She’s trying to figure out why the differences between the purebred Jews and the half-bred Samaritans.
“I've notice,” she tells Jesus, “You folks really like to head to Jerusalem to worship God, whereas we here have been taught that the place to worship is here on Mount Gerizim. What’s up with that?”
Jesus said, “’Where’ is not the issue. You folks do not know who you are worshipping. We Jews worship the one true God. And you have to understand that to truly worship God you need to truly know Who He is, and you need to understand that He is worshipped not with visible things.”
“That’s kind of interesting,” is how I read her response. “However, I will wait for the Messiah to come, He will teach us what’s up and what’s not.”
And this being the Gospel of John, Jesus recognized this as a perfect moment to offer one of his famous “I ams,” so he kept it simple, “I am He.”