Demands of Jesus - Worship GOD - 2

Dear Brothers & Sisters in Christ Jesus

Last week, we started learning about the teachings of Jesus from the incident with the Samaritan woman by the well. We learned that the time of the Messiah had come upon the world and there was to be a change, a radical change at that, in the people of the Lord worship.

So lets continue to learn what is this radical change....

"DESTROY THIS TEMPLE, AND IN THREE DAYS I WILL RAISE IT UP"

We all know this famous saying of Jesus from the Gospel of John 2:19. Jesus says these words to the priests and Pharisees when they asked Him for a sign from heaven to know that He was sent by God. The reason Jesus says it is because He intended to take the place of the temple Himself. In other words, the "place" where worship would happen - the "place" where people would meet God from now on  - would be Jesus, not the temple in Jerusalem.

He communicated the same in several ways. When Jesus said the above words, the people were astonished and said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you will you raise it up in three days?" But the Gospel writer explained, "He was speaking about the temple of his body" (John 2:21). In other words, Jesus meant that when He was raised from the dead, He would be the new "temple"-the new meeting place with God.

Jesus said something almost as startling when He was criticized for letting His disciples pick grain and eat it on the Sabbath. Jesus' response to this criticism was to point out that David, the king of Israel, had fed his band of men with the bread of God's house that was only designed for the priests to eat. He made the connection with Himself and His band of men by saying, "I tell you, something greater than the temple is here" (Matt. 12:6). In other words, "The Messiah, the son of David, is here, and he himself is going to take the place of the temple."

"NOT IN THIS MOUNTAIN OR IN JERUSALEM,

BUT IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH"

So when Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, "The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth," He meant that a whole new approach to God in worship had come with the coming of the Messiah himself. No longer would geography be relevant: "Neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father." Instead, what takes the place of external geographic concerns are internal spiritual concerns: "Those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." The external places of Samaria and Jerusalem are replaced with the spiritual realities of "spirit and truth." What matters now is not where you worship but whether you worship God in accordance with the truth and whether your spirit is authentically awakened and moved by that truth.

Dear Brothers & Sisters

I now stop here to let you ponder on the above words. We learnt that true worship does not happen in any 'spiritual' place, but it happens in spirit and truth. In the next session, lets learn what is this worship in spirit.

"The Lord bless you and keep you; 

The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; 

The Lord lift His countenance upon you, And give you peace." - Numbers 6:24-26