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“I who speak to you am he.”
John 4:26
Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”Full bible text
John 4 verses 1 to 30.
‘Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2 (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), 3 he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. 4 And he had to pass through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob's well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”
27 Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” 30 They went out of the town and were coming to him.’
‘Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2 (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), 3 he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. 4 And he had to pass through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob's well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”
27 Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” 30 They went out of the town and were coming to him.’
About this painting
Jesus leaves Judea; He avoids confrontation with the Pharisees for the time being and goes to Galilee.
“And He had to pass through Samaria.” He takes the shortest route. Many Jews at that time took the detour via the OverJordanian, because of their aversion to the Samaritans.
'Had to' refers to a must in view of meeting a Samaritan woman.
The Samaritans are descendants of Israelites, who remained in the land when the people were taken into captivity to Assyria and mixed with pagan peoples. So they were 'unclean' in Jewish eyes.
They believe that Mount Gerizim is the place where God should be worshiped, while the Jews do so in Jerusalem.
Jesus comes to Jacob's well, near ancient Shechem, at the foot of Mount Gerizim. Weary, he sits down. It is mid-day.
A Samaritan woman comes to draw water. Jesus speaks to her and asks for water.
The woman is surprised that, as a Jew, He addresses an (unclean) Samaritan woman.
Jesus takes the conversation to a spiritual level, and speaks of 'living water’, which takes away spiritual thirst forever.
The prophet Isaiah says:
“O all you who thirst, come to the waters, and you who have no money, come, buy and eat, yes, come, buy without money, without price, wine and milk.” Isaiah 55 verse 1.
Give me that water! Is the woman's answer. She realizes that the water from Jacob's well only quenches her thirst temporarily.
Jesus then turns the conversation around by asking about her husband. “I don't have a husband,” says the woman. Then He shows that He knows that she has had five husbands. The woman concludes that Jesus is a prophet, and takes the opportunity to ask His opinion on a religious matter: what is the proper place of worship?
However, it is not the place of worship that is important, but the fact that the Father is to be worshiped in spirit and truth. In connection with this, He points out to the woman the fact that 'salvation comes from the Jews'. They “worship what they know.”
By 'salvation' is meant: the Messianic salvation, the redemption'.
Romans 11 verse 26: “And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Redeemer will come out of Zion, and will turn away ungodliness from Jacob.”
In the true worship of the Father the distinction between Jews and Samaritans disappears; for both it comes down to 'worship in spirit and truth'. The Holy Spirit is truth, He works true worship. “..the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him, but you know Him, because He abides with you and will be in you.” John 14 verse 17.
True worship also requires practicing the truth.
“If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.”1 John 1 verse 6.
In order to worship in spirit and truth, it is necessary to first be made spiritually alive.
The woman does not really understand what Jesus means, but she does relate His words to “Messiah”. “He will declare all things to us.”
“The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet from among you, from among your brothers, like me; you must listen to Him' Deuteronomy 18 verse 15.
Then Jesus says: 'It is I who speak with you'.
The “I am (it)” recalls the speaking of God in the Old Testament:
“Turn unto Me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.” Isaiah 45 verse 22.
The statement “I am” occurs several times in John's Gospel.
“I have said to you that you will die in your sins, for if you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins.” John 8 verse 24.
He reveals Himself as the Messiah promised in the Old Testament. He is Messiah not only for Jews, but also for Samaritans. For people from all nations.
John 4 verses 41 and 42 shows that the woman believes in Him, and many from Sychar with her!
John 7 verse 37 'And on the last day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.
38 Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture says, “Out of his bowels will flow rivers of living water.”
Revelation 7 verse 17: 'For the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them, and will lead them to living springs of water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
“And He had to pass through Samaria.” He takes the shortest route. Many Jews at that time took the detour via the OverJordanian, because of their aversion to the Samaritans.
'Had to' refers to a must in view of meeting a Samaritan woman.
The Samaritans are descendants of Israelites, who remained in the land when the people were taken into captivity to Assyria and mixed with pagan peoples. So they were 'unclean' in Jewish eyes.
They believe that Mount Gerizim is the place where God should be worshiped, while the Jews do so in Jerusalem.
Jesus comes to Jacob's well, near ancient Shechem, at the foot of Mount Gerizim. Weary, he sits down. It is mid-day.
A Samaritan woman comes to draw water. Jesus speaks to her and asks for water.
The woman is surprised that, as a Jew, He addresses an (unclean) Samaritan woman.
Jesus takes the conversation to a spiritual level, and speaks of 'living water’, which takes away spiritual thirst forever.
The prophet Isaiah says:
“O all you who thirst, come to the waters, and you who have no money, come, buy and eat, yes, come, buy without money, without price, wine and milk.” Isaiah 55 verse 1.
Give me that water! Is the woman's answer. She realizes that the water from Jacob's well only quenches her thirst temporarily.
Jesus then turns the conversation around by asking about her husband. “I don't have a husband,” says the woman. Then He shows that He knows that she has had five husbands. The woman concludes that Jesus is a prophet, and takes the opportunity to ask His opinion on a religious matter: what is the proper place of worship?
However, it is not the place of worship that is important, but the fact that the Father is to be worshiped in spirit and truth. In connection with this, He points out to the woman the fact that 'salvation comes from the Jews'. They “worship what they know.”
By 'salvation' is meant: the Messianic salvation, the redemption'.
Romans 11 verse 26: “And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Redeemer will come out of Zion, and will turn away ungodliness from Jacob.”
In the true worship of the Father the distinction between Jews and Samaritans disappears; for both it comes down to 'worship in spirit and truth'. The Holy Spirit is truth, He works true worship. “..the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him, but you know Him, because He abides with you and will be in you.” John 14 verse 17.
True worship also requires practicing the truth.
“If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.”1 John 1 verse 6.
In order to worship in spirit and truth, it is necessary to first be made spiritually alive.
The woman does not really understand what Jesus means, but she does relate His words to “Messiah”. “He will declare all things to us.”
“The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet from among you, from among your brothers, like me; you must listen to Him' Deuteronomy 18 verse 15.
Then Jesus says: 'It is I who speak with you'.
The “I am (it)” recalls the speaking of God in the Old Testament:
“Turn unto Me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.” Isaiah 45 verse 22.
The statement “I am” occurs several times in John's Gospel.
“I have said to you that you will die in your sins, for if you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins.” John 8 verse 24.
He reveals Himself as the Messiah promised in the Old Testament. He is Messiah not only for Jews, but also for Samaritans. For people from all nations.
John 4 verses 41 and 42 shows that the woman believes in Him, and many from Sychar with her!
John 7 verse 37 'And on the last day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.
38 Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture says, “Out of his bowels will flow rivers of living water.”
Revelation 7 verse 17: 'For the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them, and will lead them to living springs of water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."