Ch. 4:27-42. CHRIST IN SAMARIA.--THE SUSTENANCE OF CHRISTIAN LABORERS.--THE CALL FOR CHRISTIAN LABORERS.--THEIR REWARD.--THEIR SUCCESS. 27 And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her? 28 The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, 29 Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? 30 Then they went out of the city, and came unto him. =27-30. And marvelled that he talked with a woman.= There is no definite article in the original. The disciples knew nothing of the woman’s character except that she was a Samaritan. What amazed them was that Christ should descend to instruct a woman at all, and especially a woman of Samaria. See above on ver. 4.--=No man said, What seekest thou?= One of the many indications in the Gospel of the awe in which these life-companions of Christ stood toward him (Mark 9:32; 10:32; 16:8; Luke 8:25; John 21:12).--=Left her waterpot.= Lightfoot supposes in kindness, for the Lord to use; Calvin, with greater probability, in her haste forgetting it. In her eagerness to carry to others the news of the Messiah, she forgets her original errand, which was to draw water for her home.--=Come see a man.= Compare ch. 1:39, 46.--=Which told me all things that ever I did.= The natural exaggeration of enthusiasm. Observe the method of the spread of Christianity in its earliest years. The new convert became a missionary, propagating its faith. Compare Acts 8:4; 9:20. If ever a new convert might be excused from evangelical labors, this one might--a woman, living in an age when female preaching was more obnoxious even than now, and a woman of such ill-repute that she might well expect to be received with scorn, not with respect. But her strong convictions overbear all obstacles, secure for her a hearing, and obtain for her mission success (ver. 39). Chrysostom dwells upon her wisdom as well as her eagerness: “She said not, Come, see the Christ, but, with the same condescension with which Christ had netted her, she draws the men to Him; Come, she saith, see a man who told me all that ever I did. Is not this the Christ? Observe again here the great wisdom of the woman; she neither declared the fact plainly, nor was she silent; for she desired not to bring them in by her own assertion, but to make them to share in this opinion by hearing him. * * * Nor did she say, Come, believe, but Come, _see_, a gentler expression than the other, and one which more attracted them.”--=Then they came out of the city.= Wisdom and tact inspired by enthusiasm produced by a personal and profound conviction of Christ’s person and power, rarely fail in evangelical labor. 31 In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. 32 But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of.