April 7, 2021 John 4: 19-21
16 Jesus said to her, ‘Go, call your husband, and
come back.’ 17The woman answered him, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said to her, ‘You are
right in saying, “I have no husband”; 18for you have had five husbands, and the one you
have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!’ 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.’
So Jesus
has called the woman out on her life choices, which, in the morality of the
culture of the time, are somewhat less than laudable. Her reaction strikes me as one that is a
rather flat and emotionless response. “Sir,
I see that you are a prophet.” It might
be a polite way of saying something like “You gunna make something of it?” She makes no move to defend her life but she
does move to put Jesus on the defensive on another topic.
Her
ancestors worship on the mountain that is present there, the mountains of Ebal
and Gerizim are the mountains she is referring to. This is where the People of Israel gathered
when they entered the Promised Land under Joshua to renew their covenant with their
God. That is what they do, but Jesus’
types, the Jews, claim that true worship only happens in Jerusalem. It is a good deflection. Jesus has analyzed her life choices, so she
analyzes and critiques his ‘worship choices’.
In so doing, the implication is ‘don’t judge my worship, don’t judge my
life’.
Jesus
does not get drawn into a debate about the merits of either their respective
faiths nor does he offer a morality analysis of her lifestyle. That is not his reason for being there. He is there to speak of the living waters, of
what they mean, and will mean. He tells
her to believe him that there is a time when they will worship neither on the
Mountain, nor in Jerusalem. That is
historically true because in 70 AD, there will be a general rebellion in the Promised
Land against Roman rule and that will lead to the systematic conquest and
reduction of Jerusalem to rubble and the displacement of anywhere the Jews and
Samaritans might have a center of worship.
Because their worship will be seen as the reason for rebellion.
Notice
how Jesus says that ‘the hour is coming’.
“The hour” is usually a reference to his death and resurrection. That is where the Plan of God embodied in
Jesus is going to transcend the individual areas of belief within Judaism. In this case, it may also be a historic
reference to the destruction of the Holy Land in 70AD.
But
this is also a theological truth. Because
faith in Jesus is going to transcend its Jewish roots and extend to the whole
world. In Acts, the talk of the passing
of the Holy Spirit will be “in Jerusalem, in Judea, into Samaria, and to the
ends of the earth.” Jesus’ arrival here,
in Samaria, is setting the groundwork for that.
As Christians, we do not have one central location of particular ‘holiness’
to worship.
Jesus
is taking their conversation away from what she presumes. It is not about her lifestyle choices, it is
not about their faith distinctions.
Jesus has not come to debate with her.
He has come to share the truth of the Plan of God. The Plan of God, more obviously, is going to
transcend their ‘worship’ distinctions.
More implicitly, the Plan of God is going to transcend the woman’s
lifestyle choices, offering something new with the water of life.
More
tomorrow.
Peace, Pastor Peter
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