John 4:20-24 20“Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you yourselves say that in Jerusalem is the place where it is necessary to worship.” 21Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, that an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, because salvation is from the Jews.
This strange man was starting to get personal, so the Samaritan woman tried to change the topic and put up a safety barrier between herself and Jesus. One of the big differences between Jews and Samaritans that stretched far back into history was that they had different places for their central shrines. The Samaritans accepted the first five books of the Old Testament as their canon. Based on Deuteronomy 12:5, they chose Shechem and Mount Gerizim, which were near Jacob’s well, as their place of worship. The Jews, as predominantly the descendants of the tribe of Judah, chose Jerusalem since it was the capital in the kingdom period and the location of Solomon’s temple. The woman saw a great barrier between herself and Jesus because of this religious difference. What could Jesus provide for her when he came from a different tradition and had a different place of worship?
Once again, Jesus gets to the deeper spiritual issue. The location of a temple, shrine, or worship place does not matter to God. Old Testament theology, especially as interpreted by the prophets, demonostrates that God’s presence is not confined to a building. Jesus’ response in verse 21 stretches and breaks both Jewish and Samaritan beliefs and universalizes his message of salvation. Worship of the Father is not confined to a specific location but can be done anywhere because God is spirit and exists in the spiritual realm. The physical realm is only a minute aspect of reality incorporated in some mysterious way in the spiritual realm.
Verse 22 indicates that the Samaritans only had partial revelation. Part of this could be because they chose only the Pentateuch or the Torah as their Scripture, leaving out the rest of the Old Testament. Their understanding of God was limited because of this. They had limited understanding of the Messiah because they neglected to study and accept the message of the Prophets and the Writings. Salvation would come through the tribe of Judah since the Messiah was a descendant of David. The Samaritans were part of God’s people as the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but salvation would come through the Judah. The Samaritans, as the descendants of the ten northern tribes, would be offered salvation through the Jews. Their long-standing animosity could be ended as they came together finally as one people, but this would be a new people inclusive of all tribes, nations, and peoples.
Jesus was not only exploding the woman’s worldview but giving a hint of the inclusive nature of the gospel. The words of his previous conversation with Nicodemus continue to echo that God so loved the whole world, not just a small group of people in Judea. The hope of salvation was beginning to break down the walls of separation between Jews and the rest of the world.
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