Talk About Worship

I don't know if you ever really thought about it much, but Jesus seemed to do a lot of his preaching and teaching on the road.  Literally, he would teach people while walking from one place to another.  He would break heads of wheat off, then use it as an opportunity for discussion.  He wants to eat from a fig tree, and another teachable moment arises.  Jesus often taught on the road.

So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. (John 4:3-6 NIV)

Jesus is about to have another teachable moment.  He and his followers were travelling and it was time to get some food and water.  There wasn't a 7-11 or Speedway nearby, so they stopped by Jacob's well for a drink.

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) The 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.) (John 4:7-9 NIV)

It was unusual for a man to address a woman directly in their culture.  It was also unusual for a Jew to associate at all with a Samaritan.  You see, Samaritans were people who had come from "mixed marriages."  One parent was Jewish.  Another was a believer in other gods.  The result is that children grow up kind of wondering what to believe in all this.  This woman was no exception.  She needed some help in understanding God.  It's a good thing she ran into Jesus.

Jesus 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." "Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?" Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (John 4:10-14 NIV)

Jesus lets her know that he has something to offer spiritually.  He is a man of God and, once again, uses his surroundings as a sort of object-lesson.  He is by a well that has water, so he speaks of living water.  He is getting ready to teach this woman who he is.

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." He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back." "I have no husband," she replied. Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. 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." "Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. (John 4:15-19 NIV)

Now Jesus starts to reveal more about himself.  He knows that she has had five husbands and is with a man now who is not her husband.  She recognizes that this knowledge is a sign.  He must be a prophet.  So, she does what you do with prophets.  She asks a spiritual question.

Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship 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. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth." (John 4:20-24 NIV)

Her question is at the heart of the dispute between Jews and Samaritans: where do we worship God?  Samaritans worship in Samaria.   Jews worship at the temple in Jerusalem.  Jesus gives her an unexpected answer:  worship in Spirit and in truth.  Then he tells her who he is.

The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us." Then Jesus declared, "I, the one speaking to you--I am he." (John 4:25-26 NIV)

So how about you?  What does worship look like for you?  Is it about travelling to a specific place or building?  Is it about a certain type of preaching?  Is worship about a certain kind of music?  Do you also worship on the road to wherever?  Do you worship in Spirit and in truth?