John 4:26

Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he!

Why did Jesus speak so forthrightly here, while on so many other occasions he was so careful not to say plainly that he was the Christ? Jesus was charged with the duty of convincing all people that he is King of kings and Lord of lords, Dayspring from on High, the Son of God, and the Lord of all creation; but he was also under the most urgent necessity of doing so in a manner that would not provide the Romans with any pretext for executing him as a seditionist. To make this even more difficult, the Pharisees and Sadducees would gladly have cooperated with the Romans in just such a judicial murder. This poor woman's word, however, was not good in any priestly court, due to her being a Samaritan; and thus it was perfectly safe for Jesus to tell her that he was the Messiah. This same phenomenon appears later in this gospel, in the case of the man born blind; who, after being cast out of the synagogue was not an acceptable witness in Jewish courts, and who was also told plainly by Christ that he was the Son of God.

Through this woman Jesus taught an entire city and yet left the Pharisees without a single word that they could use in any trumped-up charge against Jesus. It is remarkable how the Lord walked unharmed and untouched through every trap that Satan laid for him.