Deutsche Version | Wiki Start | Topics Collection vi

A New Era ...

Wednesday, May 14, 2014. We have been reading the Gospel of John. John 4 reports a conversation of Jesus with a Samaritan women, which took place in the town Sychar. It is unusual that a male speaks to a woman at a well.

Water of Life …

Have a look into John 4, please. You will observe a conversation, where the woman talks about water and about her cultural environment, about the temple. Jesus talks about spiritual things, about salvation, about the relationship to God, about eternal life. He uses very ordinary things to start a deeper and more meaningful conversation! Look at verse 10:

“If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

Jesus is suddenly moving from the ordinary small talk into something with a much deeper meaning: “living water”. He is entering the life of the woman. He is starting his salvation project in her personal environment. It is an intrusion, but a healthy intrusion! A new era has come.

In Spirit and Truth …

23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4, 23-24)

For me, this worship in spirit and truth is still amazing and a big thing! I have a sense of “truth”, and I realize that I cannot match at all what is there. The holy spirit is truely holy. God is just and full of truthfulness. How could we stand his presence? How could we enter the kingdom of God?

But the hour is coming, and is now here, where we can worship the father in spirit and truth. It is because we are with Jesus, and he can enter. It is because his purity opens a door, and he takes us in with him. It is because his purity is declared to be our purity … even more than that. With the cross in faith we receive his purity. We are changed. Do not ask me how exactly this happens. I just know that I realize its reality and its significance. (Roland Potthast) ... more texts