What does John 4:8 mean?

This is an important setup for the lesson Jesus will teach after the Samaritan woman leaves. All the disciples will enter the town; none will return with anyone new. These men, already disciples of Jesus, will not tell anyone else about Him today. On the other hand, a sinning, outcast, half-Jewish woman will bring a large portion of the town to see Jesus (John 4:29–30; 35). This is not completely surprising, given the general Jewish hatred for Samaritans. Jesus had quite a bit of work to do giving His disciples the right mindset. Still, this later incident would probably be a bit embarrassing for the men travelling with Christ.

The fact that Jesus and the Samaritan woman are alone also helps explain other quirks of this passage. The words recorded in the conversation seem much more like a summary than a transcript. This is the principle of ipsissima vox, meaning "the very voice" of Scripture. In short, this means that some passages of the Bible are accurate summations of a conversation, rather than a word-for-word record. If Jesus and the woman were alone, the content of the conversation was probably told to the disciples, including John, at some later time.

The tone taken by the Samaritan woman in the conversation is also partly explained by the lack of other men in the immediate area. She probably would never have approached the well alone when there was a crowd of strange men. She might not have even known Jesus was there. She certainly seems surprised that He wants to talk to her. Being alone, she probably was not expecting to see anyone there, and wondered what He had in mind.