Where can I go from your Spirit?

Jesus said to her, ‘Go, call your husband, and come back.’ The woman answered him, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said to her, ‘You are right in saying, “I have no husband”; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.’ The woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ). ‘When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am he,* the one who is speaking to you.’
- John 4:16-26

Jesus asks a woman to give him some water from a well. This is a special well, because it was a well of Jacob. There is a reason why this well is important, a special reason. But the woman who's asked to draw Jesus some water is not a Jew. Therefore she's neither of the people for whom this well gives claim to a specific tradition, nor is she someone who would have been considered proper for Jesus to address. Yet she's there, and he engages her, asking for a drink. The stage is set here for a revelation of what it means to worship in spirit and in truth.

Jesus not only engages her by asking for a drink, he also tells her all about herself. "Go call your husband, and come back" he says, when she indicates she'd like to have some of this living water. First Jesus tells her about the water he promises. This is a staggering revelation - not only to a woman but to a Samaritan woman. But when she indicates she'd like some of this water, he first gives his insight into her life. He tells her all about herself, and classically (to my way of thinking about Jesus' wit) begins in a rather smart way: "Go call your husband." Before she can receive the water she must reveal herself, she must be honest about her life. This is not a gift to be received without truth in the inward part.

She immediately realizes that Jesus is someone special, immediately accepts that what he's revealed about her is the truth. And so, Jesus goes on to reveal to her the power of spirit and what is coming, and to tell her yet a greater truth, that soon it won't matter that people must worship in this place or that, but will worship in spirit and in truth. That in this one spirit and this truth, all peoples can be united in worshiping God who is everywhere. And even more than that, he reveals himself to be more than a prophet. He is the Christ. Truly spirit is everywhere and so is truth and if we open our eyes to it, it is present with us at all times. There are no barriers to this living water except those of love and trust, and truth within ourselves and about ourselves.

For the revelation to be made to this woman is not something merely surprising; it is rather a jaw-dropping kind of a event. Jesus does not speak this plainly in Judea, he speaks in parables. He speaks plainly about himself only to his disciples. But to this woman he has revealed everything, showing us in many dimensions that worship is not qualified by where we are, by who we are, by any requirement but faith and truth, love and trust. What qualifies this woman is the connection immediately made with Jesus: she accepts the truth he reveals about her, she desires the truth he offers to her from himself, and the living water he promises.

The words of the psalmist in today's reading ring true in the incarnation and life of Christ, and are manifest in his teaching:

Where can I go from your spirit?

Or where can I flee from your presence?