There are two ways to understand this. This first way is that of Chrysostom. What the Evangelist now says is true, i.e., that Christ did not baptize. When he said above that Jesus was baptizing, this was the report received by the Pharisees. For certain people came to the Pharisees and said: You are envious of John because he has disciples and is baptizing. But Jesus is making more disciples than John. and is also baptizing. Why do you put up with him? So the Evangelist is not himself saying that Jesus was baptizing, but only that the Pharisees heard that he was. It is with the intention of correcting this false rumor that the Evangelist says: It is true that the Pharisees heard that Christ was baptizing, but this is not true. So he adds: although Jesus did not himself baptize, but his disciples did. And so for Chrysostom, Christ did not baptize, because the Holy Spirit was not given at any time before the passion of Christ in the baptism of John and his disciples. The purpose of John’s baptism was to accustom men to the baptism of Christ and to gather people in order to instruct them, as he says. Moreover, it would not have been fitting for Christ to baptize if the Holy Spirit were not given in his baptism; but the Spirit was not given until after the passion of Christ, as we read below (7:39): “The Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.”
According to Augustine, however, one should say, and this is the preferable, way, that the disciples did baptize with the baptism of Christ, that is, in water and the Spirit, and the Spirit was given in this baptism, and also that Christ did and did not baptize. Christ did baptize because he performed the interior cleansing; but he did not baptize because he did not wash them externally with the water. It was the office of’ the disciples to wash the body, while Christ gave the Spirit which cleansed within. So in the proper sense Christ did baptize, according to: “The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and rest is the one who is to baptize with the Holy Spirit,” as was said above (1:33).
With respect to the opinion of Chrysostorn that the Holy Spirit was not yet given and so on, we might say that the Spirit was not yet given in visible signs, as he was given to the disciples after the resurrection; nevertheless, the Spirit had been given and was being given to believers through an interior sanctification.
The fact that Christ was not always baptizing gives an example to us that the major prelates of the churches should not occupy themselves with things that can be performed by others, but should allow them to be done by those of lesser rank: “Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the Gospel” (1 Cor 1:17).
555 If someone should ask whether Christ’s disciples had been baptized, it could be said, as Augustine answered Stelentius, that they had been baptized with the baptism of John, because some of Christ’s disciples had been disciples of John. Or, which is more likely, they were baptized with the baptism of Christ, in order that Christ might have baptized servants through whom he would baptize others. This is the meaning of what is said below (13:10): “He who has bathed does not need to wash, except his feet,” and then follows, “and you are clean, but not all.”
556 He then mentions Christ’s going away, he left Judea. He left for three reasons. First, to get away from the envy of the Pharisees, who were disturbed because of what they had heard about Christ, and were preparing to harass him. By this he gives us the example that we should, with gentleness, yield ground to evil for a time: “Do not pile wood on his fire” (Sir 8:4). Another reason was to show us that it is not sinful to flee from persecution: “If they persecute you in one town, flee to another” (Mt 10:23). The third reason was that the time of his passion had not yet come: “My time has not yet come” (above 2:4). And there is an additional reason, a mystical one: he indicated by his leaving that because of persecution the disciples were destined to abandon the Jews and go to the Gentiles.
557 Then when he says, and went again to Galilee, he shows where he was going. He says, again, because above (2:12) he had mentioned another time when Christ went to Galilee: when he went to Capernaum after the miracle at the wedding. Since the other three evangelists did not mention this first trip, the Evangelist says again to let us know that the other evangelists had mentioned none of the matters he mentions up to this point, and that he is now beginning to give his account contemporaneous with theirs. According to one interpretation, Galilee is understood to signify the Gentile world, to which Christ passed from the Jews; for Galilee means “passage.” According to another interpretation, Galilee signifies the glory of heaven, for Galilee also means “revelation.”
558 Then he describes the intermediate place through which Christ passed; first in a general way, then specifically.
559 On his way to Galilee, Christ passes through Samaria; hence he says, He had to pass through Samaria. He says, had to pass, lest he seem to be acting contrary to his own teaching, for Christ says in Matthew (10:5): “Do not go on the roads of the Gentiles.” Now since Samaria was Genthe territory, he shows that he went there of necessity and not by choice. Thus he says, had to pass, the reason being that Samaria was between Judea and Galilee.
It was Amri, the king of Israel, who bought the hill of Samaria from a certain Somer (1 Kgs 16:24); and it was there he built the city which he called Samaria, after the name of the person from whom he bought the land. After that, the kings of Israel used it as their royal city, and the entire region surrounding this city was called Samaria. When we read here that Christ had to pass through Samaria, we should understand the region rather than the city.
