Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am he."Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am he."
Just then his disciples came. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but none said, "What do you wish?" or, "Why are you talking with her?" So the woman left her water jar, and went away into the city, and said to the people, "Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?" They went out of the city and were coming to him.
Meanwhile the disciples besought him, saying, "Rabbi, eat." But he said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know." So the disciples said to one another, "Has any one brought him food?" Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work. Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, then comes the harvest'? I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see how the fields are already white for harvest. He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor; others have labored, and you have entered into their labor."
Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me all that I ever did." So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of your words that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world." - John 4:26-42 (RSVCE)
Our Lord declares to the woman that He is the Christ; and on the return of His disciples, who had been buying provisions, the woman leaves her water-pot and hastens to the city, and tells her fellow-townsmen that she has found the Messias. They invite our Lord to Samaria, and He remains there two days, and converts many.
The poor woman, conscious of Divine authority in the words of Jesus, remarks that at the coming of the Messias all such difficulties are to be solved, as if already half-convinced that it was to Him that she was speaking. Jesus, seeing her growing faith and her honest good-will, reveals to her that He is the Messias, the Deliverer of Israel. The woman listens and believes at once. Do I always show a like docility.
No sooner has she given in her allegiance to Jesus, than the disciples arrive with their pro¬ visions. She leaves her water-can unheeded, and hurries to the town with her message, that at the well of Jacob is One Who has read her heart, aud Who must be the Christ. Admire
1) her eagerness to spread the knowledge of Jesus;
2) her neglect of all else in order to do so;
3) her recognition of His Divine character;
4) the persuasiveness of her earnest words.
The Samaritans come forth and invite Jesus to stay with them. O, happy those who issue such an invitation to the Lord of Life! They listen to Him, and He is their Saviour from heresy, and blindness, and sin. Do I recognize Him with similar appreciation when I kneel in His presence, or actually look upon Him, hidden under the sacramental veils?
- taken from The Ministry of Jesus Christ: Short Meditations on the Public Life of Our Lord, by Father Richard Frederick Clarke, SJ