John 4:1-45

(Jacob's well from John 4 - in a Greek Orthodox church building that has been built around the site)

In our L3 journals this past week, we read John 2 through John 4. In John 4, we read of Jesus' encounter with a Samaritan women at Jacob's well, on the outskirts of Sychar. As Joe shared this weekend, Jesus, exhausted from His journey and the noonday heat, began the conversation by asking her for a drink, then spoke of the "living water" that only He could offer, and then launched into telling the woman her own life story. When she realized that Jesus was a "prophet" (which, at the least, meant that she knew He was 'gifted'), she began to discuss the differences in the theology of the Samaritans and the Jews, specifically in reference to the place of worship.

The History

Around 400 B.C., the Samaritans built a rival temple on Mt. Gerizim (see the location in relation to Sychar on the map below, and read Deuteronomy 11:29-30 and 27:2-7, 12 for context), which was destroyed in the 2nd century B.C. by Hasmonean leader John Hyrcanus of Judea as their empire expanded north. This only served to increase the mutual animosity between the Jews and Samaritans. Despite the destruction of their temple, the Samaritans continued to worship on Mt. Gerizim. 

(The well is located near Sychar, along the road north from Jerusalem to Galilee)

No Mountain Necessary

When the Samaritan woman raises this subject, Jesus responds by telling her, "the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father" (Jn. 4:21). In other words, the previously assigned locations for worship will soon be superseded by a better way for those who worship the Father. Then, Jesus speaks of the nature of divine revelation in the two people groups: the Samaritans only believed that the first five books of the Old Testament (aka the Pentateuch - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) were divinely-inspired Scripture, while the Jews held the entire Old Testament (the Tanakh) was divinely-inspired. In John 4:22 Jesus tells the woman that the Samaritans worship what they "do not know" (i.e. they are "outside the stream of God's revelation" [D.A. Carson - The Pillar New Testament Commentary on John, 223]). Inversely, He tells her that the Jews worship what they know, "for salvation is from the Jews" (Jn. 4:22). He is saying here that Jews know the person and work of God because they have believe all of God's revelation in Scripture, and know that the Messiah (thus, salvation) will come from the Jewish line and according to the prophecy of the entire Old Testament.

The New And Living Way

Then, in John 4:23-24, Jesus once again shows how this way of worship is superseded by a better way. he says to her, "But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." What is Jesus saying here about worship? He is saying that a new era has dawned with His own coming. He is saying that "this worship can take place only in and through Him; He is the true temple" (Carson, 224) (remember Jn. 2:19-22). Jesus is the turning point between the old way and the new way. He is the cause and the means for true worship.

To worship "in spirit and truth" is not dependent on a location, but on a person, Jesus Christ. John 4:24 says that "God is spirit"--invisible, not limited to a specific place, divine, and somewhat unknowable "unless He chooses to reveal Himself" (Carson, 225)--and therefore He must be worshiped in a manner that goes beyond physical things and comes from the depths of one's being. Tied to this is the idea of worshiping in "truth." The idea of truth is connected to God's Self-Revelation and Self-Expression in Jesus. Jesus is the Truth. Jesus is the Word of God. Both of these ideas ("spirit" and "truth") share one preposition in the original Greek ("in"), and are inseparable. We cannot have one without the other. So it is that "unless they are born from above, unless they are born of the Spirit, they cannot see the kingdom of God, they cannot worship God truly" (Carson, 225).

The Bottom Line

"The worshipers whom God seeks worship Him out of the fullness of the supernatural life they enjoy ("in spirit"), and on the basis of God's incarnate Self-Expression, Christ Jesus Himself, through whom God's person and will are finally and ultimately disclosed ('in truth'); and these two characteristics form one matrix, indivisible" (Carson, 225-226). True worship of God is only made possible by the person and work of Jesus Christ, the "Truth" who reveals to us who God (being "spirit") truly is. True worship encompasses all of who we are as His people, redeemed and born-again because of His death and resurrection.

May we worship the Father in spirit and truth each and every day from here to eternity!

In the Son,

Bill Horn
FBC Worship & Arts Pastor