John 4:19-26
19"Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."
21Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
25The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us." 26Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he."
Observations for Living Today:
Jesus met people where they were, told them what they needed to hear, so they could understand God the way God wanted to be understood – in these last days God has spoken to us through the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His being [Heb 1:3].
There was religious controversy and confusion in the world then and now; who knew then or knows now what was/is really correct? Jesus spoke to one who recognized Him as a prophet, telling her the truth about worshipping God: worship must come from the spirit and be in truth.
The perfect example of how not to worship God, i.e., to worship God without spirit or truth, is to be face to face with God, in the Jerusalem Temple thinking it would be better for Israel that this Jesus should die because of all the attention He was bringing them in front of the Romans, healing everyone, raising the dead, restoring sight to the blind and criticizing their traditions—He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him [Jn 1:9-14].
So we see a “Good Plan” created by God, executed poorly by the Jewish leadership in Jesus’ time, but did it become a bad plan? Certainly not as Paul instructed the Romans [Ro 9:6-11:32]. Yet poor execution demands a costly penalty, for some missed an opportunity to sit with the Son of God and discuss anything and everything. Nicodemus did not miss his opportunity (Jn 3), but Annas, Caiaphas and Pilate certainly did [Jn 18:12-19:42].
“And yet a time is coming and has now come” when you can do what God wants and be accepted by Him—you can worship God the way He wants in spirit and truth.
Reality in Christ:
The woman knew, even as a Samaritan worshiping what she did not know, when the Christ came He would explain everything to us! When He did for her, she believed and brought the entire town out to meet Him.
When His disciples returned and they were surprised by what they saw happening. Jesus saw their confusion and quickly addressed the core of their issue – the reality that exists in Christ – He exists to do the will of Him who sent Him and to finish God’s work [Jn 4:27-42].
“Do not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the reaper draws his wages; even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.”
Jesus was the sower and His disciples were reapers and they were about to be glad together—they were going to enjoy watching eternal life spring up in the lives of those town folk the woman brought out to meet the Savior of the World.
What is truly spectacular—In Christ, you and I get to worship the God and Father of our Lord acceptably, in spirit and in truth, now! Yes there will be a harvest in time, but in the field we are now planted in, God has sown His Spirit and His Truth, and when accepted, we can even now worship God the way He wants, at all times wherever we are [Ro 11:33-12:2].
Able and Cain worshipped God through no commandment or ritual practice written or verbal, they just loved God. God looked with favor on Able’s worship, but not on Cain’s. God promised Cain he would be accepted if he did what was right . . . you know the rest of the story [Gen 4:3-16].
In Christ you have the opportunity to worship God today, becoming one with a sacrifice that speaks a better word than Able’s blood [Heb 12:22-24]—by God’s “will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all [Heb 10:10];” by the sacrifice of Christ we are able to approach God not in a temple here on earth, but we are able to enter into the Most Holy Place and approach the throne of God in Heaven where our Savior and Priest sits at the right hand of God [Heb 10:11-25].
And you can do that anywhere, anytime for everything; what an honor to be a child of God [I Jn 3:1-3]!
19"Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."
21Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
25The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us." 26Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he."
Observations for Living Today:
Jesus met people where they were, told them what they needed to hear, so they could understand God the way God wanted to be understood – in these last days God has spoken to us through the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His being [Heb 1:3].
There was religious controversy and confusion in the world then and now; who knew then or knows now what was/is really correct? Jesus spoke to one who recognized Him as a prophet, telling her the truth about worshipping God: worship must come from the spirit and be in truth.
The perfect example of how not to worship God, i.e., to worship God without spirit or truth, is to be face to face with God, in the Jerusalem Temple thinking it would be better for Israel that this Jesus should die because of all the attention He was bringing them in front of the Romans, healing everyone, raising the dead, restoring sight to the blind and criticizing their traditions—He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him [Jn 1:9-14].
So we see a “Good Plan” created by God, executed poorly by the Jewish leadership in Jesus’ time, but did it become a bad plan? Certainly not as Paul instructed the Romans [Ro 9:6-11:32]. Yet poor execution demands a costly penalty, for some missed an opportunity to sit with the Son of God and discuss anything and everything. Nicodemus did not miss his opportunity (Jn 3), but Annas, Caiaphas and Pilate certainly did [Jn 18:12-19:42].
“And yet a time is coming and has now come” when you can do what God wants and be accepted by Him—you can worship God the way He wants in spirit and truth.
Reality in Christ:
The woman knew, even as a Samaritan worshiping what she did not know, when the Christ came He would explain everything to us! When He did for her, she believed and brought the entire town out to meet Him.
When His disciples returned and they were surprised by what they saw happening. Jesus saw their confusion and quickly addressed the core of their issue – the reality that exists in Christ – He exists to do the will of Him who sent Him and to finish God’s work [Jn 4:27-42].
“Do not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the reaper draws his wages; even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.”
Jesus was the sower and His disciples were reapers and they were about to be glad together—they were going to enjoy watching eternal life spring up in the lives of those town folk the woman brought out to meet the Savior of the World.
What is truly spectacular—In Christ, you and I get to worship the God and Father of our Lord acceptably, in spirit and in truth, now! Yes there will be a harvest in time, but in the field we are now planted in, God has sown His Spirit and His Truth, and when accepted, we can even now worship God the way He wants, at all times wherever we are [Ro 11:33-12:2].
Able and Cain worshipped God through no commandment or ritual practice written or verbal, they just loved God. God looked with favor on Able’s worship, but not on Cain’s. God promised Cain he would be accepted if he did what was right . . . you know the rest of the story [Gen 4:3-16].
In Christ you have the opportunity to worship God today, becoming one with a sacrifice that speaks a better word than Able’s blood [Heb 12:22-24]—by God’s “will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all [Heb 10:10];” by the sacrifice of Christ we are able to approach God not in a temple here on earth, but we are able to enter into the Most Holy Place and approach the throne of God in Heaven where our Savior and Priest sits at the right hand of God [Heb 10:11-25].
And you can do that anywhere, anytime for everything; what an honor to be a child of God [I Jn 3:1-3]!
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