Come with Your Grief – John 11: 1-19

Posted on April 28, 2026 by dkoop

Grief is an emotional response to loss that every person experiences.  We grieve because we are made in the “image of God”  and God grieves.

Examples of God’s Grief in Scripture: 

  • Grief Over Humanity’s Wickedness (Genesis 6:5-8): Before the flood, God’s heart felt deep sorrow and regret for making humankind due to rampant wickedness.
  • Grief Over Israel’s Rebellion (Psalm 78:39-42): God is portrayed as being grieved when his people rebelled against him in the wilderness.
  • Jesus Weeping at Lazarus’ Tomb (John 11:33-35): Jesus experiences personal, emotional grief at the death of his friend and the sorrow of Mary and Martha, demonstrating that God is not distant from our pain.
  • Grief Over Stubbornness (Mark 3:5): Jesus felt anger and sadness regarding the hard hearts of those who opposed him.

While grief is usually thought of as the emotional response to this loss, there are also physical, mental, behavioral, social, cultural, and other aspects involved.  In grief, we may feel lost, hopeless, alone and question God.

Where is God in our grief?

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
    and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18

The temptation to doubt God’s presence and love in the wake of tragedy is strong. You may be wondering if God has forgotten you or if his love for you has failed in some way. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. The Bible characterizes Jesus, as a despised and rejected man of sorrows who is familiar with grief (Isaiah 53:3). Just when God seems most distant and unloving, Scripture reminds us that Jesus was “overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death” before his arrest, trial, and crucifixion (Matthew 26:38). He asked his disciples to keep watch with him as he prayed, but they abandoned him to catch some sleep instead. However, Jesus is not like his disciples. He will not abandon you when you are overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of despair. Jesus, who knows what it is to be abandoned in the face of suffering, will never leave you alone.

Rather than leaving us to suffer in solitude, God comes to meet us. Jesus entered into creation and experienced suffering just like you and me so that we would never suffer alone. We now have the opportunity to approach God with confidence because we know he is not distant and aloof. Instead Jesus knows exactly what we are going through because he voluntarily went through the same trials, temptations, sufferings, and worse. Jesus, by entering into our world and our suffering, is uniquely qualified to offer help and hope when we need it most. Therefore, rather than grieving alone, in Christ we “receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).

Today’s passage has a great deal of insight into how we deal with grief — and a perfect model in our Savior, Jesus Christ.

11:1-3 Though John only introduces us to the family of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus at the end of Jesus’ ministry, Jesus and the disciples often visited their home. Jesus enjoyed their close friendship and hospitality on his visits to Jerusalem, for Bethany was a village just outside of the city.  The events described in Luke 13:22–17:10 occurred between chapters 10 and 11 of John.

John identified Mary with an event described in the next chapter (12:1-7) because Mary’s display of love for Christ was well known to the first-century Christians (Matthew 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9). Lazarus was sick, so the sisters contacted Jesus, their friend who had healed so many.

11:4 When Jesus heard of Lazarus’s sickness, he said it will not end in death. He knew Lazarus would die, but the end of the story would not be death. Lazarus’s death was an opportunity for Jesus to receive glory. God strategically placed some miracles in human history to demonstrate his wise providence and his sovereignty.

Lazarus had been close to Jesus, yet he became deathly ill. The disciples may have thought, “What did Lazarus do wrong?” But the Bible helps us see that sickness and death do not indicate that God has rejected someone or that they have done something wrong.

We must remind ourselves that neither we nor our loved ones are exempt. These were close friends of Jesus. Jesus loved them. Yet he did not rush to spare them grief. The presence of pain and suffering in the lives of faithful disciples of Jesus can teach us that Christians do not have different experiences in life, rather, they experience life differently. Our hope in Jesus does not insulate us from life’s difficulties, but it does provide a way through and beyond them. God can use difficult experiences to make us more compassionate servants for him as we console others.

11:5-7 This statement of Jesus’ love for the family explains that it was not lack of love that kept Jesus from going to them. Humanly speaking, Jesus would have wanted to go to them immediately. But he was constrained by the Father’s timing. When God’s time came, Jesus headed back into Judea to be with his dear friends in their sorrow. God’s timing is always perfect, whether in guiding his Son through his ministry on earth, or in guiding us today and answering our prayers.

