January 17
JOHN 4
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he. – John 4:16-26
JOHN 4 WORSHIP IN TRUTH AND SPIRIT
A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses
God the Father seeks those who will worship him in spirit and in truth
Because God is Spirit, he also needs worshippers in spirit
After his Son Jesus died on the cross, the temple has now been shifted
Every believer is now the temple because the Holy Spirit indwelled them.
When Jesus told the woman the truth about her not having a husband but have had five husbands, she probably was ashamed and tried to divert the topic into worship and asked Jesus about what she heard where people ought to worship. According to Barclay’s commentary, the Samaritans worshipped in ignorance. The Samaritans accepted only the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament. They rejected all the rest of the Old Testament. They had therefore rejected all the great messages of the prophets and all the supreme devotion of the Psalms. The Jewish Rabbis said that the Samaritan worship was founded not on love and knowledge, but on ignorance and fear.
Jesus told her that there’ll come a time when people don’t need to go and worship in the mountains. He was speaking about the Holy Spirit indwelling those who believe.
REFLECTION
• How do you know if you truly worship the Lord in truth and Spirit?
