What would the Catholic way to read and understand John 4:23,24 be? I’ve had a few evangelical friends use it as a kind of proof that liturgy and established churches aren’t condoned by Christ. I disagree but don’t know exactly what Jesus meant by this verse or how to respond.
Here’s the text:
23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. (RSVCE)
Ok. Note that when the letters of Paul were written, and likely much of the gospel, the Temple in Jerusalem was STILL open and active and in service! Im usually not a fan of ‘context’, but always REMEMBER in the writings of Paul and some, most or all of the Gosepls, this prophecy did NOT yet pass. Always keep that at the back of you mind when people talk about the Judaizing, the Law, People wanting to be Jews, get circumsized, etc. The Temple was still OPEN and very active! (although no yearly sin sacrifice for Israel was made after Jesus death). Its very understandable at that time of Pauls letters. Technically the Law of Moses was seemingly active as far as the noobs were concerned.
As usual Jesus is saying many things above:
-He’s firstly DENYING he is a ‘Jew’. Just read the beginning of their conversation a few times and if Jesus is in you, you’ll see it. The greatest, highest ranking evangelical schollars can not see this because of the obvious. Also at the end of the conversation, his apostles are also cleared from being ‘Jews’.
-He’s DENYING the false identities built off ancestoral worship of Jews and Symaritans.
-He’s PROCLAIMING that Himself and his apostles, (we/‘us’/our group) of traveling Judeans know what we worship. (proof is the statement right before about neither mountain nor temple). Because salvation is ‘out of’ the Judeans. or among them - Meaning Jesus particular group - Jesus and his disciples now hold the keys and are in the process of fullfillinf the Law which can only be done by being in Judea.
-He’s DENYING the idea of rebuilding of a blasphemous third temple in todays political ‘Israel’.
-He’s REMOVING all ‘land based’ pilgrim style obligational worship as we still see in Islam today.
-He’s REMOVING the concept of ‘God living in a box’ in a single place on earth (like the ark/holy of holies).
-God now ‘visits’ or somewhat ‘lives’ in legally annointed, sanctioned Church’s world wide, all at once time.
-God also now dwells ‘inside us’ (or technically ‘by us’, or ‘closer than close to us’). The wrong understanding of this is source of much heresy. The Bible does not dwell inside you and isnt God himself. This is a modern heresy that crept into Christianity from modern Islamic/Judaic thought.
-He’s saying worship in Spirit because now that God is in us, it will testify to the Truth. Gods Spirit does NOT do what most people think! It testifies to JESUS ONLY (which is to know the Father). It may not testify to Solomon with 700 wives etc. Its not that it didnt happen or was untrue, its just that Only Jesus could full understand what to make of it, and ‘PART’ of that is then passed down to us (not all or we would all be walking Jesus’. See CCC:687 if you dont believe me.
-The spirit of Truth unveils Christ. Everyone is different though and the unveiling is over time. If you get a job and work for 2 years and miss Church etc then the curtain will ‘close’ again. If you follow evangelical, pentecostal, ‘mind of matter’, war-mongering dispensational heresys, the curtain will close quick.
-Jesus is saying in the greater story that he will have his OWN ‘Word’. He outright claims superiority over Jacob there. He does the same with Moses elswhere literally saying that Moses did NOT give TRUE bread from heaven. This is in John 6, but loses its power because evangelicals simply dont know what that means.
-Jesus own Word is NOT the ‘Bible’. That is the hardest thing to understand. Jesus gets presidence over ALL matters in the Bible. If you look to Jeremiah for unfilled prophecy, you are denying Jesus finished work on the cross and overriding Jesus Word with Jacobs well water and will thirst again. That is a VERY powerful statement because as a saved Christian you should have comfort and not be thirsty.
The Eucharist is VERY important to all of the above and works in conjunction with such, but i skipped over that. It is something evangelicals know nothing about. When the bible talks about the body, blood, Christ in us, etc etc its not just spiritualizing, its also LITERAL! Yes be as literal as you want. But the Truth is in Christ - NOT the Bible. After all, is Cain not in the Bible? Does Satan not speak all through the bible? Is Jesus any of these people? So why would you think their statements and actions are God? We’re in a new cov’t. So why reject it for the old? Its because “there is no truth in him” CCC:687 alludes to this.
