By St. John of Kronstadt
“Jesus answered and said to her (the Samaritan woman): If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water" (John 4:10).
Today, during the Liturgy, the Holy Gospel was read about the conversation of the Lord Jesus Christ with the Samaritan woman from the city of Sychar about the living water, or about the grace of the Holy Spirit, which is necessary for every person; also about the worship of God in spirit and truth, and after the woman left about the conversation of the Lord with His disciples about spiritual food, about spiritual fields and spiritual harvest. Today's Gospel thus speaks of many spiritual subjects that are very important and instructive for each of us. Let us talk this time, with God's help, about the first two for our edification and salvation, i.e. about living water and the worship of God in spirit and truth. For greater clarity and intelligibility of the conversation, let us repeat a part of the Gospel read.
The Lord came, says the holy evangelist John the Theologian, "to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, 'Give Me a drink.' For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, 'How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?' For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, 'If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, "Give Me a drink," you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.' The woman said to Him, 'Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?' Jesus answered and said to her, 'Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.' The woman said to Him, 'Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.' Jesus said to her, 'Go, call your husband, and come here.' The woman answered and said, 'I have no husband.' Jesus said to her, 'You have well said, "I have no husband," for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.' The woman said to Him, 'Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet'” (John 4:5–19). Here we will pause reading the Gospel and talk about what we read.
With what simplicity we see here the God-man, the Creator of heaven and earth, containing all creation with His hand, the King of angels and men! Tired as a man by the journey on stony ground under the sultry, burning sun, He sits by the well and converses, like a simple traveler, with a woman, moreover, a Samaritan, by her present name, a schismatic, and moreover with a sinner who had an unlawful partner. Having come into the world to call not the righteous, but sinners to repentance, the Lord wants to turn to repentance this sinner as well, and through her, many of her fellow countrymen – and what does the all-wise Creator and Savior of men, Who has become like us in everything except sin, do for this? In connection with the carrying of water, He begins with to speak with the woman about living water, or about the grace of the Holy Spirit, which cleanses sins, quenches the thirst of an immortal soul, is burned by sins, extinguishes the fire of passions and the fire of Gehenna, and reconciles the soul with God. And how wisely and at the same time simply He brings her to the consciousness of sins, the need for repentance and renewal of life; how wisely he leads her to faith in Him as the true Messiah! As the Knower of the Heart, knowing her entire past life full of sins, the Lord carefully and gradually awakens her conscience and forces her to confess her sins and thus feel with all her heart her spiritual poverty and misfortune, the need for faith in the Messiah-Savior, the thirst for God's mercy, God's justification, the thirst for purity and chastity, the thirst for eternal life. And now the Samaritan woman is caught in the faith of salvation. She believed in Jesus Christ and attracted her fellow citizens to the faith; she repented of her former deeds, began a virtuous life, and had such a fervent, holy love for the Lord, that – as Holy Tradition relates – she was not afraid to confess His name before Jews and pagans and to endure many sufferings for His sake – and received the crown of martyrdom under the persecutor of Christians, the Roman emperor Nero. Her name was Photini. Thus, the Samaritan woman was truly vouchsafed to receive from the Lord the living water flowing into eternal life, or the grace of the Holy Spirit, which cleansed her from her sins, quenched the thirst of her immortal soul, created in the image of God, which poured out in her heart a living faith and ardent love for the Lord, which strengthened her in the confession of His holy name and in the terrible torments she endured for Him, and made her a partaker of eternal life.
