Have you ever been in a disagreement or discussion with someone, and it hits something that you really didn’t want to discuss? How quickly do you find a way around that moment? Our key verse today comes out of a moment of deflection. John 4 details the story of Jesus speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus’s wading into this interaction was a big deal for a few reasons. Jews didn’t associate with Samaritans because they felt Samaritans were beneath them, and Jewish men wouldn’t interact with random, unrelated women as Jesus does here. Then, within this interaction, Jesus asks the woman to go get her husband. When she replies she doesn’t have one, Jesus hits her with a secret truth He could only know because He’s Jesus. She’s been with five men before the man she is with now, and that man is also not her husband.  

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The woman assumes Jesus must be a prophet because He knows private information about her. So, she pivots to ask Jesus a theological question about the correct place for worship. There had been centuries of debate about this rooted in their people’s shared history (all the way back to the Genesis time period). We can’t unpack all of it in this setting. Which mountain is the right mountain isn’t the real issue for Jesus anyway. Instead of talking about the uncomfortable issue of her sin, she swaps the conversation to a theological debate about worship location. We can deflect like this too when we feel exposed. Maybe she thought she had a distracting topic a Jewish prophet or talented rabbi would jump on. Maybe this was her way of saying, Okay, I did those things, but can you at least acknowledge I’m trying to worship? Either way, deflection doesn’t work on Jesus. He gets straight to the heart of the issue in our key verses today.  

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Jesus tells her the day is coming when worship won’t be tied to Jerusalem or Mt. Gerizim. True believers would worship God in spirit and in truth. Jesus gets back to the main thing: her heart. Worship in spirit and truth means coming to God with hearts made alive by His Spirit and aligned with His truth, not just hiding behind our good religious activity. It’s not enough for her to have the “best practice” on the right holy mountain. Truth isn’t just doctrinal accuracy; it’s also personal honesty. We cannot worship in truth while running from the truth.  

The call to worship in spirit and truth goes beyond how we approach corporate worship. It’s about how we die to ourselves and live out worship in our day-to-day lives, too. That’s where Jesus took the woman at the well, and it’s where He invites us. While acknowledging our sin and shortcomings can be uncomfortable, we do not have to hide or walk in shame. That’s not God’s heart for us. We can be free to operate transparently as we repent and seek accountability and encouragement from fellow believers. No need to deflect like the woman at the well— there are no perfect people at ACF. We just want to support you in your journey. To do that, we have to know what’s going on. Where do you need to get transparent and begin the journey of walking in truth today?