WORSHIPING GOD IN TRUTH AND SPIRIT (PART 1)

QUESTION: Hello pastor, what is to worship God in truth and in spirit?

Brenda

RESPONSE: Thank you, sister, and God be praised. The question you pose is based on a Bible verse found in John 4:24, which states, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” Even in this text, though, there is a context and a narrative that produces it. As a result, it is critical that we examine the context and story that shape the dialogue from which we have the text. But, before I do that, I’d like to offer a personal experience about myself in relation to this question.

My Experience

In 2012, Jesus appeared to me at the university where I had gone to study more about how to defend my then-religion (as part of my mission) (Seventh-Day Adventism-SDA). This happened when I registered to study Theology at an SDA institution, and when I arrived at the university, I found two groups of faculty members who disagreed with my mission statement. One group insisted that my purpose was correct and offered to assist me in acquiring everything I needed to demonstrate to the world that the SDA was the only true religion of God and all others were wrong.

The other professors pointed out that I had registered for Theology rather than Religious Studies. This group of professors claimed that theology is an objective study of God, not a subjective interpretation of who God is as other religions want to present him.

As a student, I had to deal with these two types of lecturers, and one day I was handed an assignment by one of the professors in which I referenced too many publications of Ellen G White (the SDA’s principal prophetess), whose work is highly regarded by the SDA. In grading the homework, this professor crossed out all of the prophetess’s remarks with notes like ‘irrelevant,’ ‘nonsense,’ ‘wrong,’ and so on. As a believer and one who venerated this prophetess, this broke my heart, and I criticized him as well as reported him to the Academic Registrar.

Seeing my pain and struggle, this professor led me to the University Baptismal Pool and asked me to read John 4: 1-30. It was at that point that the veil was lifted from my eyes, and I met Jesus as my Lord and Savior. The interaction I had with this professor at the University Baptismal Pool gave birth to the fellowship I lead today, IN TRUTH AND IN SPIRIT WELL OF WORSHIP (John 4:24), and it does influence what I am about to write in this response. Let us now return to the passage of John 4 from which the question is derived.

TEXTUAL AND HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF JOHN 4:24

John 4:1-30 is the context of John 4:24. The chapter is written by John, one of Jesus Christ’s disciples, who sees Jesus as someone who loves the unlovable. It is not unexpected that of all the Jewish autobiographers of Jesus, only John, a Jew, records this episode at the Well. As a result, the text is intended to communicate a version of Jesus that you might not find in Mathew’s autobiography, whose Jesus is the true Messiah to the Jews.

As a Jew, John is equally interested in demonstrating Jesus’ Messiahship, but he wants his audience to realise that he is not an exclusive Messiah, as Mathew portrays him, but rather an inclusive one.
John is interested in this event for a variety of reasons, many of which are unknown to him, but one of them is that the event at Well bears Old Testament symbolism.
We find unacceptable conversations between a man and a woman throughout the Pentateuch, and these dialogues take place around the Well. Perhaps it is this imagery that impresses John differently when he sees Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. As an example:

• After Moses (Israel’s saviour) escapes from the Egyptians, he finds himself at the Well with a woman (Exodus 2:11-25). The same thing happened to Jesus, who has just escaped the clutches of the Pharisees.

• The time Jacob comes at the well and the time Jesus arrives are nearly identical (Genesis 27-29)

• Eliezer’s desire for water and Jesus’ request for water. (Genesis 24:1-2)

These Old Testament historical events are allusions to the scene of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the Well, as witnessed by John.
What makes this story historically significant for John to record is twofold. First, a man and a woman are having a talk in a public place, something that was taboo in their culture. Second, a Jew is at ease drinking water provided by a Samaritan woman and fetched from a Samaritan Well. It is the interaction of the clean and the unclean.

The Samaritans were a cross between Jewish and gentile parents. Long before there were Samaritans, Patriarchs like Jacob established provisions for mixed-race children (like Ishmael of Abraham and others), including distinct wells from which they could get water and special prayer locations to guarantee they did not mix with those of the pure Jewish race.

Later in the Monarchical period, when the Assyrian King exiled the majority of the people of Israel (Northern Kingdom), these People expanded in number. He repopulated Samaria, Israel’s capital city at the time (2Kings 17:24), with foreigners who eventually intermarried with the Jews who remained in the region. As a result, their offspring was only half Jewish. These half-Jews were dubbed Samaritans. They were named after the Northern Kingdom’s capital, which King Ahab established.

Apart from being mixed-race, these Samaritans also practised a mixed religion, worshipping both the God of the Jews and the gods of their pagan parents, which caused a schism between them and Prophet Ezra during the restoration of the Temple (Ezra 4:1-11; 2Kings 17:25-28). To the Jews, a typical gentile and heathen by blood and belief were consequently superior to a Samaritan, which is why they despised them so much.

No wonder Jesus employs a Samaritan in his tale in the New Testament to have done the correct thing that a pure race and pure religion members failed to do (Luke 10). Part one of my response to your question on worshipping in truth and spirit concludes with the following question: Do you have any Samaritan tendencies in your spiritual life? Do you entertain a variety of beliefs? Or are you a pious Jew who believes God is also a Jew?

God bless you, I Invoke Truth, Wisdom and Faith (2Timothy 2:7)

Priest Isaiah White (The Gospel Hawker)

In Truth and In Spirit Well of Worship Fellowship (John 4:24)

Questioning to Believe, Believing to Live