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JOHN 4:19 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
John 4:18John 4:20
“The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.”
Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.' — the woman's shift to religious geography is significant. Mount Gerizim (the Samaritan holy place) versus Jerusalem represents the central sectarian divide. The woman's question addresses the locus of acceptable worship—a perennial problem in her community.

Church Fathers on John 4:19

The woman is not offended at Christ’s rebuke. She does not leave Him, and go away. Far from it: her admiration for Him is raised: The woman said to Him, Sir, I perceive that you are a Prophet: as if she said, Your knowledge of me is unaccountable, you must be a prophet.

Chrysostom · 4th century

The husband was beginning to come to her, though He had not yet fully come. She thought our Lord a prophet, and He was a prophet: for He says of Himself, A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country.

Augustine · 4th century

Or thus; The Samaritans regarded Mount Gerizim, near which Jacob dwelt, as sacred, and worshipped upon it; while the sacred place of the Jews was Mount Sion, God’s own choice. The Jews being the people from whom salvation came, are the type of true believers; the Samaritans of heretics. Gerizim, which signifies division, becomes the Samaritans; Sion, which signifies watch-tower, becomes the Jews.

Origen · 3rd century
Read all 23 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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