The woman said unto him, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.
All Commentaries on John 4:19 Go To John 4
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
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 isnot without honor, save in his own country.
And she begins inquiries on a subject that perplexed her; Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. This was a great dispute between the Samaritans and the Jews. The Jews worshipped in the temple built by Solomon, and made this a ground of boasting over the Samaritans. The Samaritans replied, Why boast you, because you have a temple which we have not? Did our fathers, who pleased God, worship in that temple? Is it not better to pray to God in this mountain, where our fathers worshipped? .
Believe Me, our Lord says with fitness, as the husband is now present. For now there is one in thee that believes, you have begun to be present in the understand ing, but if you will not believe, surely you shall not be established.
It is saying much for the Jews, to declare in their name, We worship what we know. But He does not spear; for the reprobate Jews, but for that party from whom the Apostles and the Prophets came. Such were all those saints who laid the prices of their possessions at the Apostle’s feet.
O for a mountain to pray on, you cry, highand inaccessible, that I may be nearer to God, and God may hear me better, for He dwells on high. Yes, God dwells on high, but He has respect to the humble. Wherefore descend that you may ascend. “Ways on high are in their heart,” it is said, “passing in the valley of tears,” and in “tears” is humility. Would you pray in the temple? pray in yourself; but first do you become the temple of God.