Jesus loved this family and often stayed with them. He knew their pain but did not respond immediately. His delay had a specific purpose. God’s timing, especially his delays, may make us think he is not answering or is not answering the way we want. But he will meet all our needs (Philippians 4:19) according to his perfect schedule and purpose. Often when we pray, circumstances seem to actually worsen. We are tempted to doubt and despair. But delay itself builds patience. Our patience improves as we trust in his timing.

 11:11-15 The disciples missed Jesus’ meaning when he said, “Lazarus has fallen asleep.” They assumed he was getting better. Jesus explained: “Lazarus is dead.” Lazarus died so that Jesus could show his power over death to his disciples and others. He would go and wake him up, thus giving the disciples another opportunity to believe. The raising of Lazarus displayed Christ’s power—the resurrection from the dead is a crucial belief of Christian faith. Jesus not only raised himself from the dead (10:18), but he also has the power to raise others.

The disciples heard the word sleep and misunderstood Jesus’ intention to go there personally to awaken Lazarus from death. Only Jesus can refer to death as sleep because only he has power over death. From a human perspective, death is very real and final.

For those who believe in the resurrection, death is merely sleep in comparison to eternal life.

11:17-19 Lazarus had already been in his grave for four days by the time Jesus arrived. In the warm climate of Palestine, a dead body would decompose quickly, so a person’s body was often buried the same day of death. When Jesus and the disciples arrived in Bethany, many Jews from Jerusalem had gathered to console Lazarus’s family, and some of those who had arrived were religious leaders.

In Jewish society, prolonged mourning for the dead was considered an essential part of every funeral.   It is a tribute to the family that many from Jerusalem came to Bethany to pay their respects and offer their support to the sisters.

Measured by our timetable, many of our prayers’ answers may seem delayed. But knowing that we deal with a wise and loving God, we must consider that the problem may be with our timetable rather than God’s.

Though we experience delays, we can be sure that Jesus does initiate help for us. He will come to our aid. His help may well come in different ways and forms than we expect, but we can depend on his dependability! God will come to you in your time of need.

Although we get many glimpses of Jesus’ compassion throughout the Gospels, his tender conversations with Mary and Martha during their grief are the most moving. Jesus did not ridicule or belittle grief. He affirmed our need for comfort by providing it to the sisters without hesitation and is a good example for us.

In the next post we will look closer at how Jesus meets each of us based on our personality and particular needs when grieving.

Darrell

www.Upwards.Church

Message Audio/Video and Outline: https://upwards.church/leander-campus/watch-now-message-videos

Watch Messages: YouTube-Upwards Church

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Sources:

https://www.christianity.com/wiki/christian-life/what-does-it-look-like-to-deal-with-grief.html

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%203%3A5&version=NKJV

— Life Application Bible Commentary

— Life Application Concise New Testament Commentary

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Come with Your Questions – Part 2 – John 3: 9-18

Posted on April 22, 2026 by dkoop

9 “How are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked.

The questions continue.  Jesus continues to answer!

13 No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man[a] has come down from heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.[b]

To emphasize his point, Jesus turns to a familiar OT story. He refers to the wilderness incident in Numbers 21 when God sent venomous snakes into the Israelite’s camp to judge them for their sin.  The venomous snake that was common in that region is the Palestine Viper.

Here’s a picture of Palestine Viper

As these snakes began to strike the people, they got sick and died.

A venomous snakebite is a very serious matter requiring immediate medical care.

Here’s a picture of someone bitten by a type of pit viper similar to the Palestine Viper.

6 So the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many were bitten and died. 7 Then the people came to Moses and cried out, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take away the snakes.” So Moses prayed for the people.

8 Then the Lord told him, “Make a replica of a poisonous snake and attach it to a pole. All who are bitten will live if they simply look at it!” 9 So Moses made a snake out of bronze and attached it to a pole. Then anyone who was bitten by a snake could look at the bronze snake and be healed!

God instructed Moses to make and erect a bronze serpent. And all those who looked up at the serpent were saved.

Even so, Jesus would be lifted up on a cross, and those who look to Him will be saved.

 

As the Israelites in the desert, we have all been struck down by sin. Sin has sunk its fangs in our spiritual souls and we are dying. The venom has made its way to our hearts and we are dying in our sins.

But God saw us in our sinful hopelessness, and He made a way. He sent a Savior, who was lifted up on the cross. And now the message is clear, “Believe in Him. Believe in Him. Believe in Him!” Look to the cross. There is healing in the cross. There is a Savior. The new birth comes through a Savior.

