March 11, 2026
Passage to read: John 4:5-42, and focus especially on verses 20-26
In verses 20-26 “worship” is referenced nine times, twice by the woman and seven times by Jesus. The woman refers to worship in general terms without an object of worship, though it’s obvious she is referring to worshipping God, but her emphasis is upon the place of worship. Jesus shifts the focus to worshipping the Father — not just “God” but “the Father”— and he includes that the place of worship will become and actual now is unimportant.
The theme of knowing God as Father is central to John’s Gospel. It begins in verse eighteen of chapter one and concludes in Jesus’ resurrection appearance to Mary Magdalene, when Jesus says to her, “Go to my brothers and tell them, I am ascending to my Father and their Father and my God and their God.”
The themes of spirit and truth are also important in John. As is grace, which is dramatically referenced in verses 1:14-18. There Jesus is described as the one who is full of grace and truth and contrasted with Moses. Moses brought the Law. Jesus brought grace and truth, grace upon grace. This section concludes: “No one has seen God at any time, the only begotten God who exists into the bosom of the Father, that one has revealed him.”
Returning to chapter 4 verse 23, Jesus tells the woman, the Father seeks those who worship him in spirit and truth.
In John’s Gospel, as the way, the truth and the life, Jesus leads us step by step into the bosom of the Father, the true place of worship and all that our hearts seek. There, in the Father’s bosom, is grace, Spirit, truth.
You remain in my prayers,
Jim
