
| 2087 effect of God’s words on our minds. First of all they cause | |
| 2088 delight, because they who hear the word “receive the word | |
| 2089 with joy” (Mt 13:20). This is signified in the miracle of the | |
| 2090 wine, which as the Psalm (103:15) says, “gladdens the heart | |
| 2091 of man.” Secondly, the word of God heals: “It was | |
| 2092 neither a herb nor a poultice that healed them, but your word, O | |
| 2093 Lord, which heals all things” (Wis 16:12). And this is | |
| 2094 signified by the curing of the sick son.</p> | |
| 2095 <p>Further, these two visits to Cana indicate the two comings of | |
| 2096 the Son of God. The first coming was in all gentleness to bring | |
| 2097 joy: “Rejoice and give praise, people of Zion, for he is | |
| 2098 great who is in your midst, the Holy One of Israel” (Is | |
| 2099 12:6). So the angel said to the shepherds: “I bring you good | |
| 2100 news of great joy ... this day a Savior has been born to you” | |
| 2101 (Lk 2:10). This is signified by the wine. His second coming into | |
| 2102 the world will be in majesty, when he will come to take away our | |
| 2103 weaknesses and our punishments, and to make us like his radiant | |
| 2104 body. And this is signified in the cure of the sick son.</p> | |
| 2105 <p style="margin-bottom: 0.125in; margin-bottom: 0.125in"> | |
| 2106 </p> | |
| 2107 <p style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 0.125in"><span style= | |
| 2108 "font-weight: bold">LECTURE 7</span></p> | |
| 2109 <blockquote> | |
| 2110 <p>46b There happened to be a certain official, whose son lay sick | |
| 2111 at Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come to Galilee from | |
| 2112 Judea, he went to him, and begged him to come down and heal his | |
| 2113 son, who was at the point of death. 48 But Jesus said to him, | |
| 2114 “Unless you see signs and wonders, you do not believe.” | |
| 2115 49 The official said to him, “Lord, come down before my child | |
| 2116 dies.” 50 Jesus told him, “Go, your son lives.” | |
| 2117 The man took Jesus at his word, and started for home. 51 While he | |
| 2118 was on his way down, his servants ran up to meet him with | |
| 2119 word’ that his son was going to live. 52 He asked them at | |
| 2120 what time his boy got better. And they told him that yesterday at | |
| 2121 the seventh hour the fever left him. 53 The father then realized | |
| 2122 that it was at that very hour when Jesus told him, “Your son | |
| 2123 lives.” He and his whole household became believers. 54 This | |
| 2124 was the second sign Jesus had performed on returning from Judea to | |
| 2125 Galilee.</p> | |
| 2126 <p>675 Having told us the place of this miracle, the Evangelist now | |
| 2127 describes the miracle itself: telling us of the person who was ill; | |
| 2128 the one who interceded for him; and the one who healed him. The one | |
| 2129 who was ill was the son of the official; his father interceded for | |
| 2130 him; and it was Christ who was to heal him.</p> | |
| 2131 </blockquote> | |
| 2132 <p>676 About the person who was ill, he first tells us of his | |
| 2133 status, a <span style="font-weight: bold">son</span> of an | |
| 2134 official; secondly, where he was, at <span style= | |
| 2135 "font-weight: bold">Capernaum;</span> thirdly, his illness, a | |
| 2136 <span style="font-weight: bold">fever</span>.</p> | |
| 2137 <p>He says about the first, <span style="font-weight: bold">There | |
| 2138 happened to be a certain official, whose son lay sick.</span> Now | |
| 2139 one can be called an official for a variety of reasons. For | |
| 2140 example, if one is in charge of a small territory. This is not its | |
| 2141 meaning here for at this time there was no king in Judea: “We | |
| 2142 have no king but Caesar” (below 19:15). One is also called an | |
| 2143 official, as Chrysostom says, because he is from a royal family; | |
| 2144 and this is also not its meaning here. In a third way, an official | |
| 2145 is some officer of a king or ruler; and this is its meaning | |
