John 4:7 (WEB)
A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”
Fathers and councils · 35
Ambrose of Milan
“In the earlier verses of this chapter it was stated, not without reason, that Jesus, being weary with the journey, was sitting down, and that He asked a woman of Samaria to give Him drink; for He spoke as man; for as God He could neither be weary nor thirst.” — editor's note: S. John iv. 6, 7.
Read the whole comment
Augustine of Hippo
“Wished Christ to drink, when He said to the woman of Samaria, “Give Me to drink”? when He said on the Cross, “I thirst”?” — editor's note: John iv. 7.
Read the whole comment“For thence is, “I thirst, woman, give Me to drink.”” — editor's note: John iv. 7.
Read the whole comment“His fasting was, when there fell away all they that had believed in Him; because also it was His hunger, that men should believe in Him: because also it was His thirst, when He said to the woman, I thirst, “give Me to drink:” yea for her faith He was thirsting.” — editor's note: John iv. 7.
Read the whole comment“But how shall I understand the word “beggar,” save perhaps because He said to the Samaritan woman, “Give me to drink,” and on the Cross He said, “I thirst.”” — editor's note: John iv. 7.
Read the whole comment“…the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him, shall be in him a fountain of water springing up unto eternal life.”” — editor's note: John iv. 7–14
Read the whole comment“Therefore are the words of the Lord in this parable spoken; and there is this double object in them, both that that inviter might be cured together with those who ate at the table with Him, who alike saw the…” — editor's note: John iv. 7.
Read the whole comment
John Chrysostom
“Ver.” — the author cites it
Read the whole comment
Jerome
“For He washed His disciples’ feet, he received the traitor with a kiss, He conversed with the woman of Samaria, He spoke of the kingdom of heaven with Mary at His feet, and when He rose again from the dead He showed Himself first to some poor women.” — editor's note: Joh. iv. 7.
Read the whole comment
Basil the Great
“Then further, it is plain to the fair enquirer that our Lord says many things to men, in the character of man; as for instance, “give me to drink” is a saying of our Lord, expressive of His bodily necessity; and yet the asker was not soulless flesh, but Godhead using flesh endued with soul.” — editor's note: John iv. 7.
Read the whole comment
Tertullian
“…as when to the Samaritaness—not an adulteress by her now sixth marriage, but a prostitute—He showed (what He did show readily to any one) who He was;—no benefit is hence conferred upon our adversaries, even if it had been to such as were already Christians that He (in these several cases) granted pardon.” — editor's note: John iv. 1–25.
Read the whole comment
Gregory of Nyssa
- Gregory of Nyssa, On the Making of Man On the.6On the Making of Man
“Again, God is love, and the fount of love: for this the great John declares, that “love is of God,” and “God is love”: the Fashioner of our nature has made this to be our feature too: for “hereby,” He says, “shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye love one…” — editor's note: 1 S. John iv. 7, 8.
Read the whole comment
Gregory of Nazianzus
“Blessed is he from whom Jesus asks drink, as He did from that Samaritan woman, and gives a well of water springing up unto eternal life.” — editor's note: John iv. 7.
Read the whole comment
Aphrahat
“…weariness, yet was Himself tired with the weariness of the journey; though He was the fountain that quenches thirst, yet Himself thirsted and asked for water; though He was abundance and satisfied our hunger, yet He Himself hungered when He went forth to the wilderness to be tempted; though He was a Watcher that…” — editor's note: John iv. 6, 7.
Read the whole comment
Hippolytus of Rome
“Nay, more than this was requisite; for after his entrance into the foul mysteries of the womb, he was washed, and drank of the cup of life-giving bubbling water.” — editor's note: John iv. 7–14. For πιεῖν some read ποιεῖν, “a course which he must pursue who,” etc.
Read the whole comment
Catena Aurea on John
- John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on John
That this conversation might not appear a violation of His own injunctions against talking to the Samaritans, the Evangelist explains how it arose; viz. for He did not come with the intention beforehand of talking…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on John
The woman here is the type of the Church, not yet justified, but just about to be. And it is a part of the resemblance, that she comes from a foreign people. The Samaritans were foreigners, though they were…
Read the whole comment - Theophylact of OhridCatena Aurea on John
The argument with the woman arises naturally from the occasion: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. As man, the labour and heat He had undergone had made Him thirsty.
