John 4:26

He; the Messiah. This was the first time, so far as we are informed, that Jesus explicitly declared himself to be the Christ. It was, moreover, not in the presence of the Pharisees, who would have taken advantage of the assertion to misrepresent and persecute him; but among the Samaritans, who had no intercourse in religious matters with the Jews, and would make no bad use of the declaration.