June 17
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WORSHIP GOD IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH
15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw.” 16 He said to her, “Go, call your husband and come here.” 17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly.” 19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in 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 an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 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 that One comes, He will declare all things to us.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.” – John 4:15-26
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In this story, we finally get to the purpose why Jesus came by Samaria to meet this woman. Since Jesus is God, he probably already knew how this woman would respond to his invitation to salvation. Jesus broke protocols between the Jews and the Samaritan by speaking to this woman but he must have known that she would also want the living water that Jesus’ offered. She didn’t realize that she had been searching for something to quench her thirst and didn’t know where to get it. Jesus reveals himself to her as the Messiah. There is a very important message in verse 24 that Jesus requires from believers, that is, to worship Him in spirit and truth.
It is interesting that we associate worship with singing psalms and hymns but Jesus requires us to worship in spirit and truth. Many churches place so much emphasis on performance when they worship in their Sunday services. Do we really worship God in spirit when we look like the “world”? We miss out the “truth” part in the worship requirement of God when we don’t even meditate on Scriptures or live holy lives.
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REFLECTION
• What does it really mean to worship God in truth and in spirit?
• Can we worship God without knowing Him and his word? Why or why not?