April 8, 2021 John 4: 22-23
19The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I see that you are
a prophet. 20Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you say that the
place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.’ 21Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe me, the hour
is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in
Jerusalem. 22You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know,
for salvation is from the Jews. 23But the hour is coming, and is now here, when
the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the
Father seeks such as these 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 proclaim all things to us.’ 26Jesus said to her, ‘I am he, the one who
is speaking to you.’
27 Just then his disciples came. They were
astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, ‘What do you
want?’ or, ‘Why are you speaking with her?’ 28Then the woman left her water-jar and went back
to the city. She said to the people, 29‘Come and see a man who told me everything I
have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?’ 30They left the city and were on their way to him.
Now we
get a division of belief. It seems judgmental
on the surface, but is it really? The
Samaritans worship what they do not know.
Is that a call of ignorance on their part or is it because they are
seeking to hold on to a religious intent that is not fully developed? This speaks to a powerful idea. There is a progress of revelation in the
Scriptures. The faith expressed to
Abraham is progressed to that expressed to Moses is progressed to that
expressed to the kingdoms timeframe is progressed to that expressed at the
coming of Jesus. I know, this is a lot
of words arguing Jesus was not discounting the faith of the Samaritans, but
knowing Jesus, knowing the progress of revelation, that when he says ‘salvation
comes from the Jews’, it is not a statement of superiority, but rather a statement
of the culmination of God’s Plan.
Jesus
emerges from the Jewish tradition, born in Bethlehem, the City of David, taken
to Jerusalem on the eighth day to be dedicated to the Lord, living through and
fulfilling the law and the prophecies throughout the Old Testament as the Coming
Messiah. And the progress of revelation
is from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the ends of the Earth.
Salvation
comes from the Jews because that is the path of God’s Plan of revelation. The point is not who comes first but what
Jesus says next, we are united in Him.
The true will worship the Father is Spirit and Truth. It is not about the mountain or the City or
the temple, but it is about the true worshippers, wherever they may be.
It is
not only the true worshippers who will be drawn together to worship the God in
spirit and truth. Time is also drawn
tighter. “The hour is coming, and is now
here…” The ‘hour’ is a metaphor for
Jesus’ death and resurrection, for it is in the resurrection that the Plan of God
is fulfilled with our salvation. The
Hour is a focused time, Jesus’ death and resurrection, but the Hour is also
Jesus’ presence among us; his entire presence.
From the descent of the Holy Spirit to His resurrection, with the
miracles, teachings, and all the moments in between, the whole ministry of Jesus
is for the redemption of humanity.
Spirit
and truth, that vocabulary echoes the end of the previous chapter. John concludes his sharing by certifying this
testimony: That God is True (3:33).
Then, in the next verse, in extolling Jesus, he says Jesus has the
Spirit without measure. These are the
ones whom God is seeking as God’s worshippers, those who know the truth, which
is God. And those who have the Spirit,
born of the spirit, as Jesus discussed with Nicodemus. This language transcends those who worship at
Jerusalem, those who draw their water from Jacob’s well, those who are fixed to
a point in time and space.
Jesus
is foreshadowing (a compositional risk) the church that is to emerge when his
hour is fulfilled. It will not matter
where a person comes from, but when they come to God through the Son as our
Lord and Savior and Friend.
More
tomorrow,
Peace, Pastor Peter
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