He stated to her, “Go away! Call your male and come within!” The woman answered and said to him, “I do not have a male.” Jesus stated to her, “You have said rightly that, ‘I do not have a male,’ because you have had five males, and he whom you have now is not your male; this true thing you have said.” The woman states to him, “Lord, I observe that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you all state that in Jerusalem is the place where it is necessary to worship.”
Her internal problem is identified by this man’s second request to her. Her internal problem is readily brought into the midday sun through one of its symptoms – her men folk. In a desperate attempt to cover that internal guilt this dear woman shows that she had turned to religion to deal with it. Did that suffice? Will it suffice in the eyes of this Jewish man?
Jesus states to her, “Believe me, woman, that an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you all worship the Father. You worship what you have not discerned. We ourselves worship what we have discerned, in that salvation is from the Judeans. But an hour is coming—and is right now —when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth and because the Father also seeks such ones worshipping him. God a spirit, and it is necessary for those worshipping him to worship in spirit and truth.”
Religion – irrespective of whether it is in Jerusalem or Samaria – doesn’t count an iota in Jesus’ eyes. “Worship” must be “in spirit and in truth”. But who should be worshipped? Jesus said that “salvation is from the Jews”. He was “from the Jews”. Who was it who “stated “to her, “Give me to drink”? What was this “gift of God”? What was this “well of water springing up into eternal life”? From whom can I get it today?
The woman states to him, “I have discerned that Messiah is coming” (the one stated “Christ”); “when that one may come, he will announce all in all amogst us.” Jesus stated to her, “I myself - the one speaking to you - am.” |