John 4:1-26
Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman
1The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, 2although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
4Now he had to go through Samaria. 5So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" 8(His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
10Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."
11"Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"
13Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
15The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."
16He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back."
17"I have no husband," she replied.
Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. 18The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."
19"Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. 20Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."
21Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
25The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."
26Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he."
Jesus, in His journeys as a Teacher and Rabbi, met a Samaritan woman...Jesus stops to rest outside of Sychar and sends His disciples into town for food...It was the hottest time of day, not the best time to be traveling and a very unusual time for a woman to fetch water...And in His encounter with the Samaritan we learn quite a bit in His Teachings to her...As she comes to draw water Jesus starts the conversation...The woman is shocked that He, a Jew, would speak to her, a Samaritan woman...The Samaritans were held in contempt as religious apostates who had mixed the purity of Israel's worship with idolatry and the worship of pagan gods...Yet, Jesus talks to her in LOVE and respect and as we read on we learn more about who Jesus is and the grace He offers, as well as more about discipleship...
As He talks to her, we see the Samaritan woman quickly saw Jesus is a Prophet after listening to Him...She thought that God was to be worshipped on the special mountain and that was the only place He could be worshipped...She stated that her ancestors worshiped God on this sacred mountain, but that the Jews claim that the place where people were to worship God is in Jerusalem...“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe Me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem...You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews...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...
So Jesus is telling us we are to worship God...And when we do we are to worship God in Spirit and Truth...
The time had arrived because Jesus know dwelt among us...Jesus teaches and tells us to worship God in Spirit and in Truth...God can be in all facets of your life, and wants to be...He wants to be involved with His children, just as parents want to be involved in all areas of their children's life...Jesus wants us to be sincere and loving worship of God from our hearts...One can be praising God with songs and hymns and aloud, while one may worship Him in silence with a prayer of sincere respect in their praise for Him...All these things are done and alright if they are sincerely done from one's heart...
God can be worshiped anywhere...It can be in public place or in silence and solace, wherever you are at...When we are experiencing deep emotions or are troubled, we sometimes do not tell other people, but we tell God...We might find ourselves in a different place when we are troubled like this...So Jesus tells us that we can worship God no matter what we are feeling, and we can worship Him anywhere...It could be a mountain, in Jerusalem, or right in the place you are right now...Our prayers and our worship of God has no geographical confines...But God does want us to worship Him with all our minds, our souls, and our hearts in a sincere way...Jesus reminds us that the 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...
Jesus adds that we are also to worship God in Truth...God's Word is Truth, so we must worship Him in accordance with lies and false doctrines and false beliefs or teachings based on erroneous ideas or speeches we have heard...We are to worship Him in Truth, because He is Truth...If we question something or someone, search Scripture to find the answer...Our worship and belief in God must be based on Truth and contain the Biblical Doctrines of God's Word...So this means that our worship and belief must be done in accordance with the Truths of the Bible...