“Our fathers adored on this mountain[1], and you say that at Jerusalem is the place where men must adore." Jesus said to her: “Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when you shall neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, adore the Father. The hour cometh [2], and now is, when the true adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth. God is a Spirit, and they that adore Him, must adore Him in spirit and in truth."
The woman answered Him: “I know that the Messias, when He is come, will tell us all things." Jesus replied: “I am He[3] who am speaking with thee."
Rejoiced[4] at this news, the woman left her pitcher, and, going into the city in all haste, she said to the people: “Come out and see a man who has told me all my sins. Is not He the Christ!"[5] Meanwhile the disciples, returning with the food they
- ↑ This mountain. Mount Garizim was near Sichar, and reared itself above the valley to the height of 800 feet. In the year 400 B. C. the Samaritans had built a temple on this mountain, where schismatical Jewish priests offered sacrifice until the year 131, when the temple was destroyed by Hyrcanus Machabeus.
- ↑ The hour cometh. By this answer Jesus revealed to the woman that a new era had dawned, in which the ancient worship would cease, not only on Mount Garizim, but also at Jerusalem, giving place to a better and more perfect worship. The woman did not completely understand Jesus, nor did she comprehend what sort of a worship was to be established, but she believed His assertion that a new era and a new worship would arise. She believed also in the Messias and shared the general expectation that He would soon come, and therefore she said: “When He will come, He will tell us all things.”
- ↑ I am He. Jesus now revealed Himself fully to her, saying: “I am He; I am the Messias whom you are expecting.”
- ↑ Rejoiced. The woman quite believed what Jesus said, and was speechless with joyful surprise. Just then the disciples returned and spoke with their Master. Then the woman left her pitcher and hastened back to the town. She quite forgot why she had come to the well; she could only think of the joy of having found the Messias, and was full of longing to impart the good news to her townsfolk.
- ↑ Is not He the Christ. She did not say this because she doubted, but because she wished to induce the people of Sichar to come and see and hear Jesus for themselves.