Our salvation is driven by the love of God based on our need for healing, and restoration.

Then we find the most popular Bible verse of all times.

16 “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

I read a story about an instant cake mix that was a big flop… The instructions said all you had to do was add water & bake… The company couldn’t understand why it didn’t sell – until their research discovered that the public felt uneasy about a cake mix that required only water… Apparently, people thought it was too easy.

So the company altered the formula & changed the directions to add an egg in addition to the water… The idea worked & sales increased.

That story reminds me of how people react to the plan of salvation… To them, it sounds too easy & simple to be true.  Unlike the cake mix manufacturer, God has not changed His “formula” to make salvation more marketable. The gospel we proclaim has nothing to do with being good enough.

3 men died and were standing at the pearly gates. What have you done to deserve Heaven? 1st was a —police officer, enforced law, fought crime. Peter, “OK, go on in.” 2nd— was very wealthy man and gave lots of money to charitable causes. Peter, “OK, go on in.” 3rd— was a director of an HMO organization. He had helped save millions of dollars for health care and insurance companies. He had helped cut down on waste, fraud, and abuse in the system. Peter, “OK come on in, but you can only stay for 3 days.”

We have all heard jokes about people showing up at the pearly gates seeking entrance into Heaven. While many of these jokes bring a smile to our faces, behind most of them is the false assumption that we must we can earn our way into Heaven. It is shocking to people to hear that they can’t do anything to earn entrance into Heaven. Grace goes beyond human comprehension. By our nature, we want to merit God’s favor. The scandal of grace challenges our normal way of thinking.

That’s the message that Jesus had for Nicodemus. That’s the plan that God has for us. For Jesus told Nicodemus the words that have become known as the “Gospel in a nutshell…” “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that whosoever believes in Him, shall not perish, but have eternal life…” (John 3:16)

Psychologists say that there are three steps to change. First, realize the need to change – what they call dissonance. Second, have a desire to change. Third, commit to changing. Simply put, it is I should change, I want to Change, and I have Changed.
Christianity has talked about those same three steps for generations. The religious words are Conviction, Repentance, and Rebirth.

  1. Conviction – “I need to change”
  2. Repentance – “I am moving towards Christ”
  3. Rebirth/Conversion – NEW LIFE!

We recognize that these are not steps that we can take by ourselves. The Holy Spirit is involved in each step.  The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin in our life and our need for him.  We repent because of the Holy Spirit’s work in our life and then when we move towards God then he supernaturally gives us new life.

This story ends well, eventually; Nicodemus experienced a spiritual renewal of his own.  We read of him defending Jesus before the Pharisees as they were plotting against him — earning him a severe rebuke (John 7:50-51). He also shows up after the crucifixion of Jesus and helps Joseph of Arimathea anoint the body of Jesus, wrap it and bury it (John 19:38-40). Both of these acts were done at great personal risk, and possibly got him expelled from the Temple. Something had happened to the heart of Nicodemus. He could have held on to his title as a religious teacher in Israel and resented that Jesus was trying to teach him something, but he humbled himself and experienced a new birth.

I hope you will do the same.  We read the verses after John 3:16 which are just as important:

17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
18 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son.

The choice is ours, spiritual rebirth or judgment and spiritual death.

Darrell

www.Upwards.Church

Message Audio/Video and Outline: https://upwards.church/leander-campus/watch-now-message-videos

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Come with Your Questions – Nicodemus – John 3: 1-9

Posted on April 20, 2026 by dkoop

Do you have any spiritual questions? Jesus welcomes our questions and interest in Him.  Nicodemus had questions for Jesus. He is a person who was sincere in his quest for the Kingdom of God but, was aware of his spiritual failures in spite of all his religious knowledge and enthusiasm. Here was a sincere man with a sincere hunger for truth who came to have a private talk with Jesus in the quietness of the night away from those who would distract. He was the original “Nick at Night” He came to Jesus at night so that he could have a private conversation concerning his own very personal needs.

Nicodemus, like each of us, was seeking for that something more in life – looking, longing for spiritual bliss and truth to fill the hole that’s felt in the heart. Nicodemus was a man whose whole life was a religious exercise yet he realized that Jesus had answers he needed because something was missing.

