JOHN 4:16–26
THE TRUE WORSHIPER AND THE REVELATION OF THE MESSIAH
BRIEF INTERPRETATION
Text – John 4:16–26
16 Jesus said to her, “Go call your husband and come back.”
17 The woman answered and said to him, “I do not have a husband.” Jesus answered her, “You are right in saying, ‘I do not have a husband.’
18 For you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true.”
19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet.
20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain; but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.”
21 Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
22 You people worship what you do not understand; we worship what we understand, because salvation is from the Jews.
23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks 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 the Messiah is coming, the one called the Christ; when he comes, he will tell us everything.”
26 Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking with you.”
Historical and Jewish Context
Jesus’ knowledge of the woman’s life reveals prophetic insight and leads her from misunderstanding to recognition of His authority. In Jewish and Samaritan traditions, marital history carried social and religious significance, and Jesus’ words uncover the truth without condemnation. The discussion about worship reflects the deep division between Jews, who worshiped in Jerusalem, and Samaritans, who worshiped on Mount Gerizim. By declaring a new form of worship, Jesus moves beyond geographical and ritual boundaries. The Samaritan expectation of the Messiah, often referred to as the Taheb (Restorer), prepares the way for Jesus’ self-revelation.
Catholic Theological Perspective
This passage reveals Jesus as both prophet and Messiah. His call to truth is an invitation to conversion, not shame. Catholic theology sees here the transformation of worship through the Holy Spirit. Worship “in Spirit and truth” refers to worship rooted in the Holy Spirit and centered on Christ, who is the Truth. Jesus’ statement “I am he” is a direct self-revelation of His messianic identity, echoing the divine “I AM.” The encounter demonstrates that authentic worship flows from a heart reconciled to truth and renewed by grace.
Parallels in Scripture
Jeremiah 23:24 – God’s omniscience and presence.
Isaiah 2:2–3 – All nations coming to worship the Lord.
Malachi 1:11 – Pure worship offered among the nations.
John 14:6 – Christ as the way, the truth, and the life.
Philippians 3:3 – Worship by the Spirit of God.
Key Terms
Prophet – One who speaks with God’s authority.
True worshipers – Those who worship with sincerity and grace.
Spirit and truth – Worship empowered by the Holy Spirit and centered on Christ.
Messiah / Christ – The anointed Savior awaited by Israel and Samaria.
I am he – Jesus’ self-revelation of divine identity.
Catholic Liturgical Significance
This Gospel is proclaimed during Lent, especially for those preparing for Baptism. The Church presents this encounter as a model of conversion, true worship, and Christ’s self-revelation. It deepens understanding of sacramental worship and the universal call to salvation.
Conclusion
John 4:16–26 marks the turning point of the Samaritan woman’s journey. Jesus reveals the truth of her life, transforms her understanding of worship, and discloses Himself as the Messiah. True worship is no longer bound to place but to a living relationship with God through Christ.
Reflection
Do I allow Christ to reveal the truth of my life with love and mercy?
Is my worship rooted in Spirit and truth?
Do I recognize Jesus as the Messiah speaking to me today?
Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, You are the Messiah who reveals truth with mercy. Lead me to worship the Father in Spirit and truth. Heal what is broken in my life, deepen my faith, and draw me into a living relationship with You. Amen.
DETAILED INTERPRETATION
INTRODUCTION
Because of the negativity of the Pharisees, Jesus left Judaea. On his way to Galilee, he travelled through Samaria and halted at noon at Shechem. While alone, he gave a long discourse to a sinful Samaritan woman who came to Jacob’s well to fetch water. Starting with his request for a drink, Jesus assured her he could provide living water, the Holy Spirit, to resolve her spiritual thirst for ever. The woman was taken up by the unusual behaviour of Jesus and his intuition to comprehend her sinful secret life. As a result of that interaction, she acknowledged Jesus as a prophet. Jesus revealed to her the imminent changes that would happen in worshipping God the Father in Spirit and truth. When the woman professed her faith in the forthcoming Messiah, Jesus revealed himself as I AM, the God incarnate.
(16) Jesus said, “Go, call your husband and come back here.”
When the woman asked for the living water Jesus offered, he did not give a direct answer. Instead, he made an unexpected demand of bringing her husband. By this, he disclosed, he was aware of her sinful life. This became an entry point for Jesus to awaken her conscience and make her aware of the need to be spiritually clean to receive his living water. Thus, he revealed his divinity to her step by step so she could understand him as the Messiah.
(17) The woman answered, “I have no husband.” And Jesus replied, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; (18) for you have had five husbands and the one you have now is not your husband. What you said is true.”
When Jesus asked the woman to bring her husband, she was probably puzzled. Why would this Rabbi who had met her for the first time, want her to bring her husband? He knew she had no legal husband. He might know her sinful life. So, she did not want to take the risk of bringing her illegal partner and get into trouble. Since Jesus was a foreigner, she believed she could deceive him in a literal sense. Thus indulging in a bit of a banter, she said to him that she had no husband, which was legally true.
