John 4:19,20. The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that Thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
1. Christ’s pointing to sin, and making the sinner to be touched with it, breeds more respect for Him and raises Him in her estimation; for now she thinks more of Him than previously.
2. The work of illumination in the elect may have weak beginnings at first, and thoughts of Christ that appear to be very high may come far short of His worth.
For her to perceive that He was a prophet was to understand very much, yet far beneath what He was, and what she knew Him to be afterwards. So however Christ was indeed a prophet in a super-excellent manner, yet she as yet saw nothing in Him above ordinary prophets.
3. The Lord may see it fit to awaken and convert a great sinner very gently at first, that thus He may show His abundant tender mercy, so that they may not be deterred from closing with Him, and particularly that those who live at a great distance from ordinances, and from the company of God’s people, may not be overburdened with difficulties which they cannot there get through alone.
So much appears in His dealing with this woman of Samaria, a stranger.
4. The Lord in His holy providence has so ordered that there will be controversies about the way of truth and His worship that the godly may be stirred up to study and embrace the truth more affectionately, and that He may have a ready plague of strong delusions and lies for them who receive not the truth in love.
So much we may gather from this controversy between the Jews and the Samaritans.
5. It is a necessary and commendable duty for such as profess the true God not to be ignorant of the matters of religion, nor of the controversies that fall out about it; for even this profane Samaritan had knowledge of this controversy, and of the grounds they had for it; indeed, she knew that the Messiah was to come (v 25).
6. A wakened conscience will be careful to lay sure groundwork for religion and, if men are serious about getting to heaven, they will be diligent to know the right way and, for this end, will omit no opportunity of getting light.
So much may be gathered from her practice: taking Him for a prophet, she puts that grand question to Him to get resolution, rather than raising that national difference to move away from any conversation about her own vileness.
7. A wakened conscience is always so jealous of itself, and its way in matters of controversy, as to omit no means of information.
And such as embrace superstition and a false way of religion can never be established nor have sound peace, as they will find when their conscience is put to it; therefore the first scruple that presents itself is this question concerning their way of worship.
8. It is no new thing to see antiquity opposed to Christ’s own express ordinances.
Antiquity and the practice of some is a crooked rule to follow when it contradicts the current of the Scriptures and of the practice of such as are commended therein. Such were the Samaritans’ pretences: “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain . . .” – when God had appointed another place, and the godly in their times frequented it.