The simplicity of Sychar: the focus of witnessing
“But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:23-24).
We have discovered how the woman at the well responded to the graciousness of the Lord’s appeal to her. For several years, at lunchtime, I used to walk into a town centre close to the offices where I worked. What surprised me was the way many people spoke to each other and their children in everyday conversation. There was frequently a crudeness of expression which had obviously become a habitual way of talking. I don’t think the people who used that language ever considered how they spoke, or even cared. We read of the Lord that “grace is poured upon Your lips” (Psalm 45:2). And part of our testimony is to use the power of gracious words.
It is also interesting that the woman tried to turn her conversation with the Lord towards religious differences. When people talk about spiritual things, they naturally turn to their own experience of religion. The distinction the woman made between the Jews and the Samaritans was genuine. The history of Christendom is also scarred by divisions and sub-divisions. These events have driven people away from God and each other. But the Lord puts religion to one side and focuses on the worship of the Father. In the previous chapter, Jesus says to Nicodemus, a sincere and spiritual man, “You must be born again” (John 3:7). Jesus speaks to the nameless woman by the well about worshipping the Father. People at their very best still need the salvation of Christ to become the children of God. People who are so far from God, through the same salvation in Christ, can be brought near to the God who loves us and gave His Son for our redemption. We receive life, and in that life we can come in “the beauty of holiness” (Psalm 29:2) to worship the Father from our hearts in spirit and truth.
When the woman arrived at Sychar’s well, she did not know the stranger sitting close by was the Christ, the Son of God. The Lord spoke to her in grace and led her out of spiritual and moral darkness into salvation. He took her into a place of acceptance and nearness. He stripped away the emptiness of religion, even that which had been established by God in Jerusalem. The Lord leads her beyond religion and earth to the Person of the Father in heaven.
You have the impression when the Lord meets the woman at Sychar’s well that no-one else was there. Perhaps she deliberately went to the well when it was quiet. But the Lord knew she would come, and He waited for her so He could say to her, “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” It was then the woman said, “’I know that Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ). ’When He comes, He will tell us all things.’” Jesus replies, “I who speak to you am He” and the light of His Person shines into her heart. It was a light she could not keep to herself: “Come see a Man who told me all things that I ever did.” She declares the wonder of God’s salvation through Christ, which takes us out of darkness into His marvellous light and encourages us to share our experience of His love with others.
