Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well, and drank from it himself, and his children, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said to her, "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again; but whoever drinks the water that I will give him will never thirst; but the water that I give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life. The woman said to Him, "Lord! Give me this water, that I may not be thirsty, and that I may not come hither to draw. 

He considers James to be his father and counts himself among the Jewish nobility. Look, perhaps, at the rationality of a woman, how soon she deduces from the difference of the waters the difference of the givers. If, he says, you will give such water, then surely you are greater than Jacob, who gave us real water. The words: "and he himself drank from it" indicate the pleasantness of water. The Patriarch, he says, liked this spring so much that both he and his children drank from it. The words, "and his cattle drank," indicate the abundance of water. This water, he says, is not only pleasant, and so pleasant that Jacob drank it, but it is also plentiful, and so abundant that it was sufficient for the multitude of the patriarch's cattle. When the woman said: "Are you greater than our father?" the Lord, although He does not say directly that I am truly greater, lest, without yet presenting proof of His power, he would not seem vain, but He prepares for this with His words: whoever drinks this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks My water will not thirst. That is, if you marvel at Jacob, who gave this water, how much more should you marvel at Me, who gives much better water. For the water that I give becomes a fountain of water, constantly and continually multiplying. For the saints do not only preserve to the end what they receive from God, but through grace they receive the seeds and firstfruits of good, and they themselves multiply and grow them. The Lord points to this in the parable of the talents (Matt. 25:14-31) and of the innkeeper (Luke 10:35). He who received two talents acquired the other two through a turn in business (Matt. 25:17). And to the innkeeper who received the wounded by robbers, the Lord promises: "If thou shalt spend anything of thyself, I will give thee" (Luke 10:35). The Lord points to this here as well. I give water to the thirsty; but the water that I give does not remain in the same measure, but is multiplied and becomes a spring. Thus, in the catechumens of Ananias, the Lord gave Paul some water (Acts 9:17); but Paul showed this little water of the teaching of Ananias to be a spring, so that the streams of this spring from Jerusalem reached as far as Illyricum. What is the disposition in a woman? Although it is not yet lofty, for it thinks that it is a question of sensual water, yet it also shows a certain movement forward. Formerly she was perplexed and said: "Whence dost Thou have living water?" And now, taking that word for certain, he says, "Give me this water." For this reason she seems to be more understanding than Nicodemus. And when he had heard so many such things, he said, How can this be? (John 3:9). And she begins to neglect the source of Jacob as well. If, he says, Thou hast such water, then give it to me, and I will not go here to draw any more. Do you see how she already puts the Lord above Jacob?

     Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband and come hither." The woman answered: I have no husband. Jesus said to her, "It is true that you have said that you have no husband; for thou hast had five husbands, and he whom thou hast now is not thy husband; You said it fairly. The woman said to Him, "Lord! I see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped on this mountain; and you say that the place where we should worship is in Jerusalem. Jesus said to her, "Believe me, the time is coming when you will not worship the Father on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem." You do not know what you are bowing to; but we know what we worship, for salvation is from the Jews.

 "Go and call your husband." Seeing that she insists on receiving, and urges Him to give, she says: "Call your husband," as if to show that he also must share with you in this gift of mine. She, in order to hide it as soon as possible and receive it together, says: I have no husband. Now the Lord, through prophetic knowledge, reveals His power, enumerates her former husbands, and reveals the one whom she is now hiding. Was she not vexed when she heard this? Did you not leave Him and run away? No, she was even more surprised, even more strengthened, and said: Lord! I see that you are a prophet; and asks Him about divine things, and not about worldly things, for example, about the health of the body or about possessions. So chaste and well-disposed to virtue is her soul! What does he ask about? "Our fathers worshipped on this mountain." This speaks of Abraham and his successors. For here, they say, Isaac was sacrificed to them. How, he says, do you say what is to be worshipped in Jerusalem? Do you see how she has become taller? Shortly before this, she was concerned not to be tormented by thirst, and now she asks about doctrine (dogmas). For this reason, Christ, seeing her understanding, although He does not resolve this perplexity of hers (for it was not of particular importance), nevertheless reveals another, more important, truth, which He did not reveal to either Nicodemus or Nathanael. The time is coming, he says, when God will be worshipped either in Jerusalem or here. You, he says, are trying to prove that the customs of the Samaritans are more worthy than those of the Jews. But I tell you that neither one nor the other has dignity, but there will come another order, which is better than both. But even so, I declare that the Jews are more worthy than the Samaritans. You, he says, bow down to what you do not know; but we Jews bow down to what we know. He ranks Himself among the Jews, because He speaks in relation to the concept of a woman, and she understood Him as a Jewish prophet. That is why He says: "We" bow down. - How did the Samaritans not know what they were bowing to? They thought that God was limited to a place. Wherefore, when the lions were devouring them, as was said above, they reported to the king of the Assyrians through ambassadors, that the God of this place did not tolerate them. Yet even after that they continued to serve idols for a long time, and not God Himself. And the Jews were free from such a concept and, although not all, recognized Him as the God of all. "For salvation is from the Jews." These words give us a twofold idea. Or that the good things for the world came from the Jews, for the knowledge of God and the rejection of idols from them have a beginning, and all other doctrines (dogmas), and this very kind of your Samaritan worship, although incorrect, received its origin from the Jews. Or He calls His coming, which was from the Jews, "salvation." By "salvation" we can also understand the Lord Himself, Who in the flesh was of the Jews.

