Woman at the Well

John 4 is about the story of the Samaritan woman who was at the well drawing water and Jesus came to get a drink from the well. After a discussion about her life, her messed up sinful life, she discovered that this was the Messiah. Once she discovered it was Jesus, she started asking him about worshipping God. What caught my eye in this lengthy passage was verses 23-24.

23. But the time is coming and is already here when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for anyone who will worship him that way. 24. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.

As I read this section of the passage, I see so many parallelisms. First of all, who are the true worshipers? Isaiah 29:13 "The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men." This gives a clear example of who are NOT true worshipers. Sometimes when I go to church and my mind is racing, I will think of this verse because I don't want to be a person whose lips are moving, but whose heart is far from God. I think a true worshiper is is one who worships God when no one is looking. One who worships God all of the time.

I like how the verse talks about worshipping the Father in spirit and in truth. Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth and the life". Jesus is the truth. And the Holy Spirit is the spirit. Worship is connecting our spirit with God's spirit, who lives in those who have accepted Christ as their personal savior. Note, however, when this was written, Jesus was still alive and the spirit of God had not yet descended on mankind. Notice how Jesus says, the time is coming. So I believe he is talking about the time when the Holy Spirit is present in our lives, which became the turning point in salvation and the reason for the death of Christ.

Although some people worship in spirit, they may not be worshipping God. In fact, God made us to worship Him. But if we aren't worshiping the Truth, then we are worshipping something else, by the very nature of how we are made. The spirt and truth have to go together. Verse 24 says because God is spirit, we must worship him in spirit and in truth.