But [the] hour is coming and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for also the Father seeks such as his worshippers.
At a well, a Samaritan woman has just asked Jesus where people should worship — on her mountain, or in Jerusalem. His answer sets that question aside and announces an hour when the Father Himself goes looking for worshippers.
Her question assumed that worship needs a sacred address. The Lord's reply removes it:
First, our Lord here plainly teaches that from now on there would be no special place of worship on earth. Jerusalem had been the sacred place where the temple of God stood. His people travelled there year by year from all parts of the land. But along with the rejection of Christ, their house, until then the house of God, was left to them desolate. Never since that time has there been a material house of God upon earth. The Church is now the dwelling place of God through the Spirit. Our place of worship is now inside the torn veil, in the immediate presence of God.
The change is not only in the place but in the One worshipped. Jesus names Him the Father. One writer shows how startling that was for a woman with her past:
We might have pictured the Almighty as needing to be appeased first. Only then would He accept the honour due to Him as Creator, from people who begged for permission to offer it. But now she learned that He is the Father, and that as the Father He is seeking worshippers. Men and women like her, who deserved only everlasting ruin, could worship Him in that relationship. This was new indeed, and full of grace.
Each of the two words has a definite sense. Together they rule out empty ritual, and any thought of God that stops short of how He has revealed Himself:
To worship "in spirit" is to worship according to the true nature of God. It is worship in the power of the communion the Holy Spirit gives. It stands in contrast to worship made up of forms and ceremonies, and to the religiousness that human nature can produce. To worship "in truth" is to worship God according to the revelation He has been pleased to give of Himself. So it would not be worship "in truth" now to worship Him only as "a great God," "our Maker," and "a great King above all gods," as in Psalm 95. He has chosen to reveal Himself in another light, as "Father" to those who are His.
The verse ends with a reason, and it reverses the usual direction of religion:
In this hour it was no longer a question of what man ought to be for God, but of what God is for the sinner. "The Father is seeking such people to worship Him." As for man's worship, it was all worthless. You can build a machine to perform ceremonies if you are clever enough to make one… This is not God demanding worship. As man's duty, worship is quite right. But the Lord is here in grace, and out of the abundance of His heart He says, "The Father is seeking" worshippers. He is not looking at forms of worship; He is seeking vile, broken-down sinners to make them worshippers.
So can anyone start worshipping at will? The word true stands in the way, and one writer ties it back to the woman herself:
It is worse than useless, "in the hour that now is," to pretend to worship our God and Father unless we are genuine worshippers. … Adam had become conscious of his sin. So when he heard God's voice in the garden, he hurried to hide from Him. So would all uncleansed worshippers, if they heard His voice today. It is not a question of sincerity, but of salvation. Cleansing by the blood of Jesus is absolutely necessary. We cannot worship Him in spirit and in truth until we know Him by faith, as revealed by and in His Son. And we never know Him like that until His word convicts us of what we have done and what we are, as it convicted the Samaritan woman.
Jesus does not push this hour into the future. He says it has already arrived:
Worship is the outgoing of the heart in heaven. Worship for us now is real. It is the greatest privilege the Christian is brought into while on earth. A Christian in this way anticipates the mind and occupation of heaven. He will still be a worshipper when glorified; but he is a worshipper here, for the hour "now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeks such to worship him."
- Seeking. The Father is not waiting to be found. He is out looking — and He looks for broken-down sinners, not for people with impressive forms.
- Finding. What He finds, He first makes. The woman was convicted, then cleansed, then a worshipper. Nobody worships "in truth" without coming to know God through His Son.
- Freeing. Because He seeks worshippers, no mountain and no building owns worship. Since Christ's rejection, there has been no material house of God on earth. Believers now worship in God's own presence.
- Filling. "In spirit" means worship that matches God's own nature and rises by the Holy Spirit. "In truth" means worship that matches how He has revealed Himself — as Father, not only as Maker.
- Now. The hour is not pending. Worship is heaven's occupation, started early. It is the highest privilege open to a Christian on earth.
God [is] a spirit; and they who worship him must worship [him] in spirit and truth.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.