Jesus replied in her ironic style and agreed that she was literally right. Through his divine knowledge, Jesus knew the status of her life. So, he unveiled the truth of her living with a man who was not her husband. Since Jesus mentioned her previous five husbands, they might be legitimate ones. But they might have died, or she might have divorced them one after another. And then she might be living with a sixth man whom she had not married.
(19) The woman then said to him, “Sir, I see you are a prophet.”
The woman was shocked at the understanding of Jesus about her sinful private life. That was why she told the people in her town, “Come see a man who told me everything I have done” (Jn 4:29). She realized she could hide nothing from Jesus and acknowledged him as a prophet. Instead of denying what Jesus spoke about her scandalous life, she perceived Jesus as a prophet and professed that openly. She considered Jesus similar to Prophet Samuel, who told Saul, “I will tell you everything on your mind” (1 Sam 9:19).
(20) “Our ancestors used to worship God on this mountain; but you Jews, do you not claim that Jerusalem is the only place to worship God?”
The Samaritan woman brought up a controversy between the Samaritans and the Jews on the location for worship. The Samaritans worshipped at a temple they built at Mount Gerizim in opposition to the Temple in Jerusalem. Mount Gerizim was a place of worship of the ancestors, like Abraham (Gen 12:67), Jacob (Gen 33:18-20) and Joshua (Deut 27:1-8). According to the Samaritan tradition, Abraham sacrificed Isaac, and met Melchizedek there, which, according to the Jews, was in Jerusalem. So, the Samaritans had justification in worshipping at Shechem by erecting a temple similar to the Temple in Jerusalem. “The Samaritans believe that, since more than 3600 years ago, they came to live on Mount Gerizim because Moses, in his tenth commandment, ordered them to protect it as a sacred mountain and worship on it by making pilgrimages to it three times a year. These beliefs and traditions have been kept alive by Samaritans since then” (https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5706/). Instead, the Jews considered Jerusalem as the sacred mountain and worshipped at the Temple there, making three pilgrimages a year.
The Samaritan woman mentioned how the Jews objected to this worship on Mount Gerizim. King David moved the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem (2 Sam 6:12) and King Solomon built the Temple there according to God’s direction (2 Chr 3:1). God had prohibited offering sacrifices to God in multiple places like the pagans (Deut 12:4-5). Based on God’s commands, the Jews objected to the temple at Gerizim, built in opposition to the Temple in Jerusalem.
(21) Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you shall worship the Father, neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
Jesus predicts to the Samaritan woman that the two traditional sites of worship would become history and be replaced with a third one. John Hyrcanus had destroyed the temple at Mount Gerizim during the Hellenistic period of 128 BC (https://whc. unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5706/). However, the Samaritans continued to consider it a holy place of worship. Jesus foresaw the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem (Mk 13:1-3) that happened in 70 AD. For Jesus, the dispute over the place of worship would be irrelevant because it would not be confined to one or another location. Jesus revealed a great mystery of his mission to this sinful woman. He did not justify Jerusalem to the woman, though as a Jew, he did select Jerusalem for his worship and self-sacrifice.
Jesus used the expression, “the hour is coming” on other occasions in the sense of an imminent change. “The hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live” (Jn 5:25). “The hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voices” (Jn 5:28). “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (Jn 12:23). “The hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering worship to God” (Jn 16:2). “The hour is coming and has arrived when each of you will be scattered to his own home and you will leave me alone” (Jn 16:32).
Jesus used the term Father for God. The Jews and the Samaritans were not accustomed to call God the Father, though God had considered Israel as His son (Ex 4:22). Jesus could use it because he was the Son of God. He taught his disciples the Lord’s prayer, addressing, “Our Father who art in heaven.” So, he gave the privilege to address God as the Father, as he himself did. According to Jesus, the dispute on the place of worship would end soon and God, as the Father, will continue as the object of worship.
(22) You Samaritans worship what you do not understand; we worship what we understand, for salvation comes from the Jews.
You people worship what you do not understand
The Samaritans followed only the Pentateuch, whereas the Jews follow the other books of the Old Testament, including the Prophets that have additional revelations from God. So, the Samaritans were ignorant of the later divine interventions and the prophetic teachings. They negate the salvation God promised through the Jews just as they negate Jerusalem as the genuine place of worship.
Here, the importance Jesus gave was for the object of worship. The Samaritans had mixed the worship of the LORD with pagan worship. They did not know their mistake. Jesus called it their ignorance of the true God and genuine worship.
we worship what we understand
By using “we,” Jesus identified with the Jews. Though born a Jew, the salvation he offered is for all, as God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Jews understood the mind of God through the revelations they had received from God through the prophets. They worshipped the true God in Jerusalem that God revealed as the place for the Temple. So, they knew what God wanted from the divine revelations that the Samaritans rejected. salvation is from the Jews
Jesus affirmed that the salvation of humanity would come through the Jews as revealed by God through the patriarchs and prophets down the centuries. The Samaritans also would receive the message of salvation soon from the Jewish Christians.
