Sunday, August 27, 2006

SPIRIT and Truth, or Spirit and TRUTH, or Spirit AND Truth?

When talking to the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus declared,
Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.
In my church-upbringing and culture, the focus when reading this passage was always on the "in truth" aspect.

Just now, re-reading it, I discover that I think Jesus' focus was on the "in spirit" aspect. He and the woman were discussing where the proper place for worship is: Jerusalem or Samaria. They were discussing issues of "truth". Then Jesus points out that the Jews had the "truth". Then he contrasts the focus on truth with what is to come: a time of worshipping in spirit and truth, pointing out specifically that God is spirit.

I think perhaps my church culture has neglected the spirit in favor of the truth.

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