Worship the Father in Spirit and Truth

Second Sunday in Lent

March 16, 2014

John 4

Worship the Father in Spirit and Truth

In the name of Jesus.

I.

Are Jesus' final words to the Devil “Worship the Lord and serve Him only” still ringing in our ears? Have they been on your mind as you've driven to work or tucked your children into bed or washed your hands?

They seemed in some way to be on the mind of the woman at the Samaritan well. This woman was outcast because of her decision to treat God's gift of marriage carelessly. But this “sinner” seemed to be keen to talk about religion. After Jesus revealed His divine knowledge of her life, she recognized a man of God before her and said,

John 4:19-20

“Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”

Jesus' reply to this curious woman echoed His final response—worship the Lord!—to the Devil's temptations.

John 4:21-24

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 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.”

II.

The Samaritans worshiped the Lord with rituals on Mount Gerizim in Samaria, the middle section of the Holy Land. And their religious teachings were muddled and mixed up, as Jesus indicated, when He said that they worshiped what they did not know.

Jesus told her and later He would tell her neighbors that what's more important than a place to worship, is how you worship. Worship the Father in spirit and in truth. But how?

The answer to this follow-up question is already there. Paul told us in Romans where you are born doesn't matter; Jesus has told us that where you worship isn't the most important thing. What's most important is where your drinking water comes from.

John 4:13-14

Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this [well] water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

III.

Think of Gethsemane like an old-fashioned well. Think of your pastor as the creaky man at the pump. Think of yourself as a leaky bucket or cracked vase.

You come every Sunday to be filled up. The water is free; there's no charge because the water has already been paid for. Jesus already paid for the water and He is the Water. And He fills you up through Scripture spoken and chanted and sung in the liturgy and in preaching. Perhaps you're able to stay for Sunday School and your parents for Bible study. Perhaps you give some money to shine up the pump, but what comes out of it is always free and refreshing.

And though through the days of the week we spill much of that precious water to the ground, through faith we are little pumps. In the morning, Jesus comes out of your mouths like water. Through the day as you work, Jesus bubbles up and is always there in your mind. Before you close your eyes for sleep, Jesus comes out of you, O little Pump, as you pray, “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.“

Water in, water out. Like breathing, Jesus is our Water. We drink and live, now and forever.

In the name of the Father

and of the † Son

and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.