| 2146 here.</p> | |
| 2147 <p>Some think, as Chrysostom reports, that this official is the | |
| 2148 same as the centurion mentioned by Matthew (8:5). This is not so, | |
| 2149 for they differ in four ways. First, because the illness was not | |
| 2150 the same in each. The centurion was concerned with a paralytic, | |
| 2151 “My servant is lying paralyzed at home” (Mt 8:6); while | |
| 2152 this official’s son is suffering from a fever, <span style= | |
| 2153 "font-weight: bold">yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left | |
| 2154 him.</span> Secondly, those who are sick are not the same. In the | |
| 2155 first case, it was a servant, “my servant”; but now we | |
| 2156 have a son, as it says, <span style="font-weight: bold">whose | |
| 2157 son.</span> Thirdly, what is requested is different. For when | |
| 2158 Christ wanted to go to the home of the centurion, the centurion | |
| 2159 discouraged him, and said: “Lord, I am not worthy to have you | |
| 2160 come under my roof; but only say the word and my servant will be | |
| 2161 healed” (Mt 8:8). But this official asked Christ to come to | |
| 2162 his house, <span style="font-weight: bold">Lord, come down before | |
| 2163 my child dies.</span> Fourthly, the places are different. For the | |
| 2164 first healing took place at Capernaum, while this one is at Cana in | |
| 2165 Galilee. So this official is not the same as the centurion, but was | |
| 2166 from the household of Herod the Tetrarch, or some kind of a herald, | |
| 2167 or an official of the Emperor.</p> | |
| 2168 <p>677 In its allegorical sense, this official is Abraham or one of | |
| 2169 the fathers of the Old Testament, in so far as he adheres by faith | |
| 2170 to the king, that is, to Christ, about which we read, “I was | |
| 2171 made king by him over Zion” (Ps 2:6). Abraham adhered to him, | |
| 2172 for as is said below (8:56): “Abraham, your father, rejoiced | |
| 2173 that he might see my day.” The son of this official is the | |
| 2174 Jewish people: “We are the descendants of Abraham, and we | |
| 2175 have never been slaves to any one” (below 8:33). But they are | |
| 2176 sick from evil pleasures and incorrect doctrines. They are sick at | |
| 2177 Capernaum, i.e., in the abundance of goods which caused them to | |
| 2178 leave their God, according to, “The beloved grew fat and | |
| 2179 rebellious ... he deserted the God who made him, and left God his | |
| 2180 Savior” (Dt 32:15).</p> | |
| 2181 <p>678 In the moral sense, in the kingdom of the soul, the king is | |
| 2182 reason itself: “The king, who sits on his throne of | |
| 2183 judgment” (Prv 20:8). But why is reason called the king? | |
| 2184 Because man’s entire body is ruled by it: his affections are | |
| 2185 directed and informed by it, and the other powers of the soul | |
| 2186 follow it. But sometimes it is called an official [not the king], | |
| 2187 that is, when its knowledge is obscured, with the result that it | |
| 2188 follows inordinate passions and does not resist them: “They | |
| 2189 live with their foolish ideas, their understanding obscured by | |
| 2190 darkness” (Eph 4:17). Consequently, the son of this official, | |
| 2191 i.e., the affections, are sick, that is, they deviate from good and | |
| 2192 decline to what is evil. If reason were the king, that is, strong, | |
| 2193 its son would not be sick; but being only an official, its son is | |
| 2194 sick. This happens at Capernaum because a great many temporal goods | |
| 2195 are the cause of spiritual sickness: “This was the crime of | |
| 2196 your sister Sodom: richness, satiety in food, and idleness” | |
| 2197 (Ez 16:49).</p> | |
| 2198 <p>679 Now we see the person making his request (v 47). First, we | |
| 2199 have the incentive for making his request. Secondly, the request | |
| 2200 itself. Thirdly, the need for the request.</p> | |
| 2201 <p>680 The incentive for making the request was the arrival of | |
| 2202 Christ. So he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">When he,</span> | |