One of the messages of John 3 is that you may have all sorts of Spiritual activity and appear to have all the trappings of faith. You may have been to church more times than you can count, had a routine of Bible reading and praying, maybe even taught Sunday school or Vacation Bible School. But that is not enough to give you true eternal life that is born from above and felt deeply in the heart.

1 There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee.

Nicodemus was no ordinary citizen. He was respected. He was religious. A Pharisee who gave his life to studying and obeying the Law and traditions. He was a ruler. He had it all from an outward perspective. He was a well-respected, admired Jewish citizen that people would have considered a role model.   Nicodemus stands as a contrast to what is needed to reach heaven.

  • Tradition or Heritage is not enough

Nicodemus was a Jew.  The Jewish people believed that because of their heritage, because they were children of Abraham, they were God’s people who were headed to heaven.   Jesus lets Nicodemus see that Tradition and heritage is not enough.   The same is true of you if you are depending on the faith of your parents or your citizenship.  They may be great and impressive but not enough to give you eternal life.  It would be like being at the doctor for a snake bite and saying, “but I’m an American, won’t that heal me?”

  • Position or Power is not enough

Nicodemus was one of the 70 who comprised the Sanhedrin. In essence, he was a member of the Jewish Supreme Court.  Nicodemus was a part of the religious elite. He had a distinguished religious position.

But a certain position does not save you. Being a pastor does not save you. Being a small group leader or a children’s teacher does not save you. Positions do not save or give eternal life.

  • Religion or Knowledge is not enough

Nicodemus possessed great religious knowledge. As a member of the Pharisees, he knew and lived what was considered right and wrong. He was religious to the core. The Pharisees went to drastic measures to make sure they obeyed the letter of the law. They fasted and prayed and studied the Scriptures. They went to great lengths to obey not only the law but also the man-made rules of tradition that kept them from breaking the law.  They lived spiritually disciplined lives, but they were lost. He was religious and lost. The Pharisees were right in many areas of doctrine, but they made one primary mistake: they externalized religion. Outwardly, they lived above reproach.

Religion is not enough. You can come to church, tithe, go to Small Group, pray, witness, and practice spiritual disciplines and yet still be lost. You can do all the things that religious people do and be without Christ. Religion does not save. Knowledge doesn’t save you either you can read your Bible, lead a small group, even memorize the entire Bible-it is not enough.  I have heard so many people say, “I live a good life. I try to do what is right. I go to church. Etc.” It is not enough to get you to heaven.

 I Need to Seek Jesus

2 After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”

Nicodemus had deep respect and interest in Jesus. He was right in seeking Jesus for his answers.  This is the best place to start in your seeking of spiritual truth.  His designation of Jesus as Rabbi shows great admiration for Jesus. To address Jesus with the title “Teacher” reveals Nicodemus’ deep admiration for Jesus. Nicodemus makes Jesus an equal.

He even recognizes Jesus’ ministry as blessed by God. “No one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him,” he asserts. He acknowledges the divine blessing of God upon Jesus. Nicodemus falls into the category of the believers described at the end of chapter 2, he believes in Jesus, but strictly because of the miracles. He is an admirer but not a genuine believer.   There are many like that today.  Let me ask you

Do I only admire Jesus?

Have you ever been in a conversation where you were talking about one thing, and when you stopped to hear the response from the other person, they began talking about a totally different subject? It’s kind of aggravating because it gives you the impression that they either were not listening or do not consider what you had to say worthy of a reply. I don’t know what kind of response Nicodemus expected from Jesus, but he was shocked by what he heard.   We may at times be shocked by what Jesus says, but we need to listen carefully.

Listen Carefully to Jesus

Of course, Jesus knows Nicodemus’ heart so he cuts straight to the heart of the matter.   Jesus knows why Nicodemus is really there, so he immediately challenges him.

3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

Born again – back in 1976, Jimmy Carter was running against President Gerald Ford and you might recall that Jimmy Carter caused a bit of a sensation. Because during his campaign, Jimmy Carter said publicly that he was a Born again Christian. It caused a stir, and it was a term that was used about him over and over again.  To say you are born-again has become somewhat trite. It is a familiar term.

But what Jesus is talking about here is a supernatural event. It could also be translated born “from above.” It is a spiritual new birth, a divine regeneration, a spiritual transformation. To be born again is to be made new by the Spirit of God.

