The lover of mankind, once incarnated for us, does everything for our benefit. So now, when he learns that the Pharisees have heard of His glory, and knowing that they will envy Him and rebel against Him, He withdraws to Galilee, teaching us two things: first, to spare our enemies, and to try in every way not to give them cause for temptation or envy; secondly, it is unwise and useless not to be tempted, but to withdraw for a time until the wrath is subdued. Although He is able to stop His envious people, even if they were to rush at Him, He nevertheless evades Him, so that the work of the Incarnation does not seem illusory. For if He were constantly withdrawing from their midst, what would not the phantasiodocetes, that is, Manes, Valentinus, the accursed Eutyches, and their disciples, say? - The Evangelist, alluding to the slander of the envious, says that although Jesus did not baptize, nevertheless the envious people, wishing to incite the Pharisees against Christ, slandered that He had baptized. - "It behooved Him to pass through Samaria." He comes to the Samaritans as if in passing. Vide. He did not say, "It was necessary to go to Samaria," but, "To pass through Samaria." He wanted to take away from the Jews any pretext for accusation, so that they could not say that He, having left them, went over to the unclean - the Gentiles. For when they expelled Him, then He went over to the Gentiles, and then not deliberately, but casually.

     So He came to the city of Samaria, called Sychar, near the piece of land given by Jacob to his son Joseph. There was the well of Jacob. 

It is worth saying where the Samaritans came from and from what they received such a name. Somoron was called a mountain in the name of its owner, as Isaiah says: the head of Ephraim is Somoron (7:9). Those who dwelt under the mountain were originally called not Samaritans, but Israelites. But for insults to God they were delivered up to the Assyrians at different times. At last, when they were about to fall away, the Assyrian took them captive and, fearing a new apostasy, did not allow them to remain any longer in their country, but settled them between the Babylonians and the Medes, and from there brought the nations from various places and settled them in Samaria. After this, God, wishing to show the barbarians that He had betrayed the Jews to them not because of His powerlessness, but because of their sin, unleashed lions on the barbarians who had migrated to Samaria, which destroyed them all. When this was brought to the attention of the king, he summoned to him some of the Jewish elders who had been in captivity, and asked what should be done so that the lions would no longer destroy the barbarians living in Samaria. They explain to him that the God of Israel looks down on that place and does not tolerate that those who do not know His laws should live there. Therefore, if he cares for the barbarians there, then it is necessary to send Jewish priests who would teach the barbarians the laws of God; and thus God will be propitiated. The king listens to them and sends a priest to teach the Samarian barbarians the law of God (2 Kings 17:24-28). But they did not accept all the divine books, but only the five books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. They did not completely abandon impiety, but at times they lagged behind idols and worshipped God. Wherefore the Jews, upon their return from captivity, always regarded them with hatred, as Assyrians by birth, and in the name of the mountain called them Samaritans. And they called themselves descendants of Abraham and Jacob, because Abraham was a Chaldean, and they considered Jacob their own because of the spring that was there. The Jews considered them (the Samaritans) unclean with all the Gentiles, which is why they said in reproach to the Lord: "Thou art a Samaritan" (John 8:48). And He Himself said to His disciples: "Enter not into the city of the Samaritans" (Matt. 10:5). - Why does the Evangelist speak in detail about the place and the well of Jacob? First, so that you may not be amazed when you hear a woman say, "Our father Jacob has given us this well." For this place was Shikimah (Shechem), where the sons of Jacob Simeon and Levi committed a cruel murder because their sister Dinah had been subjected to violence by the prince of the Sikimites. Then, from what the Evangelist tells us about the place and the well, we learn that the rejection of the Jews was long ago because of their sins, and when they offended God, then the pagans took possession of their places, and that by their wickedness they destroyed what the patriarchs had acquired by faith in Christ. Therefore, it is not at all new if even now the Gentiles have been brought into the Kingdom of Heaven instead of the Jews. The place given by Jacob to Joseph was called Sykima. The sons of Jacob, having destroyed the Sikimites, devastated the city, and when it was desolate, it was given by their father as an inheritance to Joseph.

     Jesus, having labored from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about six o'clock. A woman comes from Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink" (for His disciples had gone into the city to buy food). 

The Evangelist, saying that the Lord labored from the journey, shows us His modesty and moderation, for He did not use enraged animals for the journey, but walked on foot, teaching us not to demand much. At the same time, He shows that He made the way intensively, and not carelessly; from which we also learn to do the work of God with effort and diligence. The word "sat down" means that He sat down simply and, as it happened, not on the throne, but quite simply, calming the body on the platform and refreshing it at the well. Then he introduces another reason why He sat down by the well, that it was noon: "It was," he says, "about the sixth hour." And again, lest anyone should accuse the Lord of having commanded His disciples not to go to the way of the Gentiles, He Himself came to the Samaritans, for this reason He said that the sitting in this place was due to fatigue, and that the conversation with the woman had a blessed reason – thirst. Since He was thirsty because of His human nature, He also needed to drink. When He asks for a drink, a woman with an inquisitive soul enters into conversation with Him. What was to be done? Is it possible to reject a woman who is so inquisitive and eager to listen to the explanation of her perplexities? But this is by no means characteristic of God's love for mankind. "Perhaps note the modesty of the Lord here. He alone remains by the wayside when the disciples have gone to the city to buy food. They considered the needs of the womb to be of secondary importance, that when everyone had almost dined and rested, they only bought food, that is, only bread, so that we too might learn not to worry about the variety of food. "Perhaps note the accuracy of the evangelist. He did not say affirmatively, "It was the sixth hour," but in order not to sin against the truth, he said, "It was about the sixth hour," giving credibility to his word.

     The Samaritan woman said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a Samaritan woman to drink from me? for the Jews have no fellowship with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and Who says to you, 'Give me a drink,' then you yourself would ask Him, and He would give you living water." The woman said to Him, "Lord! Thou hast nothing with which to draw, and the well is deep: whence Thou hast living water?

 By appearance, and perhaps by clothing, and by the other position of the body, and by the conversation itself, the Samaritan woman considered the Lord to be a Jew, which is why she said to Him: "As You, being a Jew," and so on. See how shrewd the woman was. If it were necessary to take care, then it would be the Lord, not her. For she did not say, "The Samaritans do not associate with the Jews," but, "The Jews do not associate with the Samaritans." However, the woman does not stop there, but, thinking that the Lord is doing an unlawful deed, corrects what happens not according to the law. - Christ does not reveal Himself until the virtue of a woman is revealed. When a woman's virtue, her insight and accuracy are revealed, then he begins to converse with her about higher things. If you, he says, knew the gift of God, that is, if you knew what God gives, that He bestows eternal and incorruptible blessings, if you knew Me also, if you knew that I, as God, can give them to you, then you would ask and receive living water. "Water" is the name given to the grace of the Holy Spirit, because it purifies those who receive it and gives them great refreshment; not stagnant water, such as happens in pits and wells, rotten and spoiled, but "living", that is, gushing with a spring, jumping up, flowing quickly. For the grace of the Spirit makes the soul always moving towards good, always ascenting (Psalm 8:3, 6). Such water, living and always moving, was drunk by Paul, who forgets the back and strives for the front (Phil. 3:13, 14). The woman said to Him, "Lord!" You see how soon she fell behind her low opinion and gave Him great honor, calling Him Lord. Yet she did not comprehend the depth of Christ's words, but in a different sense He speaks of water, in a different sense she understands.