560 Describing it in more detail, he adds, He came therefore to a city of Samaria, i.e., of the region of Samaria, called Sychar. This Sychar is the same as Shechem. Genesis (33:18) says that Jacob camped near here and that two of his sons, enraged at the rape of Dinah, Jacob’s daughter, by the son of the king of Shechem, killed all the males in that city. And so Jacob took possession of the city, and he lived there and dug many wells. Later, as he lay dying, he gave the land to his son Joseph: “I am giving you a portion more than your brothers” (Gn 48:22). And this is what he says: near the plot of land which Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
The Evangelist is so careful to record all these matters in order to show us that all the things which happened to the patriarchs were leading up to Christ, and that they pointed to Christ, and that he descended from them according to the flesh.
561 Then when he says, This was the site of Jacob’s well, the Evangelist gives the material setting for the spiritual doctrine about to be taught. And this was most fitting: for the doctrine about to be taught was about water and a spiritual font, and so he mentions the material well, thus giving rise to a discussion of the spiritual font, which is Christ: “For with you is the fountain of life” (Ps 35:10), namely, the Holy Spirit, who is the spirit of life. Likewise, the well symbolizes baptism: “On that day a fountain will be open to the house of David, to cleanse the sinner and the unclean” (Zec 13:1).
He does three things here. First, he describes the well. Secondly, Christ’s rest at the well. Thirdly, the time.
562 He describes the water source saying, the site of Jacob’s well. Here one might object that further on (v 11) he says this source is deep; thus it did not gush water like a fountain. I answer, as does Augustine, that it was both a well and gushed water like a fountain. For every well is a fountain, although the converse is not true. For when water gushes from the earth we have a fountain; and if this happens just on the surface, the source is only a fountain. But if the water gushes both on the surface and below, we have a well; although it is also still called a fountain. It is called Jacob’s well because he had dug this well there due to a shortage of water, as we read in Genesis (c 34).
563 Jesus, tired from his journey, rested there at the well. Jesus reveals his weakness (even though his power was unlimited), not because of a lack of power, but to show us the reality of the [human] nature he assumed. According to Augustine, Jesus is strong, for “In the beginning was the Word” (above 1:1); but he is weak, for “the Word was made flesh” (above 1:14). And so Christ, wishing to show the truth of his human nature, allowed it to do and to endure things proper to men; and to show the truth of his divine nature, he worked and performed things proper to God. Hence when he checked the inflow of divine power to his body, he became hungry and tired; but w4en he let his divine power influence his body, he did not become hungry in spite of a lack of food, and he did not become tired in his labors. “He had fasted forty days and forty nights, and was hungry” (Mt 4:2).
564 Seeing Jesus becoming tired from his journey is an example to us not to shrink from our work for the salvation of others: “I am poor, and have labored since my youth” (Ps,87:16). We also have an example of poverty, as Jesus rested there, upon the bare earth.
In its mystical meaning, this resting [literally, a sitting] of Christ indicates the abasement of his passion: “You know when I sit down (i.e., the passion), and when I rise” (Ps 138:2). Also, it indicates the authority of his teaching, for he speaks as one having power; thus we read in Matthew (5:1) that Christ, “sitting down, taught them.”
565 He indicates the time, saying, It was about the sixth hour. There are both literal and mystical reasons for fixing the time. The literal reason was to show the cause of his tiredness: for men are more weary from work in the heat and at the sixth hour [at noon]. Again, it shows why Christ was resting: for men gladly rest near the water in the heat of the day.
There are three mystical reasons for mentioning the time. First, because Christ assumed flesh and came into the world in the sixth age of the world. Another is that man was made on the sixth day, and Christ was conceived in the sixth month. Third, at the sixth hour the sun is at its highest, and there is nothing left for it but to decline. In this context, the “sun” signifies temporal prosperity, as suggested by Job (31:26): “If I had looked at the sun when it shone, etc.” Therefore Christ came when the prosperity of the world was at its highest, that is, it flourished through love in the hearts of men; but because of him natural love was bound to decline.
566 Next, we have a preliminary remark concerning the one who listens to Christ. First, we are introduced to the person who is taught. Secondly, we are given her preparation for his teaching.
567 The teaching is given to a Samaritan woman; so he says, a Samaritan woman came to draw water. This woman signifies the Church, not yet justified, of the Gentiles. It was then involved in idolatry, but was destined to be justified by Christ. She came from foreigners, i.e., from the Samaritans, who were foreigners, even though they lived in the neighboring territory: because the Church of the Gentiles, foreign to the Jewish race, would come to Christ: “Many will come from the East and the West, and will sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven,” as we find in Matthew (8:11).
568 Christ prepares this woman for his teaching when he says, Give me a drink. First, we have the occasion for his asking her. Secondly, the Evangelist suggests why it was opportune to make this request (v 8).
569 The occasion and the preparation of the woman was the request of Christ; thus he says, Give me a drink. He asks for a drink both because he was thirsty for water on account of the heat of the day, and because he thirsted for the salvation of man on account of his love. Accordingly, while hanging on the cross he cried out: “I thirst.”
570 Christ had the opportunity to ask this of the woman because his disciples, whom he would have asked for the water, were not there, thus the Evangelist says, His disciples had gone to the town.