I who speak to you am He

 Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here."  The woman answered and said, "I have no husband."  Jesus said to her, "You have well said, 'I have no husband,' for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly."  The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.  Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship."  Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.  You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.  But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.  God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."  The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ).  "When He comes, He will tell us all things."  Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."

- John 4:16-26

Yesterday we read that when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), He left Judea and departed again to Galilee.  But He needed to go through Samaria.  So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.  Now Jacob's well was there.  Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well.  It was about the sixth hour.   A woman of Samaria came to draw water.  Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink."  For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.  Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?"  For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.  Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."  The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep.  Where then do You get that living water?  Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?"  Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst.  But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."  The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw."

 Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here."  The woman answered and said, "I have no husband."  Jesus said to her, "You have well said, 'I have no husband,' for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly."  The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet."  As Jesus perceived that this Samaritan woman was living with a man without being married, and because He knew of her string of husbands, the woman perceives that Jesus is a prophet.  Because the Samaritans did not accept any prophets after Moses, they expected only the Messiah whom Moses foretold (Deuteronomy 18:15-18).  This deep insight to the hearts of human beings -- which is given to us in many examples in the Gospels -- is an indication of His divine nature.

"Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship."  Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.  You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.  But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.  God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."  My study bible tells us that if Jesus were truly the expected Prophet, then He could be the one to settle the historical argument about where precisely worship was to take place.  But Jesus refuses to answer this earthly question.  Instead, the discussion is elevated to the manner in which people should worship.  More importantly, Jesus turns the attention to the One who is worshiped:  God.  The Father is worshiped in spirit -- that is, in the Holy Spirit -- and in truth -- that is in Christ Himself (14:6), and also according to Christ's revelation.  That God is Spirit confirms that God is not confined to a particular location.  Those who receive the Holy Spirit and believe in Jesus Christ can worship God the Father with purity of heart, my study bible says.  Jesus affirms that true revelation comes from Judaism, in saying that salvation is of the Jews.   (We note that we should not conclude that no other religion contains truth; all may reach for the Person they do not know as Jesus, who is yet Truth.)  But my study bible here quotes St. Athanasius, who gives us the building blocks of our true understanding of Christ:  "The commonwealth of Israel was the school of the knowledge of God for all the nations."  More importantly, what Jesus testifies to here is that the Messiah, who was prophesied among the Jews, has risen from among the Jews.  While the gift of salvation in Christ is for all nations, it has come from within Judaism.  The hour which Jesus notes here is that of the death and Resurrection of Christ and to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, which inaugurates the worship of the new covenant.

The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ).  "When He comes, He will tell us all things."  Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."  Jesus' final revelatory sentence here (I who speak to you am He) is literally translated "IAM [in Greek ego eimi], who speak to you."  That is the "I AM" which is the divine Name of God.  Its use, my study bible says to us, indicates a theophany, a revelation of God.  The use of this Name by a mere human being was considered blasphemy and was punishable by death (see 8:58; Mark 14:62).  But Jesus is divine, and therefore His use of this Name reveals His unity with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  In fact, He is God Incarnate.

It is significant that my study bible quotes St. Athanasius in commenting on our text today (he wrote, "The commonwealth of Israel was the school of the knowledge of God for all the nations").  St. Athanasius is also known as Athanasius the Great or Athanasius of Alexandria.  He was the Archbishop of Alexandria.  But more importantly for our consideration in today's reading, it was Athanasius who was known as the defender of the doctrine of the Incarnation; that is, that Jesus the Christ was fully human and also the only begotten Son of God.  His work and thought was noted already within a decade of his death as being that of a pillar of the Church.  He was foundational to the decisions of the Nicene Council.  If we understand Christ in today's passage, then we understand His declaration to the Samaritan woman as a revelation of God:  "begotten, not made" who is also Incarnate as human being.  It simply cannot be underestimated that this powerful affirmation of Jesus' identity would be contested throughout the centuries of Christianity.  It is foundational to the whole of our faith.   And like the Crucifixion, we could also call it "a stumbling block and foolishness" (1 Corinthians 1:23), as this reality has been the most contested, and is the most central tenet of Christianity itself.  St. Athanasius famously wrote (along with others expressing similar ideas and reasons), "The Word was made flesh in order that we might be made gods," meaning that in so doing, Christ assured us of the potential to be "like Him."  This would include the promise we're given of everlasting life, and our participation in Him through the Eucharist.  Among the many other reasons for our faith as stated in the Creed, here is an instance of Christ's own statements bearing witness to His identity.  To those who understand the language of the Scriptures, there is no missing the statement of the Name of God, as was revealed to Moses, in the Greek ego eimi of Jesus' word to the Samaritan woman at the well.  These words are the bedrock of our faith.  Let us pay attention.  Spoken to this particular woman at Jacob's well, they guarantee that this splendid, majestic, seemingly-impossible revelation is for all.