The Daily Office: John 4:27-42

John 4:27-42

So the woman left her water-pot and went away into the city. (John 4:28)

"She left her water-pot, so she meant to come back. It is one of the graphic touches which strongly suggest the eye-witness. The Evangelist records what the disciples saw."*

Meanwhile his disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something." But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about…My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Don't you have a saying, 'It's still four months until harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. (John 4:31-35)

"They had left the Lord weary beside the spring…But his mood is changed. He has a refreshment of which they do not know…In the soul of the woman and in the influence that she is gone to exert, a work of God is manifest; the doing of that is his refreshment. And how rapid is the response! – as though sowing and reaping were telescoped together."*

*From Readings in St. John's Gospel, by Archbishop William Temple