Today's Journal
THE FATHER SPIRIT
In the Gospel of John, we read the story of the ‘Woman at the Well’ (John 4:1-42). After the conversation about water and a new ‘living water,’ Jesus prophesied concerning the woman’s last five husbands and the man with whom she was currently living. She quickly moved the conversation to religion and worship in verse 4:20ff.“So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshiped?”
Jesus replied, “Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews. But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth” (4:20-24)
In this exchange, Jesus used the term Father three times and ends with, ‘God is Spirit.’ (4:24) and this leaves us with that blank concept of… who is God? A Spirit? A ghost, or “you better watch out…he knows when you are sleeping” a Santa Claus type idea, or a mist or some ethereal pattern or concept called ‘Substance,’ or ‘Being’ or a dozen other things.
If we transition ‘the Spirit’ to the ‘Father Spirit’… we more clearly see and know who the God Spirit might be. In John 14:9, Jesus makes it very clear how we are to ‘know’ the ‘Father Spirit’ …
“Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father!” Jesus