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on John
Jesus also thirsted after that woman’s faith? He thirsteth for their faith, for whom He shed His blood.
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on John
This shews us too not only our Lord’s strength and endurance as a traveller, but also his carelessness about food; for His disciples did not carry about food with them, since it follows, His disciples were gone away…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on John
The Jews would not even use their vessels. So it would astonish the woman to hear a Jew ask to drink out of her vessel; a thing so contrary to Jewish rule.
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on John
But why did Christ ask what the law allowed not? It is no answer to say that He knew she would not give it, for in that case, He clearly ought not to have asked for it. Rather His very reason for asking, was to shew…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on John
He who asked to drink, however, out of the woman’s vessel, thirsted for the woman’s faith: Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, or Who it is that saith to thee, Give Me to drink, thou…
Read the whole comment - OrigenCatena Aurea on John
For it is as it were a doctrine, that no one receives a divine gift, who seeks not for it. Even the Saviour Himself is commanded by the Father to ask, that He may give it Him, as we read, Require of Me, and I will…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on John
He lets her know that it was not the water, which she meant, that Ho asked for; but that knowing her faith, He wished to satisfy her thirst, by giving her the Holy Spirit. For so must we interpret the living water,…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on John
Living water is that which comes out of a spring, in distinction to what is collected in ponds and cisterns from the rain. If spring water too becomes stagnant, i. e. collects into some spot, where it is quite…
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on John
In Scripture the grace of the Holy Spirit is sometimes called fire, sometimes water, which shews that these words are expressive not of its substance, but of its action. The metaphor of fire conveys the lively and…
Read the whole comment - Theophylact of OhridCatena Aurea on John
The grace of the Holy Spirit then He calls living water; i. e. lifegiving, refreshing, stirring. For the grace of the Holy Spirit is ever stirring him who does good works, directing the risings of his heart.
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on John
These words raised the woman’s notions of our Lord, and make her think Him no common person. She addresses Him reverentially by the title of Lord; The woman saith unto Him, Lord, Thou hast nothing to draw with, and…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on John
She understands the living water to be the water in the well; and therefore says, Thou wishest to give me living water; but Thou hast nothing to draw with as I have: Thou canst not then give me this living water; Art…
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on John
As if she said, Thou canst not say that Jacob gave us this spring, and used another himself; for he and they that were with him drank thereof, which would not have been done, had he had another better one. Thou canst…
Read the whole comment - Theophylact of OhridCatena Aurea on John
The addition, and his cattle, shews the abundance of the water; as if she said, Not only is the water sweet, so that Jacob and his sons drank of it, but so abundant, that it satisfied the vast multitude of the…
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on John
See how she thrusts herself upon the Jewish stock. The Samaritans claimed Abraham as their ancestor, on the ground of his having come from Chaldea; and called Jacob their father, as being Abraham’s grandson.
Read the whole comment - BedeCatena Aurea on John
Or she calls Jacob their father, because she lived under the Mosaic law, and possessed the farm which Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
Read the whole comment - OrigenCatena Aurea on John
In the mystical sense, Jacob’s well is the Scriptures. The learned then drink like Jacob and his sons; the simple and uneducated, like Jacob’s cattle.
Read the whole comment
Cross-references · 15
Cited together in Letters Letter 12.
Cited together in On the Making of Man On the.6.
Cited together in Letters Letter 12.
Cited together in The Refutation of All Heresies V.14.
Cited together in Letters Letter 12.
Cited together in Letters Letter 12.
Cited together in Letters Letter 12.
Cited together in Letters Letter 12.
Cited together in Letters Letter 12.
Cited together in Exposition of the Christian Faith V.5 and 1 other place.
Cited together in Letters Letter 12.
Cited together in Origen on John 4:7–12 (Catena Aurea).
Cited together in Letters Letter 12.
Cited together in Letters Letter 12.
Cited together in On the Making of Man On the.6.