Mensa Otabil - Ignorant Worship
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We are continuing our study of John chapter 4 and Jesus’s encounter with the Samaritan woman by the well. It’s a very interesting encounter that teaches us how the gospel is communicated and how different people respond to the message of the gospel. We have read so far that Jesus started talking about water and presented living water to the woman. Then the conversation became personal when Jesus said, «Go bring your husband.» It later turns out that the woman is living with a man she is not married to and has had five husbands already. To respond to this very personal issue, the woman changes the conversation into a big religious argument between Samaritans and Jews.
So how does Jesus respond to this diversion into a religious argument? That is what we are reading about today. John 4:21–22 says, «Jesus said to her, 'Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.'» So Jesus said to the woman, «By the way, lady, both the Jews and the Samaritans have got it wrong. It’s not going to be on this mountain, Mount Gerizim; it’s not going to be in Jerusalem because a new hour is coming.»
In other words, a new era, a new dispensation. When that dispensation comes, it’s not going to be about which religious practice is preferred. It’s not going to be which religious grove or which shrine is holier than the other places. He says it’s not going to be on this mountain or in Jerusalem; the hour is coming. Jesus is indicating something will happen in the future. What was he talking about when he said the hour is coming? He is talking about his own death and resurrection.
What Jesus is saying is that when I die and I resurrect, God will relate to human beings on a totally different basis. It’s not going to be tribal gods, holy mountains, sacred groves, special worship places, or special temples. That’s not how God is going to relate to us. If your argument is about whose religion is better or who has the holiest site, Jesus says that is wrong because this hour that is coming will change the way God relates to us.
Then Jesus went ahead and said, «By the way, you Samaritans don’t even understand what you worship.» The Samaritans were part Jews; they were Jews who were taken out of the northern kingdom, taken to Assyria, and developed a whole religious belief that was contaminated. They practiced some form of Judaism but not fully, which is why Jesus says, «You don’t even do it right from a Jewish point of view.» He says salvation comes from the Jews.
What does that mean? Does it mean the Jews are the most holy or pious people or that they are automatically saved? No, Jesus meant God’s promise of salvation came through the Jews, through Abraham, and that’s all he meant. When Jesus Christ comes, everybody else must decide what they want to do with him. «Salvation is of the Jews» doesn’t mean the Jews have the right hand, authority, or prerogative in terms of salvation. It simply means that the Savior is coming through the Jewish people; it’s as simple as that.
But the answer of Jesus Christ is that it’s really not in Jerusalem or on this mountain. If he were talking to us in Ghana, he would say it’s not a sacred grove, and it’s not this temple or that shrine. The hour is coming, and tomorrow we will start looking a little closer at this hour that Jesus is coming and what kind of worship that Jesus says God is looking for.
Let us pray. Say with me, «Heavenly Father, deliver me from spiritual ignorance. Help me to have a real relationship with you. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.»