John 4:16-26
How much time do you think passed from the Time of Adam and Eve to the time of Jesus? If you take it literally, it probably would be about 2000 years from what I have been told. Of course if you take Genesis and all the stories and books that followed until the time of Christ less literally, the time could be immense. But lets just say for about 2000 years the Jewish nation, however it was constructed was bound by all the laws and rubrics of Jewish tradition. This wasn't just a religious context, it encompassed a whole social structure and traditions held close to the heart. This Jewish people lived in tough times, among hostile peoples. This Jewish people had strict rules and a way of life that was meant to save them from outside influences, to keep them pure and Godly. They were the chosen people, no one else.
What a shocker it must have been for the people of Jesus' time. You can understand their dismay and this passage puts it all out there. Jesus is carrying on a conversation with a woman. Not only a woman but a Samaritan woman. This alone would seem blasphemous. Then Jesus is laying out the master plan to her. Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. What is this guy saying?? Jerusalem IS the holy city. That is where Jews worship. Jerusalem is the focal point of Jewish culture. That is where the temple is. That is where the High Priest is. What could this be, Jesus telling a Samaritan woman that Jerusalem will no longer be the center? Almost everything Jesus said in this passage shows his true intentions. Jesus was counter cultural, almost a mystic of sorts. Jesus was a revolutionary. Jesus spoke to woman and in such a way that they were equal enough to hear and digest the message he came to bring mankind. All rather heady, all of it contrary to the 2000 or more years of history that was the Jewish people.
Jesus speaks of love, knowledge, truth and Spirit. The Spirit, the living, moving entity of God, the third person of the Trinity. The Spirit, that moves us to love, fills our hearts and moves us to deeper revelations that we could not bear to hear at one time. We were too young as humans to comprehend. How much have we come to know and to grow from the Spirit in the 2000 years since Jesus walked the earth? The sciences, human nature, that slavery is a sin, that woman are equal and beloved creatures of God, certainly equal to any man, perhaps more so. All that we discover and learn shows us how much we do not know. The more intricate physics gets, the more I am filled with wonder of the creator who imagined all this and made it come into existence.
Things in life are not the rigid rules and life of texts written perhaps 4000 years ago. We have the Spirit. The Spirit who loves, reveals, inspires. Life seems to change and grow. More accurately, truths are revealed and we move forward in love. Jesus showed us how to live, embrace change and move forward in love. He never said than in any parable but this passage shows it is true.
Just some things to think about.
Jesus said to her, ‘Go, call your husband, and come back.’ The woman answered him, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said to her, ‘You are right in saying, “I have no husband”; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.’ The woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ). ‘When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am he, the one who is speaking to you.’
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