This woman is so broken now that she is willing to live with a man whom she shares a bed but not a name. Her life is consumed by appetites that refused to be satisfied. Her spirit is broken but yet she hopes, as evidenced by her statement to Jesus in John 4:19 continues: “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.”
Prophets were also referred to as seers. Everywhere Jesus went he opened up eyes of understanding. When she chose to view Jesus as a prophet, she looked to her future and asked Jesus where she should worship. I can only imagine she was weary of her old life with its old ways. She had no way of knowing that a new hour was upon her that would redefine worship as a person rather than a place.
Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is now coming when neither on this mountain or in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.” (v. 21)
In The Passion Translation, the Aramaic opens this verse up a bit further for us with:
Believe me, dear woman, the time has come when you won’t worship the Father on a mountain nor in Jerusalem, but in your heart.
She honors Jesus as the prophet he truly is, and in return Jesus calls forth what she truly is, dear. This term means “beloved and cherished, prized, precious, and priceless, valued and treasured.” I have to wonder how long it had been since she had been called by any term of endearment. He was rebuilding her broken heart and wounded spirit with words of destiny.
Even now I hear Jesus inviting each and every one of his daughters, “believe me, my valued, treasured, and loved woman, your time has come …” Your time to believe is now. Pause a moment. What has he whispered to your soul?
Our God is not closest to you on a mountain, in a city, or even a church. No individual can keep you from his presence. Thankfully, no mistake can separate you from what abides within you. Jesus awaits your worship at the well of your heart. The Scriptures remind us that our God is as close as a whisper:
But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.” (Rom 10:8)
Jesus shared this revolutionary concept with a woman at her lowest. Who had ever heard of a God without the limits of location? A God who was willing to meet with her wherever she was? Imagine how wonderful this news would have been to her. She is an outcast from her people and an outsider to the Jews, but God had made a place for himself within the sanctuary of her heart. Just as she had been forthright and revealed who she is, the Son of God is about to be just as open and revealing with her. Her choices had pushed her to the outer limits of life. Jesus invites her in. Jesus goes on to explain:
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 worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. (John 4:22-24)
Jesus shatters her traditions with truth. If what this rabbi was saying is true, then she is just the type of worshiper his Father is looking for: those who long to worship both in spirit and truth.
We miss the irony of it because we know and accept all of what Jesus was unpacking as understood truth, but at that moment, these concepts were radical. More than likely she had never hear of God the Father. The Passion Translation of John 4:22-23 reads:
From here on, to worship the Father, is not a matter of the right place, but with the right heart. For God is a Spirit, and he longs to have sincere worshipers who worship and adore him in the realm of the Spirit and in truth.
She could connect with a God who longed. I believe at this very moment she was conflicted with glorious hope in the face of what she had known as an oppressive religion. She is not sure what to believe; her heart is trembling with hope, confusion, and wonder, but the one thing she knows she shares.
The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called the Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” (v. 25)
I wonder if Jesus found her childlike faith irresistible. He couldn’t hold the good news of the truth back from her any longer. I picture him holding her gaze as he whispers:
NEXT UP: I who you speak to am he. (v. 26)