“The hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.” (Jn 4:21, ESV)

Years ago, I used to do a lot of lap swimming. I liked to go early in the morning, but it wasn’t always possible because the swim team had the pool in the early hours. I had my googles, swim trunks and knew all the rules, but none of that mattered. If I wanted to swim while the team had the pool, I had to have my name written on the team roster.

In Jesus’ time so much of the Jewish understanding of their relation to God stemmed from their relation to physical things. The children of Abraham were God’s chosen people, The land of Israel was God’s promised land, Jerusalem was God’s holy city, Mt. Zion was God’s mountain, and the Jewish Temple was God’s dwelling place. But Jesus taught that God is spirit (Jn 3:5, 4:24). If we want to enter God’s Kingdom, we must be born of spirit and water. If we want to worship God, we must worship in spirit and truth.

Jesus’ teaching would have upset the order of things in Jewish society. The Jewish leaders had all the prerequisites and knew all the rules, but that isn’t what matters to God. If we want to be a part of God’s Kingdom, we must be spirit and have our names written in the Book of Life.

In Christ,

Chappy