Why the Samaritan discourse spans two books; ask and you receive
Perhaps, Ambrose — most God-loving and most devout — you would have preferred that the discourse on the Samaritan woman not be broken, so that part of it stood in the twelfth book and the sequel in the thirteenth. But when we saw that the twelfth book of the commentary had already taken a sufficient compass, we judged it right to end at her words about the well — how Jacob gave it, and drank from it himself, with his sons and his flocks — and to open the thirteenth from our Lord’s reply to her.
Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water leaping up to eternal life.” (In our lemma the clause “will never thirst forever, but the water that I will give him” has dropped out; Preuschen marks the gap.)
This is Jesus’ second answer to the Samaritan woman. First he had said, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that says to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” Now, as if coaxing her to ask for that living water, he speaks the words before us. To the first speech she gave no assent; she only raised a difficulty about comparing the two waters. After the Lord’s second answer she receives what was said and replies, “Give me this water.”
Perhaps it is a standing rule that no one receives a divine gift who does not ask for it. Even the Father, through the psalm, urges the Savior himself to ask so that the gift may be granted him — as the Son teaches us: “The Lord said to me, ‘You are my Son; ask of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, and the ends of the earth as your possession.’” And the Savior says, “Ask, and it will be given you”; “for everyone who asks receives.”
So the Samaritan woman is persuaded to ask Jesus for water. As we said before, she is a figure of the heterodox who busy themselves with the divine Scriptures: once she hears the comparison of the two waters, look how she had been drinking from a well she thought deep, yet found no rest and was not rid of thirst.
Greek
Ἴσως μὲν ἂν ἔδοξέ σοι, φιλοθεώτατε καὶ εὐσεβέστατε Ἀμβρόσιε, τὸν περὶ τῆς Σαμαρείτιδος λόγον μὴ διακοπῆναι, ὥστε μέρος μέν τι αὐτοῦ εἶναι ἐν τῷ δωδεκάτῳ τόμῳ, τὰ δὲ ἑξῆς ἐν τῷ τρισκαιδεκάτῳ. ἀλλ’ ἐπεὶ ἑωρῶμεν αὐτάρκη περιγραφὴν εἰληφέναι τὸν δωδέκατον τῶν ἐξηγητικῶν, ἔδοξεν ἡμῖν καταλῆξαι εἰς τὸν τῆς Σαμαρείτιδος λόγον περὶ τοῦ λεγομένου ὑπ’ αὐτῆς φρέατος, ὡς ὁ Ἰακὼβ ἔδωκεν αὐτὸ καὶ αὐτὸς ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἔπιεν καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰ θρέμματα αὐτοῦ, ἵνα ἀρξώμεθα τοῦ τρισκαιδεκάτου ἀπὸ τῆς ἀποκρίσεως τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν πρὸς αὐτήν.
Ἀπεκρίθη ὁ Ἰησοῦς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῇ· Πᾶς ὁ πίνων ἐκ τοῦ ὕδατος τούτου διψήσει πάλιν· ὃς δ’ ἂν πίῃ ἐκ τοῦ ὕδατος οὗ ἐγὼ δώσω αὐτῷ, * * * γενήσεται ἐν αὐτῷ πηγὴ ὕδατος ἁλλομένου εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον.
Δεύτερον τοῦτο ἀποκρίνεται πρὸς τὴν Σαμαρεῖτιν ὁ Ἰησοῦς, πρότερον μὲν λέγων· Εἰ ᾔδεις τὴν δωρεὰν τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τίς ἐστιν ὁ λέγων σοι· Δός μοι πιεῖν, σὺ ἂν ᾔτησας αὐτὸν καὶ ἔδωκεν ἄν σοι ὕδωρ ζῶν· καὶ νῦν ὡς προτρέπων αὐτὴν ἐπὶ τὸ αἰτῆσαι τὸ ζῶν ὕδωρ λέγει τὰ ἐκκείμενα. καὶ ἐπὶ μὲν τῷ προτέρῳ οὐκ εἶπεν, ἀλλὰ ἐπαπορεῖ περὶ τῆς συγκρίσεως τῶν ὑδάτων ἡ Σαμαρεῖτις· μετὰ δὲ τὴν δευτέραν ἀπόκρισιν τοῦ κυρίου παραδεξαμένη τὰ εἰρημένα φησί· Δός μοι τοῦτο τὸ ὕδωρ.
Τάχα γὰρ δόγμα τί ἐστι μηδένα λαμβάνειν θείαν δωρεὰν τῶν μὴ αἰτούντων αὐτήν. καὶ αὐτὸν γοῦν τὸν σωτῆρα διὰ τοῦ ψαλμοῦ προτρέπει αἰτεῖν ὁ πατήρ, ἵνα αὐτῷ δωρήσηται, ὡς αὐτὸς ἡμᾶς διδάσκει ὁ υἱὸς λέγων· Κύριος εἶπεν πρὸς μέ· Υἱός μου εἶ σύ· αἴτησαι παρ’ ἐμοῦ καὶ δώσω σοι ἔθνη τὴν κληρονομίαν σου, καὶ τὴν κατάσχεσίν σου τὰ πέρατα τῆς γῆς· καὶ ὁ σωτήρ φησιν· Αἰτεῖτε, καὶ δοθήσεται ὑμῖν· πᾶς γὰρ ὁ αἰτῶν λαμβάνει.
Πείθεται μέντοι γε ἡ Σαμαρεῖτις αἰτῆσαι τὸν Ἰησοῦν ὕδωρ, εἰκών, ὡς προείπομεν, τυγχάνουσα γνώμης ἑτεροδοξούντων περὶ τὰς θείας ἀσχολουμένων γραφάς, ὅτε ἀκούει περὶ τῆς συγκρίσεως ἀμφοτέρων τῶν ὑδάτων. καὶ ὅρα ἐξ ὧν ἐπεπόνθει πῶς πίνουσα ἐκ τοῦ νομιζομένου αὐτῇ βαθέος εἶναι φρέατος οὐκ ἀνεπαύετο οὐδὲ τῆς δίψης ἀπηλλάττετο.
About this text
Origen’s Commentary on John, Book 13 (later tomoi). Complete on this page: §§1–64.
English follows Preuschen, Origenes Werke IV (GCS 10, 1903). Heine FOTC was not used as wording. This page is Book 13 §§1–64 of the later books (13, 19, 20, 28, 32).
Witnesses
- Copy-text Preuschen, Origenes Werke IV = GCS 10 (1903) (Greek · Book 13 §§1–64)
English is newly prepared for study from the stated edition. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.