After all that has been said, is it clear now that there is living water, about which the Lord conversed at the well with the Samaritan woman, and what salvific effects it produces in us sinners? Living water, or the grace of God, is the saving power of God, working in man for salvation through faith in Christ, disposing him to repentance and tenderness; the power that resists sin and conquers sin, the power that is merciful, healing, purifying, sanctifying, reconciling and unites man with God, arousing and inflaming the heart of man with love for God and neighbor; the power that enlightens, comforts and spiritually nourishes, recreates and renews, perfects the whole person; in others, it is miraculous and discerning the hidden and the secret. A person who has found grace from God manifests it in himself through various virtues: living faith, hope and love, sincere and constant repentance, deep humility, quietness and meekness towards all, gentleness, abstinence, purity, righteousness, contemplation of God, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, obedience, patience, holy boldness and zeal for every virtue. The holy Apostle Paul writes about grace to his disciple Titus, bishop of the Church of Crete: "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works" (Titus 2:11-14). This grace, which saves all men, is needed by all of us, my brethren. The source of this grace, the fount of this living water, is our Lord Jesus Christ or the Holy Orthodox Church, upon which He poured out the Holy Spirit abundantly. Streams of life constantly flow in it in the word of God, in the holy mysteries, in the Divine services, especially during the celebration of the Liturgy. Come, all of you, to draw here the water of eternal life for free. Let us all seek grace above all earthly treasures, as the saints sought it, who, in order to receive grace, despised the world, which lies in evil, with all its charming, transient blessings, despised and exhausted their flesh with many passions, in order to purify, sanctify, strengthen and exalt the grief of the soul, oppressed and darkened by carnal passions, in order to triumph over passions and lusts, to love God, truth and holiness and eternal life with all my heart; for two masters cannot work.
The Lord calls His grace living water, in contrast to dead water, with which the culprit of death and all evil, the devil, diligently tries to poison all people. This dead water, which many greedily drink, seduced by its apparent sweetness or considering its very bitterness as sweetness, is sin in all its countless manifestations: pride, unbelief, heresy, schism, superstition, deceit, hypocrisy, anger, rancor, irritability, vindictiveness, ill-will, malice, envy, gloating, blasphemy, sedition, disobedience to authorities, condemnation, gluttony, delicacy, revelry, especially drunkenness, fornication, uncleanness, insolence, disobedience, sacrilege, stinginess, love of money, covetousness, hard-heartedness, theft, lies, deception, deceit, idleness with idle pursuits, laziness, carelessness about the soul, unrepentance, cowardice, despondency, demonic fear, despair, and so on. These are sources of dead water, flowing with those in whom they flow, into eternal destruction. There is a cure for this dead water: repentance and humble faith combined with fervent prayer - at home and in church and with fasting; communion of the body and blood of Christ, an all-powerful, constant struggle with one’s passions and vicious inclinations, diligent reading of the word of God, stories about the lives of saints and their soul-saving writings; the remembrance of death and judgment and one’s wretchedness and insignificance.
But let us continue reading the Gospel about the Lord’s conversation with the Samaritan woman. The Samaritan woman says: “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship." Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.” (John 4:20–26). After this, the woman left her waterpot at the well, hurriedly went into the city and announced to everyone about the wonderful Seer, and many of the Samaritans, seeing Him and hearing His word, believed in Him.
What does it mean to worship God in spirit and truth? It means to believe that God sees and hears those praying to Him, sighing to Him, repenting to Him, thanking and glorifying Him who is in all places and sees all things - and not in a certain place, for example, on some mountain, as the Samaritan woman thought, or only in the temple, although without a doubt in the temple God is closer to us, according to His own promise: "Where there are two or three gathered in My name, I am in the midst of them" (Matthew 18:20), and especially for the reason of His holy Mysteries celebrated here. To worship in spirit and in truth means to pray to God in communion with the Church with all your heart, with all your thoughts, with all zeal and reverence, with living faith, with firm hope - and not just uttering words without meaning and feeling or nodding your head and moving your hand without living thought and living feeling. This last is not prayer, but only a lifeless shadow of prayer; it does not appease, but angers God. May God deliver each of us from such prayer.
Let us all learn to worship God in spirit and truth: by praying, we will bring to God the fruits of prayer: unfeigned repentance, correction of the heart and whole life, and we will be zealous for every virtue. This will be the worship of God in spirit and truth. Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.