Such language and teaching confuses Nicodemus. Predominant religious thought in that day affirmed that all Jews would be admitted to God’s kingdom.  But here Jesus is telling Nicodemus, a respected scholar, that he cannot enter God’s kingdom unless he is born again.

Nicodemus responds,

4 “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”
5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.
6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.
7 So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’

The very words “born again or born from above” tell us volumes about the process involved in becoming one of God’s children.  Think about the first birth you went through, or what you know about it. First off, you were conceived.  And it is obviously not anything you did that brings that about. So it is with our Spiritual conception–God, by the power of His Spirit, brings it about.  And the first birth is the same.  It is the work of the mother, not the child.   There may be some help of course. Help from doctors and nurses who assist the mother in the case of our physical birth.  Or help from spiritual midwives, from friends, from evangelists, from neighbors, and those who have been praying for our salvation in the case of our spiritual birth.   In fact, the only thing we have to do on our own is do what our new bodies want us to do–all we have to do is breath.   Breath the air of life, breath the Spirit—which in Hebrew is translated wind or breath.   How can a person be born again?

All it takes is wanting to breath the breathe of God.  Be willing to trust the Holy Spirit.  Being born again involves surrendering.  Being willing to be pushed out of the darkness, and into God’s light.

8 The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”
9 “How are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked.

We see from this dialogue that it is ok to

  • Ask Questions    In addition to asking questions I must also…
  • Be Honest

Many times people that claim to be seeking are just looking for justification to live the way they want.  We must be honest.  Don’t let anything stand in the way of eternity, not pride, tradition or selfishness.

  • Understand My Greatest Need

What each of us needs to understand is the message that Jesus gave to Nicodemus In order to have acceptance with God into his kingdom, there has to be a personal, individual change that takes place. See, Nicodemus greatest need was not for Religion, Tradition, or Position.  His need was to be changed. He didn’t need to be taught by the Teacher; he needed to be birthed by the Spirit.

What are you seeking? Why are you reading this today? Do you wanted to hear some principles from God’s Word that you figure will help you live life a little more peacefully? You can find those here. D0 you wanted to make some new friends? You can find that at our church too.  Or do you come to Jesus in order to be changed by Him?  Not just cleaned up, not overhauled, not refurbished – but completely and utterly changed. If that’s what your need is, then Jesus is your answer. That is your greatest need.

In the next post, we will continue the conversation with Jesus and Nicodemus.

Darrell

www.Upwards.Church

Message Audio/Video and Outline: https://upwards.church/leander-campus/watch-now-message-videos

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Jesus Describes God and Worship – John 4: 20-30

Posted on April 15, 2026 by dkoop

Do you have questions about God? Do you have questions about how or where to worship God?  Jesus has answers.  As the account of the Woman at the Well continues, she shifts the conversation from her past to religion.  Jesus made no attempt to turn the discussion back to her lifestyle; rather, he entered into a dialogue about the true place of worship. Jesus kept the woman’s interest by demonstrating his willingness to let her direct the discussion.

4:20 The unspoken question is, If you are a prophet, who’s right? The Samaritans had set up a place for worship on Mount Gerizim, basing their authority to do so on Deuteronomy 11:26-29; 27:1-8; the Jews had followed David in making Jerusalem the center of Jewish worship. The split had come in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah (Ezra 4:1-2; Nehemiah 4:1-2) when the Samaritans had offered to help rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem but had been rebuffed. So there was an ongoing debate between the two groups as to who was correct. The Scriptures authenticated Jerusalem as the place of worship (Deuteronomy 12:5; 2 Chronicles 6:6; 7:12; Psalm 78:67-68); thus, the Jews were correct and the Samaritans in error. The Samaritan woman wanted to hear what a Jewish prophet had to say about this.

*LIFE APPLICATION: WORSHIP-FULL

Do you depend on a physical building or a specific setting for the proper worship environment? God is Spirit and cannot be confined to a building. The location of worship is not nearly as important as the attitude of the worshipers. The specific conditions that enhance worship tend to be quite individual and should not be legislated. By emphasizing where we worship, we may neglect the substance of our worship where we are.

4:21 Both the Jews and the Samaritans were convinced the correct way to worship God depended on a particular geographical location. But Jesus pointed to a new realm—not at Mount Gerizim or in Jerusalem, but in the Spirit of God. He also knew that the Temple in Jerusalem soon would be destroyed. The first readers of John would have known this as a historical fact because it would have already happened!

