ACC ~ John 4 v35

“LIFT UP YOUR EYES”

ORIGEN: “Lift up your eyes” occurs in many places in Scripture when the divine Word admonishes us to exalt and lift up our thoughts, and to elevate the insight that lies below in a rather sickly condition and is stooped and completely incapable of looking up, [1] as is written for instance in Isaiah, “lift up your eyes on high and see. Who has made all these things known?” [2] … No one who indulges his passions and clings to the flesh with a concern for material things has observed the command that says, “Lift up your eyes.” Such a person will not see the fields, even if they are “already white for harvest.” COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 13.274, 278. [3]

[1] See Lk 13:11.

[2] Is 40:26.

[3] FC 89:125-26; SC 222:178-80.

THE FIELDS OF SALVATION

CHRYSOSTOM: What the will of the Father is, he now proceeds to explain: “Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes harvest?’”… He leads them, as his custom is, from low things to high. … Fields and harvest here express the great number of souls ready to receive the Word. The eyes are both spiritual and bodily, for they saw a great multitude of Samaritans now approaching. This expectant crowd he calls very suitably white fields. For as the corn, when it grows white, is ready for the harvest, so these were ready for salvation. But why doesn’t he say this in direct language?… Because, by making use in this way of the objects around them, he gave greater vividness and power to his words and brought the truth home to them. He also spoke in this way so that his discourse might be more pleasant and might sink deeper into their memories. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 34.1-2. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:119**. See also Eusebius Proof of the Gospel 9.8 (POG 2:171).

Jn