(23) But the hour is coming and indeed is already here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for that is the kind of worship the Father wants.
But the hour is coming, and is now here
Jesus spoke of a transition time from the past to the present, from the old to the new. That started on the same day when the Samaritans, on hearing from the woman, invited Jesus to their village. After their two-day experience with Jesus, they said to the woman, “We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the saviour of the world” (Jn 4:42). The worship in Gerizim and Jerusalem would not last long. An alternative form of worship would replace them, resulting in the disappearance of rivalry between the Jews and the Samaritans.
when true worshipers will worship the Father
True worship was lacking at Mount Gerizim and Jerusalem. Both required purification. The Samaritans had a worship of the true God and of idols. They needed more understanding of true worship. The Jewish religious leaders had become ritualistic and corrupt. They offered sacrifice without showing mercy to fellow humans. So, correction was necessary for both groups.
in Spirit and truth
Worship in spirit and truth involves two important aspects of genuine worship. Worship in spirit means devotion according to the spirit behind religious observances. As God Himself says, “For it is loyalty that I desire, not sacrifice, and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings” (Hos 6:6). Jesus replaced animal sacrifice with his life-sacrifice. He wants his followers to offer their lives to God with the true spirit that evolves from their heart. The Holy Spirit will guide us in this. “The Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groanings” (Rom 8:26). God wants worship in truth, that is, a sincere sacrifice of oneself, just as Jesus who said, “I am the Truth” (Jn 14:6) demonstrated in his earthly life. All this would be a modification of the corrupted worship of the time, a superior form of worship replacing the worship atop the mountain and in the Temple of Jerusalem.
Indeed the Father seeks such people to worship Him
God the Father seeks people with a true spirit and truth to worship Him. They are the true worshippers who adore him from their heart rather than with lip service and meaningless rituals. Jesus was revealing a new form of worship that he exemplified through his earthly ministry.
(24) God is spirit and those who worship God must worship in spirit and truth.”
Since God is Spirit and, thus, not limited to space and time, he can be worshipped anywhere in spirit and truth. That the early Church realized this is clear from the discourse of Stephen to the Sanhedrin during his trial, “The Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands” (Acts 7:48). The Sanhedrin took it as a speech against the Temple. Paul’s address to the Athenians was almost similar: “The God who made the world and all that is in it, the Lord of Heaven and Earth, does not dwell in sanctuaries made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands as though he needs anything. Rather it is he who gives to everyone life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:24-25).
(25) The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah, who is called the Christ, is coming; when he comes, he will tell us everything.”
The Samaritan woman could not comprehend the Theological discourse of Jesus as regards the Father, the Spirit, and the Truth. However, she was aware of the messianic expectations. The Messiah would be the anointed one of God, and he would reveal every truth. Besides the Jews, the Samaritans and Gentiles also were expecting a Messiah from among the Jews. When the Magi arrived in Jerusalem, their question to King Herod was, “Where is he that is born king of the Jews?” (Mt 2:2)
Though only the Pentateuch in the Bible is accepted by the Samaritans, it also gives references to the coming of the Messiah. God promised a redeemer through Adam (Gen 3:15), Abraham (Gen 12:3), Jacob (Gen 49:10), Balaam (Num 24:17) and Moses (Deut 18:15) in the first five books of the Bible. The Samaritans must have heard of the Messianic predictions by the prophets of Israel. Their expectation of the Messiah was not a king from the lineage of David but a prophet like Moses (Deut 18:15). According to the woman, the Anointed one will correct their misunderstandings and defective religious practices. She was willing to wait for that to happen.
(26) And Jesus said, “I who speak to you am he.”
Jesus gradually unveiled his identity as I AM, which means God, to the Samaritan woman. “I AM” is the name of God that God revealed to Moses when he asked for God’s name at Mount Sinai (Ex 3:13-14). When Jesus used “I am” for himself, he was identifying himself as God incarnate. He started with a human need for water for his thirst and ended up revealing his identity directly to a sinful Samaritan woman even before he did that to the Jews. She had the privilege of hearing from Jesus his identity as the Messiah. Her belief in this is clear from her revelation of the same to her people (Jn 4:29), thus becoming a herald of Jesus to the Samaritans.
MESSAGE
1. “Whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because he is a disciple – amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward” (Mt 10:42). Like the Samaritan woman, let us also gain the grace of God by offering any help we can provide to those in need.
2. Jesus used a poor, unpopular Samaritan woman as an instrument for reaching out to the Samaritans, offering them salvation. Jesus chose as his apostles also from among the illiterate and the low-status to become pillars of his Church. Even if we are simple and limited in our resources, God can empower us to continue His ministry in the present times.
3. Jesus questioned illegal marriage or living together outside wedlock by referring to the Samaritan woman’s cohabitation with a man who was not her lawful husband. Are we fostering such relationships?
4. Jesus offered the Holy Spirit to his disciples and the privilege to call God our Father. We have gained these benefits through Baptism. Let us then be conscious that we are but individual temples of God and hold fast to our personal prayer besides our Church-service centred practices.