4:22 The Samaritans worshiped, but their system of worship was incomplete and flawed because it had no clear object. Because the Samaritans only used the Pentateuch (Genesis through Deuteronomy) as their Scriptures, they did not know what the rest of the Old Testament taught about worship. The Jews, with whom Jesus explicitly identified himself here, did know whom they worshiped, for they had the full revelation in the Old Testament Scriptures. These Scriptures revealed that salvation comes through the Jews, for the Messiah would come from the Jewish race (Genesis 12:3). The message is: “You are demonstrating a good quality in desiring to worship, but your worship is misdirected; the perfect object to be worshiped, the Messiah, has come.” The living water that comes from Christ and is ever present in the believer makes the idea of continual worship a possibility. Worship becomes, at least in part, the enjoyment of our relationship with Christ wherever we are at any moment.

*LIFE APPLICATION-WORSHIPING IN TRUTH

If we are not worshiping “in spirit,” our worship will be dry and lifeless. Worship not done “in truth” becomes deceitful or irrelevant. “In spirit” reminds us who we are worshiping. “In truth” exposes the required genuineness of those doing the worshiping. To paraphrase Jesus, “True worshipers worship truthfully.” By contrast, fleshly or false worship would be: pretending to be someone or something we are not; displaying prejudice toward others who are also made in God’s image; practicing self-righteousness by denying our constant need for God’s mercy and grace; worshiping in ignorance or superstition without knowing the reality for ourselves; blindly worshiping out of habit with no heartfelt devotion.

4:23-24 The new worship is already here among Jesus’ followers (including both Jews and Samaritans who are united in Christ), although the end of worship in the Temple or on Mount Gerizim is still future—is coming. Jesus announced that a new time had come, a time in which true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. True worshipers are to be recognized by the way they worship. After making the place of worship and order of worship secondary to our spiritual relationship with God, Jesus defined real worship. According to him, worship would take on two new aspects: It would be in spirit and in truth (see also 4:24).

The expression “in spirit” refers to the human spirit—the immaterial, inner being in each person, the God-breathed entity that corresponds to the nature of God himself, who is Spirit. Using the terms of Jesus’ conversation, worship involves the person’s awareness of that personal “spring of living water” that God has planted in him or her. God indwells believers—that is where true worship takes place. Our body can be anywhere, yet worship occurs as our attention and praise are turned toward God. We need to consciously focus on God when we are in a house of worship because we easily assume that our presence in church is all that we need in order to worship. We can usually remember how long the worship service lasted, but can we remember exactly when we actually worshiped the Lord?

The phrase in truth means “in a true way” or “with genuineness.” This would speak to all people—Jews, Samaritans, and even Gentiles; all need to worship God by recognizing God’s character and nature as well as our common need for him. We worship in truth because we worship what is true.

In the Greek text, the word Spirit comes first for emphasis: “Spirit is what God is.” Here is a simple yet sublime definition of the nature of God. He is Spirit. God is not a physical being limited to place and time as we are. He is present everywhere, and he can be worshiped anywhere, anytime.

*LIFE APPLICATION: WHAT GOD ISN’T

As spirit, God relates to us without the limitations that we possess:

He is never tired.

He is never distant.

He is never distracted.

He is not limited by time and space.

He can be present in all people.

He cannot be destroyed or overpowered.

In Christ, God experienced all our weaknesses firsthand. He knows them, but they do not control him. Someday we will leave our present limitations behind and be fully in God’s spiritual presence. Worship includes saying to God, “Thank you for understanding where I am; I can hardly wait to be where you are!”

*LIFE APPLICATION: ON HIS TERMS

When Jesus taught that worship must be “in spirit,” he was emphasizing the proper relationship with God. We approach him on his terms, not ours. But his terms are for our benefit. If God were to invade our world openly with his glory and holiness, we would be overwhelmed. Instead, God has chosen to reveal himself generally through his creation, specifically through the prophets and writers of the Bible, and fully (though humanly) in his Son, Jesus. We worship in submission to what God has revealed of himself. Worship includes our praise to God for the ways that he has revealed himself, our confession for the sins he has allowed us to see, our thanksgiving for all he has done for us, and our requests to learn more. True spiritual worship must have God at its center.

