When Jesus wanted to teach us about worship, He used the lowest person on the Jewish totem pole. Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, “. . . for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband.” (John 4:18) This woman had lived a life composed of one emotional upheaval after another. She’d had enough husbands to keep all the gossips in the village going.
Why does Jesus pick her?
Worship is not about some unrealistic, ivory tower experience; worship has to do with real life. Worship happens in the brokenness of adultery, the frustration and anxiety of defeat and the world of unmet expectations.
Jesus picked her to show us that worship can happen in every obstacle we are facing today.
It’s into these worlds that our Savior lovingly enters to begin something new. Jesus tells the Samaritan woman that whoever drinks of His life-giving promises and Spirit will never thirst, and instead will become a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life (4:14). This is how our Savior will turn this Samaritan adulterer into a woman freed to worship in spirit and in truth! This is how our Savior will turn you into a victorious worshiper who has been given this red carpet invitation to worship in spirit and truth the One who has united heaven and earth! As we walk through this worship series together in the coming weeks,
I encourage you to invite Jesus into the messiness of your life. Allow Him to transform you into a fountain of living water that cries out to the God of the universe in spirit and in truth.
David Anderson
Lead Pastor
Church of the Open Door