     But the time will come, and has already come, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father seeks such worshippers for Himself. God is spirit: and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. 

Though we Jews have precedence over you Samaritans in the form of worship, yet the image of Jewish service will finally come to an end. And the change will take place not only in the place, but also in the way of service, and this change is very near and has already come. For these things will not matter at all times, as the sayings of the prophets do. - True worshippers he calls those who live according to His law, who do not limit God to a place, like the Samaritans, or do not honor Him with bodily service, like the Jews, but worship in spirit and truth, that is, with soul, purity of mind. Since God is spirit, that is, incorporeal, then one must worship Him incorporeally, that is, with the soul. This is meant by the word, "in the spirit." For the soul is spirit and an incorporeal being. And how many, apparently, worship Him with their souls, but have no true concept of Him, for example, heretics, therefore he added: "and in truth." For one must worship God with one's mind, but one must also have a true conception of Him. - Someone may say that here these two words "in spirit and truth" allude to the two parts of our wisdom: activity and contemplation. The word "in the spirit" alludes to activity. For, according to the words of the Divine Apostle, all who are led by the Spirit of God put to death the deeds of the flesh (Romans 8:13, 14). And again: "The flesh desires that which is contrary to the spirit, and the spirit that which is contrary to the flesh" (Gal. 5:17). Thus, the word "in the spirit" alludes to activity; and by the word "in truth" - to contemplation. In the same way, Paul (1 Corinthians 5:8) understands when he says: "with the unleavened bread of purity," that is, the purity of life, or, what is the same thing, of activity, "and of truth," that is, of contemplation, for contemplation is concerned with the truth of dogmatic teaching. And in other words, since the Samaritans confined God to a place, and said that it was proper to worship in that place, and among the Jews all things were done in images and shadows, he uses the word "in the spirit" against the distinction of the Samaritans, so that the speech has this meaning: you Samaritans do some local service to God, and the true worshippers will do things that are not local, for they will serve "in the spirit." that is, with the mind and soul. They will not worship under image and shadow, as the Jews do, but "in truth," since the customs and ceremonies of the Jews will be abolished. Since the Jewish law, taken literally, was an image and a shadow, it is possible that the word "in the spirit" is used to distinguish it from the letter; for the law is no longer at work in us, not of the letter, but of the spirit, "for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life" (2 Corinthians 3:6). To distinguish it from the image and shadow, the word "in truth" is used. The time will come, he says, and it has already come, namely, the time of my appearing in the flesh, when the true worshippers will worship not in one place, as the Samaritans did, but in every place "in the spirit," not only in the body, as Paul also says: "Whom (God) I serve "in my spirit" (Rom. 1:9), they will perform a service that is not figurative, shady, and pointing to the future, like the Jews, but the service is true and has no shadows. For God seeks such worshippers for Himself: as the Spirit, the spiritual, as the Truth, the true.

     The woman said to Him, "I know that the Messiah is coming, that is, Christ; when He comes, He will tell us all things. Jesus said to her, "It is I who speak to you." At that time His disciples came and were amazed that He was talking to a woman; yet not one said, "What do you require?" or, "What are you talking to her about?"