Chrysostom responds that the Lord regarded the keeping of such observances as indifferent, as is said in Matthew 15, that nothing external defiles a man: and therefore he did not refrain from asking from her, although she was a Samaritan.
2. To the objection that he knew she would not give: it must be said that he knew she would respond to him prudently, and so that from her response he might have an occasion for teaching, therefore he asked.
25. Question III. Likewise, there is a question about what it says, that the disciples had gone into the city to buy food.
On the contrary: 1. The disciples were Jews: therefore they ought not to have dealings with Samaritans.
2. Likewise, the Lord commanded them not to have silver, Matthew 10: how then did they go to buy, if they had no money?
I respond: It must be said that the disciples had learned from the Lord that nothing is unclean or common. — Or it must be said that certain foods were indifferent with respect to Jews and Samaritans, such as bread and fruits: and they had gone to buy such foods.
2. To the objection that they did not have the means to buy: it must be said that they had not yet been sent to work miracles and to preach. — Furthermore, they were in an unfamiliar land, where they would not find bread and other foods freely: therefore for the time of necessity they carried silver.
26. Question IV. Likewise, there is a question about what the woman says: Are you greater than our father Jacob?
On the contrary: From this it seems to imply that Jacob was the father of the Samaritans: and this is false, because they had been sent by the king of the Assyrians.
I respond: It must be said that father is sometimes said on account of antiquity of time, just as we call old men fathers: sometimes on account of authority, thus we call prelates and authoritative men fathers; sometimes on account of benefaction or upbringing, thus we call those fathers from whom we receive benefits: sometimes on account of generation, thus those who begot. The woman calls Jacob father for the three reasons mentioned above.
27. Question V. Likewise, there is a question about what he says: Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.
On the contrary: Either he means bodily thirst or spiritual thirst: if bodily, it is false, because those who have grace still thirst: if spiritual, it still seems false: Ecclesiasticus 24: "Those who drink will thirst still more."
I respond: It must be said that he speaks of spiritual thirst. For there is a certain thirst for what is not had, so that it may be had: a certain thirst for what is had, so that it may be had more fully: and a certain thirst for what is perfectly had, so that it may be continued. The first is in concupiscence: the second, in grace: the third, in glory. Here he speaks of the first thirst, therefore etc. For the thirst of grace is not for a thing not had: because, as Augustine says, whoever has the eternal gift, has it by loving, although not perfectly.
28. The woman says to him etc. The Lord stirred up the woman to consent; here now to the woman consenting and asking he sets forth the word of faith for believing. Because the woman, even though she had been stirred up, was nevertheless not yet illuminated, the Lord does not immediately set forth the word of faith, but proceeds in this order: first he reveals the secret; second he makes clear the doubt; third he opens the sacrament of faith.
29. (Vers.15.). Therefore to the woman now asking for the water thus promised and on this account consenting, he reveals the secret; on account of which he shows the woman's petition: The woman says to him etc. Thus the Lord had promised her unfailing water; the woman asks for this: Lord, give me this water, that I may not thirst nor come here to draw. And the thirst was painful to her, and the labor of drawing; and therefore she was seeking the gift of God, because, as Gregory says, "the evils that press upon us here compel us to go to God." For this reason the Lord calls the burdened in Matthew 11: "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you." Therefore to the woman thus asking, the Lord opens the secret, but not immediately, lest she be indignant, because it is reproachful; but he seeks an occasion for speaking, whence there follows:
30. (Vers. 16.). Jesus says to her: Go, call your husband, not through marriage, but through misuse, and come here. He was not saying this because he believed she had a husband, but so that he might reveal the secret about her husband to her as she responded. Whence:
31. (Vers. 17.). The woman answered and said: I have no husband. From this truthful response, the Lord, having taken the occasion, adds the revelation of the secret. Whence there also follows: Jesus says to her: You have spoken well: I have no husband, because she confessed the truth.
32. (Vers. 18.). For you have had five husbands, behold, he reveals things past, and the one whom you now have is not your husband: this one, that is, this one: it is an antiptosis. He reveals things present, and so that she may not be indignant, he commends the truth: This you have spoken truly. In this a pattern is handed down to preachers, that when they wish to say harsh things to their hearers, they should mix in sweet things as well; whence Paul kept this pattern in First Corinthians 11: "I praise you, he says? In this I do not praise"; for he was not reproving them entirely.
33. Mystically. The woman is the lower part of reason; her natural and legitimate husband is the higher part, judging rightly; First Corinthians 11: The man is the image and glory of the Lord, but the woman is the glory of the man. — This woman is reproved because she had five husbands, when she served the five senses of the flesh in infancy, which ruled over her as husbands. Children are those who follow youthful desires, on account of which the Apostle says in Second Timothy 2: Flee youthful desires. These youthful desires, even though they seem sweet, are nevertheless harsh; whence they are signified by the five yoke of oxen; Luke 14: I have bought five yoke of oxen, namely the burdensome desires of the five senses.
The first husband is taste: the gluttonous serve this one, in whose person Ecclesiastes two says: It is better to eat and drink and to show good things to one's soul; Isaiah twenty-two: Let us eat and drink.
The second is touch: the lustful serve this one, in whose person Wisdom two says: Let there be no meadow that our wantonness does not pass through. Let none of us be without a share in our revelry.
The third is smell: the pleasure-seekers serve this one, in whose person it is said in Wisdom two: Let us fill ourselves with costly ointments, and let not the flower of time pass us by; let us crown ourselves with roses, etc.
The fourth is sight: the avaricious serve this one: Ecclesiasticus fourteen: The eye of the covetous is insatiable in its share of iniquity; he will not be satisfied until it consumes, withering his own soul.
The fifth is hearing: the curious serve this one: Acts seventeen: The Athenians spent their time in nothing else but either telling or hearing something new.
She is reproved concerning the sixth man who is not hers. This man is error, by which the soul is led astray and seduced. Therefore, this error having been cast aside, the Lord urges her to call her husband, that is, the natural judgment of reason, so that she might be able to perceive the sacraments of the faith, and not be like the horse and the mule, which have no understanding. To such a soul the Lord gives water springing up into eternal life. This is the water of grace, which descends from God; therefore it makes one leap up to God, for it is the property of water that it rises as high as it descends.