God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” John 4:24 NIV
These are words spoken by Jesus to the famous Samaritan Woman at the Well. Jesus was more or less on the run from the Pharisees on his way back to Galilee. Jesus and his Disciples traveled through Samaria and through the city of Sychar. Jesus, tired from his journey has a seat near the well at around noon.
Jesus was alone. His disciples had gone to get food. A Samaritan woman came to get some water, at noon. This is apparently not the time women get their water. She was an outcast. Not only because she was Samaritan and the Jews considered Samaritans half-breeds, idol worshipers and false-Jews. She was an outcast even among her own people. Jesus later tells her why. Because she has been with five husbands and is living with a man who is not her husband at all. I love that Jesus, though acknowledges her sin, seems to be thrilled that she told the truth about it. “You are right when you say you have no husband,” he says, and ends with, “What you have said is quite true.”
This moment is very telling about the attitude that Christ has toward sinners. He doesn’t seem shocked that they sin… or even about what their sin is. He takes that in stride and focuses instead on what they’re doing right. In this case the sinner is being honest even if not completely open. Who can blame her. She’s a woman of shame talking to a Rabbi in broad daylight breaking several social codes all at once. She had to have thought that he had ulterior motives for talking to her in the first place. With her experience with men, they were only interested in one thing.
So he asks her for a drink. She is shocked and says so. As I said, Jesus is breaking several rules here. He is in Samaria. He is speaking to a woman. He is speaking to a Samaritan. He is speaking to a Samaritan woman and lastly he is speaking to a Samaritan woman who is an outcast amongst her own people. That’s a lot of broken rules.
Jesus is never one that lets rules get in the way of displaying his love for someone. In America when so many look down their nose at a poorly dressed person coming into a church, Jesus doesn’t care about what is proper or socially acceptable. Also, he doesn’t speak to her condescendingly as if he’s doing her some great honor, he comes to her offering her a drink. A relationship. A chance at Living Water, the very essence of Jesus Christ which results in Eternal Life.
She, of course is completely clueless. Jesus is used to this. He constantly speaks in parables and with heavy metaphors. Even his own disciples have to get explanations as they did in the Parable of the Sower. Jesus switches the conversation from physical water to Living Water and she doesn’t seem to track with him.
She’s talking buckets, locations and family history. Jesus still pours on the truth. Living water is given when asked for, when you acknowledge who gives it, and you then become a source yourself.
After Jesus revels in her ability to tell the truth she asks a question. “Our ancestors worshiped on his mountain, but you Jews say that we can only worship in Jerusalem.” And Jesus answers… and he speaks to her, her people and to us.
“There is a time will you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem…. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in Truth.” John 4:21-24
And this chunk of scripture contains today’s verse. There is a question embedded in the verse for anyone who wants to be the worshiper God wants. What does it mean to worship God in Spirit and in truth?
There are tons of articles on the subject available online running the gamut on what is meant by this phrase. The New Testament was written in “street Greek”, that would be the equivalent of 3rd grade English. So it is my belief that the concepts in the New Testament, though not always immediately obvious, are attainable and within the realm of understanding of common people. Folks like you and me. Though there are articles with pages of legalistic explanations about how we must worship God in just-such-a-way or we will be retired into hellfire at the end of our days, the answer to the mystery is exceedingly simple and contained in the context of the surrounding verses, as most verses do.
Jesus says we must worship God in the Spirit and in truth. Just prior he said there would be a day we wouldn’t worship God in this mountain (Simeria) or (the Temple Mount) in Jerusalem. These were references to “where” they were to worship, the question posed by the Samaritan Woman. The “where” of worship is not important when we have the Holy Spirit with us. Then he talks a bit about how the Samaritans worship what they don’t know and Jews worship what they do know. A reference to the “truth” spoken of later. The “truth” is that neither the Samaritans or the Jews of the day know God directly. They know him through their worship. Through the Law. This is how they experience Him. The truth that God wants us to worship him in is found in a direct relationship with Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth and the life after all. Jesus’ sacrifice removed the curse of the Law, cleanses us of our sins and allows us a true connection with our Heavenly Father.
To the Woman at the Well these words were quite out of her understanding. Her culture believed that there were but two places to worship. One was her mount, the other was the mount they weren’t allowed to go to. Worship of God by a Samaritan was judged flawed and unacceptable by the Jewish people. Even Jesus pointed out that Samaritans worshiped what they didn’t know. This was likely because they split their convictions between God as they understood him and idol worship. So Jesus was basically telling her, “You will one day, even today if you’d like, be able to worship God anywhere you want, and you will know the One who you are worshiping.
Even today I believe so many send out prayers, wishes, and worships out to a God they hope can hear and can accept their offerings. Worshiping in Spirit and in Truth isn’t something you have to strain to do properly. It’s something you have to let go of to do properly. If you have Jesus living in you, then the same Spirit that raised Him from the dead lives in you. You have the connection to God required to worship him in Spirit anywhere and anytime. In church and out. On your best or worst day. Worshiping in Spirit is a freedom, not another set of requirements. Worshiping in truth means being honest and open with a God who knows everything before we ask it anyway. It’s acknowledging who we are connecting with. It is a simple faith that he hears and responds to our prayers. Because the truth is that God loves us. God sent his Son Jesus, not only to the cross, but to a well. He stopped to let one hurting, rejected woman know the truth about himself. The truth that Jesus didn’t let propriety stop him. Hunger and thirst didn’t stop him. Religious differences stop him. Even her confusion over his theology and motivations didn’t stop him. She responded with all of the complications of the life she knew that kept her from what her soul needed… and Jesus replied with the simplicity that a relationship with himself offered. And in doing so he allowed her, a slutty, idol-worshiping, half-breed (to some), to become the first evangelist.
Lastly, the idea of Spirit and truth is summed up in verse 42.
“We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man is really the Savior of the world.”
Location no longer mattered. You could meet God anywhere… and you could know Him for yourself, directly, even if you weren’t the right ‘type’ of person. So Christian hear this: Worshiping God is nearly lawless when it comes to when, where and how. Just worship God as you know him. Kind and gentle, forgiving and loving, timeless and faithful. He doesn’t change into a judgemental, critical God when your eyes close and your hands raise. He, of all the hard things to believe, is grateful for your worship.
And to the non-Christian: The one who is unsure or unable to give their heart. Like the woman in our story, Jesus wants to simplify the process for you as well. He focuses more on your interest in Him more than your shortcomings. He speaks to you with honor and respect even with full knowledge of all that you’ve done. He offers you the gift of Living Water, eternal life so that your soul will not burn against you inside ever again. Ask him for that life, believe that he can give it, and you will say, along with the Samaritan people, “Now I know for myself, not just because of your article, that this man really is the Savior of the world.”