Jesus Loved Them, Part 3: Describing worship to an outcast—and us
Last week we looked at a member of the religious hierarchy in ancient Jerusalem, a man respected among the Jews. This week we see a woman in Samaria, a person in a place most Jews avoided. She was likely an outcast even in her own community; why else would she choose the heat of the day (when none of her neighbors would be there) as the time to gather water?
The message to each of these dissimilar characters was the same. Jesus unequivocally presented himself to them as the Son of God. They and all their forebears had read of a coming Messiah. He looked each of them in the eye and said, “I am he.”
But today’s passage contains an intriguing interlude where Jesus talks about something besides acknowledging his divinity. He speaks of worship and challenges this woman to move beyond externals when she comes before God.
“Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth,” Jesus said (according to The Message paraphrase). “That’s the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration.”
Some pursue worship because of the externals. They like formality and liturgy and robes and ritual. Others criticize such accompaniments while choosing what they would call truer or simpler. But too often their approach degenerates into its own set of predictable forms and expectations. The non-traditional are often more traditional than they would admit.
But the externals of any situation are beside the point. The challenge for every worshipper—anyplace, at any time, and in every age—is to open their heart to God.
Sometimes we experience such worship only in the cauldron of crisis. Sometimes our purest worship grows from the seedbed of desperation. When every other solution has proven inadequate, we turn to the One who was waiting all along to help us.
This is especially true for caregivers who may feel more desperate more often than they would ever have anticipated.
Sometimes, when distress forces caregivers finally to open their hearts to God, they experience his presence more profoundly than ever before.
Then, when the current dilemma has passed, they do well to remember God is still there, waiting for them to worship him again out of “out of their very being . . . in adoration.”
It’s a goal worth pursuing for every believer every day.
Read: John 4:1-30
Pray: We want to know you, Lord. We want to give you your due as the only true and living God. Help us to shed all pretense as we come hopefully, helplessly, honestly to you.
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