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?" 

How did the woman know that the Messiah, called Christ, would come? From the writings of Moses. For we have said above that the Samaritans accepted the Pentateuch of Moses. As they received the books of Moses, they knew from them the prophecy about Christ and that He is the Son of God. Thus, the words "let us make man" (Gen. 1:26) were evidently spoken by the Father to the Son; the one who conversed with Abraham in the tent was the Son (Gen. 18); Jacob prophetically spoke of Him: "The prince of Judah shall not fail until he comes, to whom it is delayed" (Gen. 49:10), and Moses himself: "The Lord shall raise up a prophet from among your brethren, as ye shall hear me" (Deuteronomy 18:15), and many other passages proclaim the coming of Christ. That is why the woman says, "I know that the Messiah is coming." When, in this way, the very course of speech demanded, the Lord already revealed Himself to her (the Samaritan woman). If He had said from the beginning that Christ was I, He would not have convinced the woman, and He might have seemed arrogant and proud. And now, little by little, having made her remember the promise of Christ, He has already revealed Himself. Why then does He tell the woman that He is the Messiah, and not reveal Himself to the Jews, who often asked, "Tell us, Are You the Christ?" He said nothing to them, because they did not ask in order to know the truth, but in order to slander more; but to it He clearly reveals Himself, because it is well-intentioned. She asked innocently and with a desire to know the truth. This is also evident from the following. Hearing the revelation, she not only believed herself, but also attracted others to faith, and in all things she is a thorough and believing woman. While the conversation with the woman and the teaching were already over, the disciples came and marveled at His humility, whereby He spoke with such condescension to a poor woman and a Samaritan woman, while He was in glory and fame with everyone. They are surprised, but they do not dare to ask what He is talking to her about. In this way they were trained and retained the respect for the Master due from the disciples! In other cases, they seem to be bold. For example, John falls to his chest (John 13:25); They begin with the question: "Who is greater in the Kingdom of Heaven?" (Matt. 18:1); the sons of Zebedee ask that one sit on the right hand and the other on the left hand (Mark 10:35, 37). In these cases, they ask about what concerned them and what seemed necessary to them at the time. And since the question did not occupy them so much and was not absolutely necessary, they do not use boldness as untimely.

     Then the woman left her waterpot and went into the city, and said to the people, "Go and see the man who told me all that I have done: is not he the Christ? They went out of the city and went to Him.

 At the words of the Lord, the woman's heart burned so much that she left her water pot. So soon she preferred the water of Christ to the well of Jacob, and by the faith that embraced her heart, she was elevated to the rank of an apostle, teaching and attracting the whole city. Go, he said, see the Man Who told me all that I did. Verily, the soul, inflamed by divine fire, does not look at anything earthly, neither shame nor dishonor. So she is not ashamed to reveal her works, but says: Who has told me all that I have done. She could have said in another way: Go and see the prophet who prophesies; but it does not say so, but despises it by its opinion of itself, and has only one thing in mind, namely, to preach the truth. He does not affirmatively say that He is Christ, but, "Is He not Christ?" in order to bring them to the same opinion as Himself, and to make the word more acceptable. For if she had asserted that He was the Christ, some might not have agreed, would not have accepted her opinion as an outcast woman. - Some people understood the "five" Samaritan women to mean five books that the Samaritan woman only accepted. He, he says, whom you now have, that is, my teaching, which you now receive from me, is not your husband; for thou, saith he, hast not yet conjugated with my teaching, the teaching of Jesus, some will say that the Samaritan woman is an image of human nature. Our nature formerly lived on a mountain, possessed a mind full of divine grace. For Adam, before he sinned, was adorned with all divine gifts. He was also a prophet. When he awoke from his sleep, he spoke clearly about the creation of the wife and about the relationship of the husband to her, for he said, "This is now a bone of my bones; and "For this reason shall a man leave his father and mother" (Gen. 2:23, 24). On this mountain, lofty intellect, our nature was, but for offending God we were led into captivity. And the devil, having taken us captive, led the holy seed, that is, every divine thought, to Babylon, that is, to the confusion of this world. Instead of holy thoughts, he implanted coarse thoughts: the lions reigning in us devoured good thoughts, until they persuaded them to accept the words of God. But they did not accept them completely. For malice, having once settled on our mountain, that is, in the mind, although it received the books of Moses, nevertheless did not become wholly good, but was still under a curse. Thus, Jesus, having completed the path, that is, having traveled many paths of economy and ways to our salvation, improving our lives now by threats, now by blows of calamity, now by blessings, now by promises of blessings, and trying to correct us in such ways, labored to correct us. But He also found another dispensation, on which, as satisfactory, He sat down and rested. What is it? The source of baptism, with which He bestowed upon our nature, is like a Samaritan woman. This source of baptism can rightly be called the source of Jacob, that is, the stammerer, for in this source everyone tramples on the devil. In it, too, the Lord destroyed the head of the dragon, which He gave as food to the Ethiopian people (Psalm 73:14). For this dragon is no one who rejoices and eats, like men who are darkened and black in soul, having no part in the divine light, - With this nature of ours entered into a covenant five men, various laws given to him by God: the law in paradise, the law under Noah, the law under Abraham, the law under Moses, the law through the prophets. For after the flood Noah accepted a certain commandment, and Abraham the commandment of circumcision (Gen. 9:1-17; 17:1-14). Having joined with these five laws, our nature subsequently accepted the sixth law of the New Testament, which it did not have as a husband and with which it had not yet been combined. - By the sixth law, which our nature did not have as a man, some may understand the law of idolatry. For this law was not given to him by God for a man, but it was mingled with him as an adulterer. For this reason the prophet also says: "And they committed fornication in the tree" (Jeremiah 2:20) and again: "They committed fornication behind every tree" (Ezekiel 16), apparently he says that they revered images and trees. For our nature has reached such madness that sacrifices have been made to beautiful trees, such as cypresses, sycamores, and the like, for their beauty. And so, when a man has come to love this sixth adulterer and has fallen into idolatry, then the Lord comes and frees us from him, wherefore He says, He whom thou hast now. For by the time of the coming of Christ, indeed, the wise men of the Jews had turned to paganism, as is shown by the heresy of the Pharisees, who believe in fate and stargazing. - The Samaritan woman is also every soul that has unwisely submitted to the five senses, and then accepted false teachings, as if it were the sixth adulterer, but to whom Jesus does good either by baptism or by the fountain of tears. And tears can be called the well of Jacob, that is, of our mind, which tramples on malice. This water is drunk by the mind itself, and its children are thoughts, and its cattle are the irrational parts of the soul, anger and desire. For tears serve as refreshment for the mind and thoughts, and for the other powers of the soul.

     And the disciples besought Him, saying, Rabbi! Eat it. But He said to them; I have food that you don't know. Wherefore the disciples said among themselves, Who hath brought him food? Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work."