Where is God worshipped?
Who is Jesus? part 47 – John 4:16-26
Where is God worshipped? Many people think of a church or cathedral. When they want to worship, they go to a place. While it’s true that people gather to worship, others prefer to be alone. Some may meditate quietly in a room, while I enjoy taking God on a cycle ride. The countryside is a peaceful place to worship, although cycling in busy traffic makes it hard to pray beyond a simple “HELP!”
What follows is the story of a woman who thought God was worshipped in a certain place.
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on 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 the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 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 he comes, he will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”
John 4:16-26
There is a structure to chapters 2 to 4. They are one big chiasmus. Chiasm, meaning crossing over, is a poetic form used in nearly all Psalms and is a repetition of similar ideas in the reverse sequence. Where there is a central section, here marked X, that is usually the focus of the poem.
A. John 2:1-11 Miracle at Cana – Water into wine.
B. 2:12-22 Temple cleansed – new Temple of his body.
C. 2:23-3:13 We must be born from above.
X. 3:14-21 God so loved the world that He gave His Son.
C’. 3:22-4:3 Christ comes from above.
B’. 4:4-46 Temple to be replaced by a new place of worship.
A’. 4:46-54 Miracle at Cana – healing of a nobleman’s son.
The list above, which has been present in these posts since I began exploring the Cana cycle, indicates that we’re nearing completion. This discussion centres on the Temple, particularly when Jesus cleansed it. John’s Gospel isn’t a biography; he notes at the end that he has omitted details and aims to reveal who Jesus is. John uses events from Jesus’ ministry to gradually unveil his identity, like fitting together jigsaw pieces, starting with Chapter One and building the overall picture. By the conclusion, we’ll have a clearer understanding of Jesus and his purpose.
That’s why I called my look at John’s Gospel, “Who is Jesus?”
This passage focuses more on Jesus’s mission than on his identity.
I used two Bible commentaries on this passage, and they had different opinions. One suggested that Jesus, being God, knew when and where the woman would show up and intentionally went through Samaria to meet her. The other argued that it was a random encounter, with no prior knowledge of Jesus, showing how the Holy Spirit can work through people. I prefer the second view.
The encounter occurs by chance: a lucky accident. Jesus offers the woman living water—pure water that brings life within her. She doesn’t realise that to receive it, she must let go of the dirty, stagnant water she has been relying on.
The woman’s issue is her married life, or more accurately, her unmarried life. Jesus possesses a word of knowledge, as Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 12:8, which is a gift of the Holy Spirit. Jesus gets straight to the point, leading the woman to do what people often do under pressure—change the subject, just like Nicodemus did when he met Jesus in Chapter 3.
Nicodemus was a righteous Pharisee,
The woman at the well was a morally questionable Samaritan.
Jesus welcomes both the pure and the impure, accepting everyone who approaches him.
Is this woman a sinner or just naive, used by men and discarded? The text doesn’t clarify, but her actions likely made her well-known in her community, which might explain why she visited the well during the hottest part of the day. Regardless of her status, she was vulnerable.
To understand what this unnamed woman now says, we have to look at how the Jews, and presumably this Samaritan, saw the world.
God made two kingdoms: the Heavens and the Earth. They only connected in the Holy of Holies, the place where God lived on earth, first in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple in Jerusalem. Besides this, God spoke through prophets only a few times.
Her question is valid. God should be worshipped in one place, the Temple, where heaven and Earth meet. This Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians, and since Judah returned from exile, there have been two contenders: the Temple in Jerusalem for the returning exiles and the Temple in Samaria for those not exiled.
John highlights a key change at the beginning of his Gospel. The Word that was God has become flesh and lives among us. Jesus is now the meeting point of Heaven and Earth. Instead of saying this directly, he offers the woman living water of the Holy Spirit and talks about a future day when the Holy Spirit will be given to those who accept Jesus, emphasising that where the Holy Spirit lives, that is where God will be worshipped.
There is more to say about this passage, but I’ll leave it here for now.
< Previous | The Gospel of John | Next >
Making an ass of myself 