February 26, 2023
My Place is Better Than Yours
“Jesus said to her, Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.” John 4:20-23 (NASB)
As silly as it seems, we think we have some things that are better than others. Ours is just better than theirs. It’s built better. It’s more pretty. It’s better priced. It sounds childish, but it happens every day. We compare things. As funny as it might sound, this is a picture of what is happening between Jews and the Samaritans. Each thought they had a better place to worship God. Mine is better than yours because history records it. But whose history is better?
“Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.” As the Samaritan woman was at the well, she could see Mount Gerizim in the background. Jesus probably pointed it out as they were talking. The foot of Jacob’s well lies at its base. Worship on this mountain was a great part of history. Sanballat erected a temple on this mountain which was later destroyed in 129 B. C. Deuteronomy chapter 28 records Moses’ blessings to the people after crossing the Jordan river. Samaritans even believed this mountain to be where Abraham offered Isaac. There was a keen sense of worship tied to this mountain. Samaritan worship occurred on this mountain, but the Jews said it was better in the Jerusalem temple. The Jews had greater benefit though. They had the entire history of the Jewish people. Samaritans rejected the prophets and the Psalms. By doing so they cut themselves off from the fuller knowledge of God. The Jews, the chosen people of God, had fuller revelation of God. The Jews and the Samaritans alike, failed to recognize God in Jesus.
But all this was about to change. Jesus said, “an hour is coming.” An “hour” known as, hōra; a time or period, a juncture was coming.[1] “But an hour is coming, and now is.” This was a juncture in history, and it was now. “The salvation, the Messianic salvation which had long been the hope and guiding star of the chosen people. It was for the whole world, but it comes ‘out of’ the Jews. This tremendous fact should never be forgotten, however unworthy the Jews may have proved of their privilege. The Messiah, God’s Son, was a Jew.”[2] This juncture in history came to both Jew and Gentile alike. God appeared to all in His hour of coming. Jesus came to mankind to a small well near a mountain and said, “true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.” No longer did mankind need a mountain or a temple to worship God. They would worship in spirit and truth. God would meet with mankind personally and not at a location.
We are so fortunate today we don’t have to go to a location to worship God. We don’t need to make a pilgrimage. We don’t need to visit a temple. We have the Temple of God living in each of us who trust Jesus Christ as Savior. There is no need to compare what or where is better. We need to thank God He came to us on His hour of coming. His hour of coming guarantees we have Him living within us, and not a place to visit. Thank Him today for this gift!
[1] Robert L. Thomas, New American Standard Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek Dictionaries : Updated Edition (Anaheim: Foundation Publications, Inc., 1998).
[2] A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1933), Jn 4:22.