Woman at the Well - Part 6

“Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

If everything I have said about this woman hasn’t convinced you that her question was genuine, I invite you to consider this—that Christ’s response to the woman ought to be proof enough of the sincerity of her question. If she had been insincere like the Pharisees, we would expect to see Jesus ignore her question or rebuke her. But He doesn’t. Christ’s response is more like His response to Nicodemus. And the woman is given further honour by being the lone benefactor of a deeply theological discourse. Jesus told her,

“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.”

I’m sure books could be written on this discourse alone, but since my focus is on the woman, let me keep this brief. Her theology is gently corrected. Her status as a Samaritan (that is, of being less than a Jew) is confirmed. But at the same time, Jesus lights within her a hope that some new order is coming (indeed, is already here) when being a Jew or a Samaritan will be less important. And true worship will not depend on a place, but on something entirely new.

The woman said, “I know that Messiah is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

Again, I see sincerity in the woman’s response. It appears that she knows the scriptures well enough to see the connection between the “coming time” and the “coming Messiah.” And I would add that this woman, though fallen, exhibits faith. She expects that the Messiah will come to her people and will “explain everything” to them. And of course, this is precisely what happens.