| 2203 the official, <span style="font-weight: bold">heard that Jesus had | |
| 2204 come to Galilee from Judea, he went to him.</span> For as long as | |
| 2205 the coming of Christ was delayed, men’s hope of being healed | |
| 2206 from their sins was that much fainter; but when it is reported that | |
| 2207 his coming is near, our hope of being healed rises, and then we go | |
| 2208 to him. For he came into this world to save sinners: “The Son | |
| 2209 of Man came to seek and to save what was lost” (Lk 19:22). | |
| 2210 Further, as Sirach says (18:23), we should prepare our soul by | |
| 2211 prayer, and we do this by going to God through our desires. And | |
| 2212 this is what the official did, as we read, he went to him. Amos | |
| 2213 (4:12) says, “Be prepared to meet your God, O | |
| 2214 Israel.”</p> | |
| 2215 <p>681 The request of the official was that Christ heal his son. So | |
| 2216 the Evangelist says that he begged him to come down, out of | |
| 2217 compassion: “O that you would rend the heavens, and come | |
| 2218 down” (Is 64:1), <span style="font-weight: bold">and heal his | |
| 2219 son.</span> We, too, ought to ask to be healed from our sins: | |
| 2220 “Heal my soul, for I have sinned against you” (Ps | |
| 2221 40:5). For no one of himself can return to the state of justice; | |
| 2222 rather, he has to be healed by God: “I cannot help | |
| 2223 myself” (Jb 6:13). The fathers of the Old Testament | |
| 2224 interceded for the people of Israel in the same way; for as we read | |
| 2225 of one: “He loves his brothers, because he prays much for the | |
| 2226 holy city and for the people of Israel, Jeremiah, the prophet of | |
| 2227 God” (2 Me 15:14).</p> | |
| 2228 <p>682 The need for this request was urgent, for the son | |
| 2229 <span style="font-weight: bold">was at the point of death.</span> | |
| 2230 When a person is tempted, he is beginning to become sick; and as | |
| 2231 the temptation grows stronger and takes the upper hand, inclining | |
| 2232 him to consent, he is near death. But when he has consented, he is | |
| 2233 at the point of death and beginning to die. Finally, when he | |
| 2234 completes his sin, he dies; for as we read: “Sin, when it is | |
| 2235 completed, brings forth death” (Jas 1:15). The Psalm (33:22) | |
| 2236 says about this: “The death of sinners is the worst,” | |
| 2237 because it begins here and continues into the future without | |
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2238 end.</p> |
| 35 | 2239 <p>683 Now he deals with the request for Christ to heal the son of |
| 2240 the official. First, our Lord’s criticism is given. Secondly, | |
| 2241 the official’s request. Thirdly, the granting of the | |
| 2242 request.</p> | |
| 2243 <p>684 Our Lord criticizes him for his lack of faith, saying, | |
| 2244 <span style="font-weight: bold">Unless you see signs and wonders, | |
| 2245 you do not believe.</span> This raises a question, for it does not | |
| 2246 seem right to say this to this official, for unless he had believed | |
| 2247 that Christ was the Savior, he would not have asked him to heal his | |
| 2248 son.</p> | |
| 2249 <p>The answer to this is that this official did not yet believe | |
| 2250 perfectly; indeed, there were two defects in his faith. The first | |
| 2251 was that although he believed that Christ was a true man, he did | |
| 2252 not believe that he had divine power; otherwise he would have | |
| 2253 believed that Christ could heal one even while absent, since God is | |
| 2254 everywhere, as Jeremiah (23:24) says: “I fill heaven and | |
| 2255 earth.” And so he would not have asked Christ to come down to | |
| 2256 his house, but simply give his command. The second defect in his | |
| 2257 faith, according to Chrysostom, was that he was not sure that | |
| 2258 Christ could heal his son: for had he been sure, he would not have | |
| 2259 waited for Christ to return to his homeland, but would have gone to | |
| 2260 Judea himself. But now, despairing of his son’s health, and | |
