In Spirit and in Truth

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH

John 4:15-26

15 The 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." 16 He 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. 18 The 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. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem." 21 Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet 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. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."  25 The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us." 26 Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he." 

NIV

We are continuing in this conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well of Jacob. It is interesting after Jesus just told her that the water he gives is living water that springs up to eternal life and she asks for this water, that he does not simply provide it, but requires her to do something, to bring her husband. From the narrative, we do get the idea she is still thinking about physical water which makes it possible not to have to come to the well each day to draw water. She doesn’t really understand this is not what Jesus is talking about. This certainly gives us the idea Jesus is omniscient because he is asking for something she does not have and wants to see her response. When she responses correctly he reveals more of his omniscience to her by telling her she had five husbands and the man she is currently living with is not her husband, which means she is living in sin. Here we see Jesus talking with a despised and sinful Samaritan woman and he is revealing himself to her. By his knowledge of her life she understands or believes he is a prophet, a spoke person for God. Although they are Samaritans, they still worshipped God, they are still part Jewish, just not pure Jewish, because of the intermingling with people of other lands. Yet they worshipped God on this high place, this mountain. It was customary to set up high places to worship gods, including God for many who could not go to Jerusalem. She is under the impression the Jews only considered Jerusalem the only place Jews could worship God. Sometimes it appears some believers may think the church is the only place to worship God. Maybe it is some way we think the church is that high place. But Jesus makes it clear the place is not the important issue. Jesus explains to her that a time is coming and it did, so we are in this time right now, that we worship God in spirit and in truth. What does worshipping God in spirit and truth look like? The Greek words for spirit and truth give us some insight. The Greek word pneuma means spirit or breathe, but is used for the vital principle which gives animation to the body. This is our rational soul, our thinking, our mind, who we are within our being. Although an animal is animated in the sense of having breathe, i.e. pneuma, breathe, it cannot worship, it has no rational soul. However, as part of God’s creation all animals witness to the power of God. But just as trees and rocks cannot praise him, we are the only ones, created in his image who are to worship him with our rational soul, it is our reasonable act of worship, as Paul writes in the letter to the Romans. The Greek word aleetheis simply means true, but objectively it carries the meaning of what is true in any matter under consideration, as opposed to fiction. So then when we consider God, we consider him to not be fictional, but to actually be God, real in every sense. It would be nonsense to worship a fictional character or god, yet it seems so many people have been deceived into living in that manner. But we know God is real and we worship who we know with every fiber of our being. This is not a once a week occurrence, but a constant act or action of our will. All that we do is in worship to God or should be. There are times it seems our body overrides our spirit, and the flesh fails to perfectly obey. But that does not mean we have forfeited our belief that God is real and we are to worship him in spirit and truth. Jesus revealed himself fully to this woman. After his discourse about spirit and truth, she recognized he was talking about a time when the Messiah would come. He allowed her to know he was the Messiah, he was the Christ. We will see her response to that revelation next, but for now, we know in our rational being, our thinking, our reasoning, that God is real and we worship him completely in spirit and truth.