“Woman,” Jesus said, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither in this mountain …”

The Samaritan woman did not plan to meet the Savior that day at the well in Sychar, so she had the shock of her life with the experience. Jesus intentionally rested there to meet this poor woman who needed to know the truth. Their conversation started with a simple request from Jesus for water, but weaved through some bumpy terrain for the woman until it arrived at the point of discussion over the proper place of worship for the Jews and Samaritans (Jn. 4:1-19). Jesus set things straight for the woman. Worship is not about physical location in the kingdom of God He came to establish. It is about how God desires to be worshipped (21-24).

The Samaritans had missed the history of Jacob and his ancestors and the significance of their worship. Tradition had contaminated their beliefs beyond recognition. Yes, they knew about Jacob’s well and their worship on Mt. Gerizim, but they had lost Jacob’s God along the way. How so true in contemporary Christian circles today!

The Jews knew God alright. Yet, they missed the Messiah’s coming and ministry. They also needed to know about the true worship of Yahweh.

The temple worship had shifted. All the sacrifices and regulations connected to it were now coming together in Christ, before whom the woman stood. The woman had to know this truth that sets sinners free.

The time of God’s favor has come. A new way of life has opened to the world in Jesus, the long-awaited Messiah. He came to set the sinner free to worship the Father in the only acceptable way.

“God is Spirit, and His worshippers must worship Him in Spirit and Truth” (24).

“Now, wait a minute stranger,” I can hear the woman say to Jesus. “I have given you some respect by declaring you to be a prophet but don’t get over yourself now. You are not the one who comes with the truth. Messiah is coming and will reveal all that we need to know about the worship of the only true God. So don’t claim what you don’t know.”

Do you see how far her conversation with Jesus had traveled? The Lord was patient with the woman. He moved her across every physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional boundary to remove all hindrances to knowing Him.

There is a point where the soul rises in response to the Spirit’s leading, a place where grace can no longer hold back salvation for the soul. It is the height at which the Savior stands to reveal Himself to the object of His favor. The Holy Spirit took the poor Samaritan to that summit. She could either walk away from Jesus or embrace Him. That is the height to which every evangelistic message must take the hearer. It is the place of decision, a point of separation between the sheep and the goats. At the summit of Mt. Calvary, God gives the hearer, an opportunity to shake their head in disbelief or to bow in surrender to His Majesty. 

The cross reveals the mercy of God to the sinner. There, the Lamb of God died to save the sinner. It brings the hearer to know what they could never have done for themselves without Jesus. At Calvary, the sinner sees the foulness of their sin and the weight of its penalty. The cross drips with mercy and grace to forgive and heal. It invites the sinner to cry over their sinfulness so they can rejoice for the Savior who died in their place.

What do you do with this message today?