While Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman, the disciples had gone to buy food (4:8). When they returned, they urged Jesus to eat. Jesus spoke with symbolic language, but they did not understand him (4:33).
Later, when the disciples received the Holy Spirit, they understood what he meant (2:22). Jesus sustained himself spiritually by doing what his Father told him to do (see 5:30; 6:38; 7:18; 8:50; 9:4; 10:37–38; 12:49–50).