He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
“I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
Jesus declared, “Believe me woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem…a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship him in spirit and in truth.”
The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ), “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
Then Jesus declared, “I who speak to you am he.”
I took a trip last week with my oldest son that took me back to the town where I spent the majority of my growing-up years, Armonk, New York (about 40 miles north of New York City in Westchester County). We actually spent a night in the church where my father was pastor from 1966-74. Of course, the trip brought back many fond memories – as well as a few embarrassing ones!
I remembered the time – when I was about 11 years old – that a friend named “Billy” brought cigarettes to Sunday School. Just before class began he took a couple of us aside and furtively showed us the contraband – a half of a pack he had found somewhere. At the end of our Sunday School time we always had about 15 minutes before we had to meet our parents for the worship service. So three or four of us snuck out behind the church parking lot to a wooded area where the church was building a new house for our family. We hid behind the framed-out house and Billy took out the cigarettes and some matches and lit one up. Overcome with curiosity and peer pressure, I took a puff when it was my turn. Within a few minutes, the excitement faded as the guilt took over! Overwhelmed with conviction over our profligate rebellion, we snuffed out the cigarette, buried all the evidence in the ground and prayed desperately for forgiveness – and that our parents would never discover our deed!
The woman in this story is also trying to hide her sin. When Jesus asks her about her husband, she evades the truth by answering, “I have no husband.” This is technically correct, but hides the ugly truth of 5 failed relationships as well as a current sinful relationship. But Jesus doesn’t allow her to continue hiding. He presses in – gently but firmly, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
While the woman has to be somewhat taken back by his intimate knowledge of her intimate life – she still finds a way to try to change the subject: “I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
As the conversation continues, Jesus explains what it means to worship God in spirit and truth – and reveals himself to be the Messiah. But something happens to this woman when her sin is brought out into the light – she is both forgiven and set free. She immediately returns to the community from which she is estranged and proclaims that she has met a man who told her everything she “ever did” – meaning, a man who knew her completely; who confronted and then forgave her sin. We know that she is forgiven because she is no longer hiding in shame but rather rejoicing in new life.
Jesus confronts this woman’s sin because she matters to him. Her sin matters to him because it is robbing her of the life he wants for her. The same is true for us. We matter to him. You matter to him. And because you matter to him – Jesus will confront your sin. All of us try to hide our sin – and when we hide we are alone. But Jesus confronts our sin; he calls it out into the light of his truth and love. We usually experience this confrontation as guilt, remorse or shame. But Jesus does not confront our sin to make us ashamed – he confronts our sin in order to set us free to new life and new joy.
Is there anything that you are trying to hide from Jesus? Is there some part of your heart and life that he would like to confront? Remember, Jesus always confronts in order to forgive and restore!
Pastor Brian Coffey
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