| 2261 not wishing to overlook any possibility, he went to Christ like | |
| 2262 those parents who in their despair for the health of their children | |
| 2263 consult even unskilled doctors.</p> | |
| 2264 <p>685 In the second place, it does not seem that he should have | |
| 2265 been criticized for looking for signs, for faith is proved by | |
| 2266 signs. The answer to this is that unbelievers are drawn to Christ | |
| 2267 in one way, and believers in another way. For unbelievers cannot be | |
| 2268 drawn to Christ or convinced by the authority of Sacred Scripture, | |
| 2269 because they do not believe it; neither can they be drawn by | |
| 2270 natural reason, because faith is above reason. Consequently, they | |
| 2271 must be led by miracles: “Signs are given to unbelievers, not | |
| 2272 to believers” (1 Cor 14:22). Believers, on the other hand, | |
| 2273 should be led and directed to faith by the authority of Scripture, | |
| 2274 to which they are bound to assent. This is why the official is | |
| 2275 criticized: although he had been brought up among the Jews and | |
| 2276 instructed in the law, he wanted to believe through signs, and not | |
| 2277 by the authority of the Scripture. So the Lord reproaches him, | |
| 2278 saying, <span style="font-weight: bold">Unless you see signs and | |
| 2279 wonders,</span> i.e., miracles, which sometimes are signs insofar | |
| 2280 as they bear witness to divine truth. Or <span style= | |
| 2281 "font-weight: bold">wonders</span> (prodigia), either because they | |
| 2282 indicate with utmost certitude, so that a prodigy is taken to be a | |
| 2283 “portent” or some “sure indication”; or | |
| 2284 because they portend something in the future, as if something were | |
| 2285 called a <span style="font-weight: bold">wonder</span> as if | |
| 2286 showing at a great distance some future effect.</p> | |
| 2287 <p>686 Now we see the official’s persistence, for he does not | |
| 2288 give up after the Lord’s criticism, but insists, saying. | |
| 2289 <span style="font-weight: bold">Lord, come down before my child | |
| 2290 dies:</span> “We should pray always, and not lose | |
| 2291 heart” (Lk 18:1). This shows an improvement in his faith in | |
| 2292 one respect, that is, in that he calls him “Lord.” But | |
| 2293 there is not a total improvement, for he still thought that Christ | |
| 2294 had to be physically present to heal his son; so he asked Christ to | |
| 2295 come.</p> | |
| 2296 <p>687 His request is granted by the Lord, for persevering prayer | |
| 2297 is answered. Jesus said to him: <span style="font-weight: bold">Go, | |
| 2298 your son lives.</span> Here we have first, the statement by Christ, | |
| 2299 who cured the boy, that the boy was cured. Secondly, we ire told of | |
| 2300 the persons who witnessed the cure (v 51 ). Two things are | |
| 2301 mentioned concerning the first: the command of the Lord and the | |
| 2302 obedience of the official (v 50b).</p> | |
| 2303 <p>688 As to the first, the Lord does two things. First, he orders; | |
| 2304 secondly, he affirms. He orders the official to go: hence he says, | |
| 2305 Go, i.e., prepare to receive grace by a movement of your free will | |
| 2306 toward God: “Turn to me, and you will be saved” (Is | |
| 2307 45:22); and by a movement of your free will against sin. For four | |
| 2308 things are required for the justification of an adult sinner: the | |
| 2309 infusion of grace, the remission of guilt, a movement of the free | |
| 2310 will toward God, which is faith, and a movement of the free will | |
| 2311 against sin, which is contrition.</p> | |
| 2312 <p>Then the Lord says that his son is healed, which was the request | |
| 2313 of the official: <span style="font-weight: bold">Your son | |
| 2314 lives</span>.</p> | |
| 2315 <p>689 One may ask why Christ refused to go down to the home of | |
| 2316 this official as asked, while he promised to go see the servant of | |
| 2317 the centurion. There are two reasons for this. One, according to | |
