John 4:22,23 - Worship the Father in Spirit and in truth

4:22

Having said that what was coming was far greater than either Jerusalem or Samaria, Jesus now does draw a distinction between the Jews and others. “You worship what you do not know”. The “you” here is plural so the words are speaking about the Samaritans in general. Although they tried to worship, they did not actually truly know the God they worshipped. They needed to get to know Him. The whole argument here is very interesting. In our arguments we tend to fall into the trap of trying to prove that one is right and good, while the other is wrong and useless. Jesus does not do that here. They were both wrong, but they were not “useless”. The Samaritans were trying to worship, but they needed to have their eyes opened. We can get so focused on the opposition, or even the enemy, that we lose sight of God. In contrast, the Jews “worship what they know, for salvation is from the Jews”.  Now it is clear from what has gone before, and what will come afterwards that the Jews had not got it altogether! What Jesus is saying is that the revelation of God comes through the Jewish scriptures.

4:23

“But the hour is coming ... true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth.” The Jews had the revelation of God, they had the Scriptures and the prophets, but they never truly believed them. Carson says “their (the Jews) privileged position is in the process of dissolution”. I think we need to be careful how we understand that. It is true that the only way to the Father is through Jesus Christ. Faith and repentance are the way to salvation, Jewish, or any other, heritage counts for nothing. But God will save the Jews. At some point there will be a significant turning to Christ by the Jews. Although most do not currently recognise it, Jesus is their Messiah. The hour was coming, and was already here. It was here in the person of Jesus Christ. Focusing on Jerusalem or Samaria would get a person nowhere, everyone needs to focus on Christ.