John 4:26Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

See verse 25. Although the Jews often said, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly” (Jn 10:24), He did not give them a clear answer.

But to the Samaritan woman He said directly about Himself that He is the Christ. This is because the woman was better disposed than the Jews. They asked, not to learn from Him, but to mock Him continually.

If they had wished to learn, His teaching in His conversations, in the Scriptures, and in His miracles would have been sufficient for them. But what the woman said, she said from a sincere heart and with a pure intention.

This is evident from her subsequent actions. She both listened to Him herself and believed, and she drew others to faith. In all things the woman’s zeal and faith are visible.

When, therefore, the very course of the discourse required it, the Lord now reveals Himself to her, the Samaritan woman. If He had said from the beginning, “I am the Christ,” He would not have persuaded the woman and might even have seemed boastful and proud.

But now, having little by little led her to remember the promise concerning Christ, He finally reveals Himself. Why, then, does He tell the woman that He is the Messiah, while He does not reveal Himself to the Jews, who often asked, “Tell us, are You the Christ?”

He said nothing to them because they asked, not in order to know the truth, but in order to slander Him further. To her He clearly reveals Himself, because she is well-intentioned. She asked simply and with a desire to know the truth.

This is evident also from what follows. Having heard the revelation, she not only believed herself, but also drew others to faith. In every respect she appears as a woman of sound mind and faith.

Christ does not reveal Himself to souls that are unprepared and wholly ignorant. Rather, He shines forth and appears to those who are already ready to desire some knowledge and who, bearing the beginning of faith in simple words, press toward more perfect understanding.

Such, indeed, is the Samaritan woman before us. Though she viewed truly divine contemplations more crudely than she ought, she was not entirely without strength of will or capacity for understanding.

First, when Christ asked for a drink, she did not simply give it. Seeing Him transgressing, as far as one may speak in human terms, the native customs of the Jews, she first asked Him the reasons for this transgression.

She called her husband. Her husband became the head of the woman, and Christ became the head of the husband (cf. 1 Cor 11:3). The woman was already being established in faith and guided by this faith, which was ready at once to prevail. After she heard, "I who speak with you am He," what more could she say, when Christ the Lord wished to reveal Himself to the woman to whom He had said, "Believe Me"?

"If You are a king, why did You ask me for water?" Thus from the very beginning of the conversation He did not reveal His person to her. First He disclosed Himself to her as a Jew, then as a Prophet, and finally as Christ. Beginning from an ordinary step, He raised her to the highest step. At first she saw Him as a thirsty man, then as a Jew, then as a Prophet, and finally as God. She wished to persuade the thirsty man, she turned away from the Jew, she questioned the Teacher, she was exposed by the Prophet, and she worshiped Christ.

When the Jews insisted and said, "How long will You keep our soul in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly" (Jn 10:24), He did not answer them directly. But to her He immediately revealed Himself, because she was more prudent than they were. The Jews wished to know not in order to believe, but to mock Him. She, once she knew, immediately believed.

But since the heavenly Bridegroom saw her in such a state, He says openly to her, "I who speak with you am He."

The Samaritan woman was counted worthy of great grace. Our Lord did not explain Himself so clearly to any other person, nor did He say to anyone so plainly, "I am the Messiah, called Christ." The Samaritan woman was counted worthy of this before others because of the zeal and fervor that the Lord foresaw in her heart. It may also be that she was preferred because she was the first Apostle who preached the name of the Lord Jesus.

As the Samaritan woman began, as it were, to understand the meaning of Jesus' words, she said thoughtfully, "I know that the Messiah will proclaim to us all this of which You speak when He comes, and I know that He will come." Having said this, the Samaritan woman was already so prepared to acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah that Jesus no longer concealed Himself: "The Messiah is I, who speak with you."

“I who speak to you am He,” that is, I, the One speaking with you, am the Messiah. For a long time the Lord did not call Himself directly by the name Messiah before the Jews, because their ideas about Him were distorted.

To reveal Himself under this name could have been accompanied not only by misunderstanding, but even by danger for the work of Christ and for His person. He did not even command the Apostles to speak of this to anyone before the time; Mt 16:20, Mt 17:9 and parallels.

Only at His trial before the Sanhedrin did He decisively call Himself the Messiah. Here, however, He directly calls Himself the Messiah to the Samaritan woman.

Verses 25-26. The Samaritan woman feels that she does not understand much in Jesus’ words, and some things seem doubtful to her. She feels that if she were to continue her questions, she would be left in no better position.

In this state she turns her hopes toward the light of men, the Messiah. “I know,” she says, “that Messiah is coming; when He comes, He will declare all things to us.”

The Samaritans read only the Pentateuch. In the Pentateuch, the most striking passage pointing to the Messiah is Moses’ word about the coming prophet, Deut 18:15.