| 2318 Gregory, is to blunt our pride; the pride of us who offer our | |
| 2319 services to great men, but refuse to help the insignificant: since | |
| 2320 the Lord of all offered to go to the servant of the centurion, but | |
| 2321 refused to go to the son of an official: “Be well-disposed to | |
| 2322 the poor” (Sir 4:7). The other reason, as Chrysostom says, | |
| 2323 was that the centurion was already confirmed in the faith of | |
| 2324 Christ, and believed that he could heal even while not present; and | |
| 2325 so our Lord promised to go to show approval of his faith and | |
| 2326 devotion. But this official was still imperfect, and did not yet | |
| 2327 clearly know that Christ could heal even while absent. And so our | |
| 2328 Lord does not go, in order that he may realize his | |
| 2329 imperfection.</p> | |
| 2330 <p>690 The obedience of this official is pointed out in two ways. | |
| 2331 First, because he believed what Christ said; so he says, | |
| 2332 <span style="font-weight: bold">The man took Jesus at his | |
| 2333 word,</span> that is, <span style="font-weight: bold">Your son | |
| 2334 lives.</span> Secondly, because he did obey the order of Christ; so | |
| 2335 he says, he <span style="font-weight: bold">started for | |
| 2336 home,</span> progressing in faith, although not yet fully or | |
| 2337 soundly, as Origen says. This signifies that we must be justified | |
| 2338 by faith: “Justified by faith, let us have peace with God, | |
| 2339 through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 5:1). We also must go and | |
| 2340 start out by making progress: because he who stands still runs the | |
| 2341 risk of being unable to preserve the life of grace. For, along the | |
| 2342 road to God, if we do not go forward we fall back.</p> | |
| 2343 <p>691 Next we see the servants bringing news of the healing. | |
| 2344 First, the news of the healing is given. Secondly, there is an | |
| 2345 inquiry about the time of the healing (v 52).</p> | |
| 2346 <p>692 He says, <span style="font-weight: bold">While he was on his | |
| 2347 way down,</span> from Cana of Galilee to his own home, <span style= | |
| 2348 "font-weight: bold">his servants ran up to meet | |
| 2349 him</span>—which shows that this official was wealthy and had | |
| 2350 many servants—<span style="font-weight: bold">with word that | |
| 2351 his son was going to live:</span> and they did this because they | |
| 2352 thought that Christ was coming, and his presence was no longer | |
| 2353 necessary as the boy was already cured.</p> | |
| 2354 <p>693 In the mystical sense, the servants of the official, i.e., | |
| 2355 of reason, are a man’s works, because man is master of his | |
| 2356 own acts and of the affections of his sense powers, for they obey | |
| 2357 the command and direction of reason. Now these servants announce | |
| 2358 that the son of the official, that is, of reason, lives, when a | |
| 2359 man’s good works shine out, and his lower powers obey reason, | |
| 2360 according to: “A man’s dress, and laughter, and his | |
| 2361 walk, show what he is” (Sir 19:27).</p> | |
| 2362 <p>694 Because this official did not yet believe either fully or | |
| 2363 soundly, he still wanted to know whether his son had been cured by | |
| 2364 chance or by the command of Christ. Accordingly, he asks about the | |
| 2365 time of the cure. <span style="font-weight: bold">He asked | |
| 2366 them</span>, the servants, <span style="font-weight: bold">at what | |
| 2367 time his boy got better.</span> And he found that his son was cured | |
| 2368 at exactly the same hour that our Lord said, <span style= | |
| 2369 "font-weight: bold">Go, your son lives</span>. And no wonder, | |
| 2370 because Christ is the Word, through whom heaven and earth were | |
| 2371 made: “He spoke and they were made; he commanded and they | |
| 2372 were. created” (Ps. 148:5).</p> | |
| 2373 <p>695 <span style="font-weight: bold">And they</span>, his | |
| 2374 servants, <span style="font-weight: bold">told him that yesterday | |
