01/09/2008
John 4:7 - 9 (HCSB)
7A woman of Samaria came to draw water. “Give Me a drink,” Jesus said to her, 8for His disciples had gone into town to buy food. 9“How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” she asked Him. For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.
John 4:19 - 26 (HCSB)
19“Sir,” the woman replied, “I see that you are a prophet. 20Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, yet you [Jews] say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.”
21 Jesus told her, “Believe Me, woman, an hour 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, because salvation is from the Jews. 23But an hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship Him. 24God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
25The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will explain everything to us.”
26“I am [He],” Jesus told her, “the One speaking to you.”
This passage comes from the story we commonly know as “the woman at the well.” Jesus had entered this town of Samaria, which the common Jew would not have done as Samaritans were thought of as a little lower than swine to Jews. Nevertheless, Jesus enters this town and greets the woman. How she recognized Jesus as a Jew, I do not know. Nevertheless, He begins to speak to her in a manner that revealed His mission.
When Jesus asked her about her husband (and ex-husbands), she quickly changes the subject to the matter of worship. Jesus then reveals that the act of worship will soon change forever.
The head of a Jewish household would have to travel to Jerusalem once a year and offer sacrifices on behalf of the family. As you may recall, the process was very strict and as part of the sacrificial ritual, the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies. This place was so sacred that only the High Priest could enter.
But Jesus introduced to this woman, the new order of worship: “the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.”
What does it mean to worship in “spirit and truth?”
We were created as physical beings but in the image of God, that is, with a spirit. With the advent of the Holy Spirit, we no longer are bound to the laws of the Temple, but have the permission to approach God directly.
Take time today to reflect on the freedom that has been granted to us to worship God in spirit and truth.
Jeff Justus
Cleff Publishing
www.cleffpublishing.com
©2008 Cleff Publishing, all rights reserved.
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