True Worship
In Samaria, Jesus revealed that the presence of God no longer is limited to geographic locations or man-made structures – John 4:20-24.
To the
woman in Samaria, Jesus reveals the proper form and location for the
worship of the Father. With the advent of the Messiah, concepts, and traditions about
holy space and holy time become irrelevant, and his presence renders the
historical debate over the location of the Temple moot. From now on, worship
must be performed in truth and spirit.
Even at this early point, Jesus experiences
opposition from the Temple authorities, and quite possibly, this is why he left
Judea for Galilee, perhaps seeking more receptive hearts.
And the most direct route to Galilee was
through Samaria, a region many more scrupulous Jews avoided by taking a
more circuitous route - (John 4:1-3).
- (John 4:20-22) – “Our fathers in this mountain worshiped, and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where we must worship. Jesus says to her: Believe me, woman! There is coming an hour when neither in this mountain nor yet in Jerusalem shall you worship the Father. You worship that which you know not. We worship that which we know because salvation is of the Jews.”
THE WELL
On the way, he encounters the Samaritan
woman at Jacob’s well and asks her for a drink of water. This surprises
her since devout Jews avoid contact with Samaritans, and it is socially awkward
for a Jewish male to communicate with an unrelated and unaccompanied female.
But he responds:
- “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is speaking to you, you would ask, and he would give you living water.”
The woman then assumes he means water and
asks how he can draw any from the well with no vessel, and then asks, “Are
you greater than Jacob who gave us the well?” Jesus responds again:
- “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again. Whosoever drinks of the water I will give will never thirst; in him, it will become a well of water, springing up into everlasting life.”
The woman instinctively asks for this “living water.” In turn, Jesus tells
her to “summon your husband.” She claims to have no husband, but he retorts:
- “You have had five husbands and he whom you now have is not your husband; you have spoken truly.”
She woman now perceives he is a prophet and
asks about the old dispute between the Jews and Samaritans:
- “Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem is the place necessary to worship!”
The Samaritans also worship the God of
Israel, but unlike the Jews, they recognize only the books of Moses as scripture,
and they disagree with them about the proper location for the Temple of Yahweh.
PLACE OF WORSHIP
Moses directed Israel to worship at the
place which Yahweh designated, but he did not specify where that was. Because the
Jews accept the rest of the Old Testament, they assume the correct site was
Jerusalem based on numerous passages from the later books of the Hebrew Bible.
The Samaritans argue in favor of Mount Gerizim in Samaria for the location of the Temple, and they point for
scriptural authorization to the book of Genesis where God promises to
give Shechem, the city of Samaria, to Abraham and his “seed” – (Genesis
12:6-7, 1 Kings 12:25). But Jesus responds with a most unexpected declaration:
- “There is coming an hour when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father… when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for even such as these is the Father seeking as his worshipers. God is spirit; they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth” - (John 4:23-24).
He does not attempt to resolve the old and
festering dispute. Instead, he describes the new order of worship established in him, one in which questions
about holy sites and times are pointless - His words indicate the obsolescence
of the old Temple and religious concerns concerning holy space.
What matters is not where God’s people worship Him, BUT HOW - (“An hour is coming and now is”). The people of God must worship him as Father by means of spirit and truth. Likewise, the division between Jews and Samaritans has reached its termination point.
The declaration that the time “now is” means the old order began
to pass away in the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. And as elsewhere in
John’s gospel, the term “hour” refers to his death, the “hour” of his “glorification.”
He is ushering in a new era and reality where external rituals are replaced by
spiritual worship - (John 7:37-39).
With his death and resurrection,
traditional regulations based on space and time are now irrelevant. The presence
of Yahweh cannot be limited to buildings, geographic locations, or specific
“seasons” of the year. Jesus is the true Temple where God is worshiped and His presence
dwells.
The “Son of Man,” the “word made flesh,” is the true tabernacle in which the glory of God is manifested, and
the means of access between heaven and earth. He is the true Temple raised up by
God “after three days” - (John 1:14, 1:47-51, 2:17-22).