| 2375 at the seventh hour the fever left him.</span> In the mystical | |
| 2376 sense, the seventh hour, when the boy is cured of his fever, | |
| 2377 signifies the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, through whom sins are | |
| 2378 forgiven, according to: “Receive the Holy Spirit; whose sins | |
| 2379 you forgive, are forgiven” (below 20:22), and through whom | |
| 2380 spiritual life is produced in the soul: “It is the Spirit | |
| 2381 that gives life” (below 6:64). Again, the seventh hour | |
| 2382 signifies the appropriate time for.rest, for the Lord rested from | |
| 2383 all his work on the seventh day. This indicates that the spiritual | |
| 2384 life of man consists in spiritual rest or quiet, according to: | |
| 2385 “If you remain at rest, you will be saved” (Is 30:15). | |
| 2386 But of the evil we read: “The heart of the wicked is like the | |
| 2387 raging sea, which cannot rest” (Is 57:20).</p> | |
| 2388 <p>696 Next, we are given the effect of this miracle (v 53). First, | |
| 2389 its fruit is mentioned. Secondly, this miracle is linked with | |
| 2390 another one (v 54).</p> | |
| 2391 <p>697 He says, <span style="font-weight: bold">The father then | |
| 2392 realized,</span> by comparing the hour mentioned by the servants | |
| 2393 with the hour of Christ’s affirmation, <span style= | |
| 2394 "font-weight: bold">that it was at that very hour when Jesus told | |
| 2395 him, Your son lives.</span> Because of this he was converted to | |
| 2396 Christ, realizing that it was by his power that the miracle was | |
| 2397 accomplished. <span style="font-weight: bold">He and his whole | |
| 2398 household became believers,</span> that is, his servants and his | |
| 2399 aides, because the attitude of servants depends on the condition, | |
| 2400 whether good or wicked, of their masters: “As the judge of | |
| 2401 the people is himself, so also are his ministers” (Sir 10:2); | |
| 2402 and in Genesis (18:19) we read: “I know that he will direct | |
| 2403 his sons.”</p> | |
| 2404 <p>This also shows that the faith of the official was constantly | |
| 2405 growing: for at the beginning, when he pleaded for his sick son, it | |
| 2406 was weak; then it began to grow more firm, when he called Jesus | |
| 2407 “Lord” then when he believed what the Lord said and | |
| 2408 started for home, it was more perfect, but not completely so, | |
| 2409 because he still doubted. But here, clearly realizing God’s | |
| 2410 power in Christ, his faith is made perfect, for as Proverbs (4:18) | |
| 2411 says: “The way of the just goes forward like a shining light, | |
| 2412 increasing to the full light of day.”</p> | |
| 2413 <p>698 Finally, this miracle is linked with the previous one, | |
| 2414 <span style="font-weight: bold">This was the second sign Jesus had | |
| 2415 performed on returning from Judea to Galilee.</span> We can | |
| 2416 understand this in two ways. In one way, that our Lord performed | |
| 2417 two miracles during this one trip from Judea to Galilee; but the | |
| 2418 first of these was not recorded, only the second. In the other way, | |
| 2419 we could say that Jesus worked two signs in Galilee at different | |
| 2420 times: the one of the wine, and this second one about the son of | |
| 2421 this official after he returned again to Galilee from Judea.</p> | |
| 2422 <p>We also see from this that the Galileans were worse than the | |
| 2423 Samaritans. For the Samaritans expected no sign from the Lord, and | |
| 2424 many believed in his word alone; but as a result of this miracle, | |
| 2425 only this official and his whole household believed: for the Jews | |
| 2426 were converted to the faith little by little on account of their | |
| 2427 hardness, according to: “I have become as one who harvests in | |
| 2428 the summer time, like a gleaner at the vintage: not one cluster to | |
| 2429 eat, not one of the early figs I desire” (Mi 7:1).</p> | |
| 2430 </blockquote> | |
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