Woman at the Well, part 4 - John 4:19-23

Jesus has just asked the Samaritan woman to go fetch her husband, and the woman answers that she has no husband, in which the Savior tells her that he knows because she’s had 5 husbands and currently lives with a man who is not her husband. She is truly astonished, “Sir, I perceive that thou are a prophet.” She starts asking him questions, which is interesting because it kind of seems like she’s had a lot of spiritual things on her mind and was looking for answers. For instance, the other day when I was at work our union rep walked in, and I’ve never met him before, but as soon as I realized who he was I had a ton of questions for him. This is what this instance reminds me of, she finds someone who knows more than her about spiritual matters and so she starts asking him the questions that she has. She asks Jesus, “Out fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” The IM says, “When the Samaritan woman came to understand that Jesus was indeed a prophet, she desired to know how she could worship. The Samaritan temple had been destroyed, Samaritans were not welcome in the temple in Jerusalem, and she did not know where she could worship.” This reminds me of Alma 33:17 when the poor people of the Zoramites ask Alma where they should worship because they have been cast out of their synagogues. Alma’s response to the Zoramites was “I say unto you, if ye suppose that ye cannot worship God, ye do greatly err, and ye out to search the scriptures; if ye suppose that they have taught you this, ye do not understand them.” I feel like Jesus’s answer is similar saying, “Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.” It’s not exactly the same but I felt like this didn’t get into the whole “this is why you guys are wrong,” or anything like that. It’s kind of like Joseph Smith’s answer to his prayer which church to join and the answer is “none of them,” it’s just unexpected. I feel like all of these questions are basically, “where can I worship?” The IM continues, “The Savior taught her that true worship is not limited to a certain place; rather, it is a matter of knowing the truth about who to worship and of having one’s heart devoted to the true God.”

The IM quotes Elder Bruce R. McConkie as quoting, “Our purpose is to worship the true and living God and to do it by the power of the Spirit and in the way he has ordained. The approved worship of the true God leads to salvation; devotions rendered to false gods and which are not founded on eternal truth carry no such assurance. A knowledge of the truth is essential to true worship… If (a person) worships the true and living God, in spirit and in truth, then God almighty will pour out his Spirit upon him… True and perfect worship consists in following the steps of the Son of God; it consists in keeping the commandments and obeying the will of the Father to that degree that we advance from grace to grace until we are glorified in Christ as he is in his Father. It is far more than prayer and sermon and song. It is living and doing and obeying. It is emulating the life of the great Exemplar.”

The Savior continues, “Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.” JTC comments about this saying, “Changed and corrupted as the Jewish religion had become, it was better than that of her people; for the Jews did accept the prophets, and through Judah the Messiah had come. But, as Jesus expounded the matter to her, the place of worship was of lesser importance than the spirit of the worshiper.” What I gathered from this statement was that salvation, Jesus, had come from the Jews. Jesus continues, “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.” The Samaritan woman brought up the concept of “fathers” referencing her ancestors worshipping at the mountain, but Jesus brings up her Heavenly Father, and the IM makes a great point pulling these two concepts together saying, “One reason the Samaritan woman initially appeared to have been reluctant to accept Jesus as the Messiah was because the religion of her people had taught her things that were not true. In response, the Master Teacher turned her focus and allegiance to her Father in Heaven rather than to her ancestral fathers.”