4:25 Talk of a new kind of worship must have reminded the Samaritan woman about the coming of the Messiah. Her comment was only loosely related to what Jesus had just said. She probably uttered it with a sigh, revealing her uncertainty about an unknown future. The Samaritans believed in the coming of “the Prophet” predicted by Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15-18), whom they called “the Restorer.” The Samaritans may have also heard of the coming Messiah from John the Baptist who had been baptizing in northern Samaria (3:23). They, as with the Jews, probably did not consider “the Prophet” and “the Messiah” to be the same person. Either way, both groups were expecting someone who would be a political liberator. They could not accept the idea that the long-awaited one would be a suffering servant before he would become the conquering king.

The woman had already perceived that Jesus was a prophet (4:19); his comments made her wish for the coming Prophet who would explain everything.

 *LIFE APPLICATION: ANSWER MAN

The discussion had reached a point at which the Samaritan voiced her hope that someone would eventually be able to settle all her questions and problems. Sooner or later, in a conversation on life, people will reveal their hope. They will tell us what they rely on when worldly answers fail. At those times, we certainly should reveal our hope. Peter reminds us to “quietly trust yourself to Christ your Lord, and if anybody asks why you believe as you do, be ready to tell him, and do it in a gentle and respectful way” (1 Peter 3:15 tlb). Unlike Jesus, we cannot claim to be the Answer, but if we believe in Jesus, we can claim to know the Answer. When someone says, “Someday I’ll figure it all out,” we ought to respond, “I know someone who has the answers today!”

4:26 Although Jesus avoided telling the Jews directly that he was the Christ, he told this Samaritan woman that he, the one who sat there with her on the well, was the promised Messiah.

 Jesus Tells about the Spiritual Harvest / 4:27-30

The sudden arrival of the disciples interrupted the conversation. Jesus seems to have made no effort to continue the exchange. He had placed himself before the woman as the one she was expecting. What the woman would have said in response to Jesus’ revelation is unknown. But what she did is clear. She immediately went and told her neighbors that she had just encountered a unique and wonderful person whom they should also meet.

4:27 The disciples returned from getting food (4:8) and were astonished to find Jesus talking to a woman. Jesus had broken two cultural taboos: (1) Jews did not speak with Samaritans, and (2) a male did not normally speak with a female stranger. Yet the disciples did not query him concerning his motives, for they must have come to realize that all of his motives were good. Anyone else would have been called to account.

4:28 Beyond displaying the woman’s excited state of mind, her action of leaving her water jar beside the well as she went back to the village has several significant explanations: On the one hand, it speaks of the woman leaving behind her water jar representing her thirst for true life and satisfaction; on the other hand, it also reveals her intention to return. The water jar was a valuable and practical household object. But as useful as it was to get water from the well, it was useless for obtaining the water of life. However, she had just met someone who promised living water and who had displayed intimate knowledge of her life and profound understanding of spiritual truths. We can’t be sure how much she understood of what Jesus had told her, but she was convinced that everyone in town ought to hear what he had to say.

4:29-30 In essence, the Samaritan woman was saying that Jesus could have told her everything about her life, for in telling her about her relationships with various men, he revealed his knowledge about her history. She made no promises about what Jesus might know about everyone else, but she appealed to their curiosity. What was it about this stranger that could make a woman who had every reason to be ashamed of her life now speak publicly about her experience of transparency before him? Yet she said to the townspeople, “Can this be the Messiah?” Her invitation proved irresistible. She probably knew that her reputation preceded her, and any assertion on her part regarding her belief in this man would go unheeded. But her question did serve to stir up curiosity and had the desired effect—the people came streaming from the village to see him.

 *LIFE APPLICATION: WHAT TO LEAVE BEHIND

When we return to the world of family and friends after encountering Jesus, there are two kinds of “water jars” we must leave behind:

  1. We must leave behind our shame about the past. Because Jesus knows all about us, we can repent and receive his forgiveness. God may use the emptiness of our past life to help us convey to others the wonder of forgiveness. But we must not dwell on or carry guilt about the past.
  2. We must leave behind some habits and pleasures. Certain pleasures and relationships (not bad in themselves) may hinder our telling others about Christ. The water jar would have slowed the woman down. She probably retrieved it later, but was not concerned about it in the light of her discovery.

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Sources:

— Life Application Bible Commentary

— Life Application Concise New Testament Commentary

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