Worship in spirit and in truth

Sunday Week Two

Reading: John 4: 5-27

“He came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near a plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.  Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well.  It was about noon.A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink.’ (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it that you a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria? (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.)  Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink,” you would have asked him, and he would have

given you living water.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?’ Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’  The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.’

Jesus said to her, ‘Go, call your husband, and come back.’ The woman answered him, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, “I have no husband”; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.’ Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.  But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.’  The woman said to him, ‘I know the Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ).  When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.’ Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.’

Reflection

In this gospel account we see where Jesus breaks down age old bitterness and prejudice to set a woman free. Jews did not associate with Samaritans because they believed that the Samaritans were not true Jews. In 721 B.C., the northern kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrians. Many of the people of Israel were led off to Assyria as captives, but some remained in the land and intermarried with foreigners planted there by the Assyrians. These half-Jewish, half-Gentile people became known as the Samaritans. The Jews regarded Samaritan-ism as a heresy derived from the corrupt worship of Yahweh mixed up with the worship of the foreign gods brought into Samaria by the foreign settlers during the Assyrian deportations. Jews viewed this ‘inferior race’ unclean and avoided them at all costs. Jesus’ journey from Jerusalem to Samaria was a journey of thirty-five miles over rocky, mountainous terrain. He arrived at a small town called Sychar which was situated on the main road that led from Jerusalem through Samaria to Galilee and sat down by Jacobs well also known as The Well of Sychar,

We see the humanity of Jesus when he acknowledges his need for rest and refreshment. ‘Jesus tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well.’ When a Samaritan woman came to the well, Jesus broke with tradition and reached out and spoke to her. He wishes to reach into the heart and life of this woman and restore her to fullness of life. Once again, he uses ordinary daily events to do so by asking her for a drink. ‘Give me a drink.’ Recognising that he is not a Samaritan she deflects his request by stating that the well is deep and that he does not have a bucket to receive the water that she thinks he desires. Undeterred from his mission to offer her healing and hope he makes known to her the many broken relationships that she has suffered. He is not put off by her irregular history and invites her to drink deeply from the springs of living spiritual water that he offers her. He then reveals his Messianic identity to calls her to worship him in spirit and in truth. 

I recently had a very fruitful discussion with a young woman who had suffered greatly through her addiction to drugs and alcohol. She is now sober and attends her A.A meetings either in person or online every day. She spoke to the abuse that she like the Samaritan woman had suffered at the hands of vicious men who raped and abused her, of the horror of waking up in strange beds in crack dens not knowing where she was. She spoke of the joy of being set free from her slavery and the living water that she drinks each day in the scriptures and the joy that she experienced when she was confirmed at Easter. She acknowledges that it is only Christ who could have set her free and keep her free from all that draws her away from her ‘husbands.’

At this Lenten time, Jesus desires that both Mary and I continue to make known to him the deepest longings of our hearts so that he may fill that longing.  I am consoled by this because I know that at times my ‘sins are like scarlet’ (Isaiah 1:18) and I desire the healing, cleansing power of God so ‘that they shall be like snow’ (Isaiah 1:18). Cleansed and make whole, I will have a deep inner freedom to worship him in spirit and in truth and then be more able to witness to his healing love that will draw others to the ‘springs of living water’ that he wishes to offer to all people. In my Lenten I ask myself the following questions:

Do I go to Jesus when I am spiritually tired, thirsty, or in need of renewal and refreshment?Do I sincerely search for the truth of who God is in my life at this time on my journey?What blocks me from recognising Jesus speaking to me?Do I believe that Jesus can use other people to draw me closer to Himself?What are ‘my husbands’ that get in the way of an authentic relationship with Jesus?

Prayer

Cleanse my heart O God of all sin that draws me away from you.

Fill me with your living water that I may rejoice;

May I draw people to you that we may as one worship you in spirit and truth,

This day and every day,

O living Son of God, Amen.