Daily Devotional • March 17
A Reading from John 4:27-42
27 Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?” 28Then the woman left her water-jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, 29”Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” 30They left the city and were on their way to him.
31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘Four months more, then comes the harvest’? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. 36 The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labour. Others have laboured, and you have entered into their labour.”
39 Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there for two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Saviour of the world.”
Meditation
These verses follow immediately after the compelling exchange between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well, which began on the subject of the proper place to worship and ends with the distinction between water that quenches the body as opposed to the “living water” which Jesus brings. Jesus reveals himself as the Christ at the end of his talk with the Samaritan woman, who leaves her water jar behind in her excited haste to share her experience with others. She no longer needs the well water, having now received the “living water.”
Jesus, having crossed the strictly-observed dividing line between Jews and Samaritans, inspires surprise in his disciples, who know that Jews and Samaritans don’t associate with each other. Attention then shifts from water to food, which the disciples want to get for Jesus, who is surely hungry. Jesus is nourished by heavenly water and heavenly food, derived from doing his heavenly Father’s will. The disciples still need to learn and understand this kind of nourishment.
Jesus goes on to tell about the spiritual harvest, where both reaper and sower will rejoice. But the need for sowers, those who will spread the seed of God’s Word, is continual.
The best sowers of all are those who have been marginalized, like the Samaritan woman, who, despite her checkered reputation, shares her encounter with Christ with her fellow Samaritans, who are immediately converted to believe in Christ because of her powerful witness. When we meet Christ, we will also be changed and leave our old water jugs behind.
Pamela A. Lewis taught French for 30 years before retirement. A lifelong resident of Queens, New York, she attends Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue and serves on various lay ministries. She writes for The Episcopal New Yorker, Episcopal Journal, and The Living Church.
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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:
The Episcopal Diocese of East Carolina
The Church of the Province of Central Africa
Pamela A. Lewis is a member of Saint Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue, in New York City. She writes on topics of faith.
