What is the meaning of John 4:20? Our fathers • The Samaritan woman appeals to her ancestral tradition, saying, “Our fathers worshiped…” (John 4:20a). • Samaritans traced their worship lineage to Jacob (John 4:12) and to the mixed peoples settled in Samaria after the Assyrian exile (2 Kings 17:29–33). • Her words reveal a longing for continuity with the past, echoing Israel’s repeated refrain, “We and our fathers” (Jeremiah 16:19). • Jesus will soon show that genuine worship is not secured by lineage but by a living relationship with the Father (John 4:23–24). Worshiped on this mountain • “This mountain” refers to Mount Gerizim, the Samaritan center of worship rebuilt after the Jews returned from exile (cf. Deuteronomy 11:29; Joshua 8:33). • Gerizim symbolized blessing; the Samaritans viewed it as the rightful location for God’s sanctuary. • The woman’s mention of the mountain highlights the human impulse to tie worship to a sacred site—yet God had already revealed that “heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool” (Isaiah 66:1). • By asking Jesus, she tacitly admits a need for divine clarity beyond tradition. But you Jews say • She contrasts Samaritan custom with Jewish teaching, “but you Jews say…” (John 4:20b). • Jerusalem had been chosen by God: “The place the LORD your God will choose…to put His Name” (Deuteronomy 12:5; 1 Kings 9:3; Psalm 122:1). • Centuries of division hardened into rivalry—yet Jesus, a Jew, initiates respectful dialogue (John 4:9), modeling how truth is shared in grace (Ephesians 4:15). • The collision of viewpoints sets the stage for Jesus to declare a new covenant reality (Hebrews 8:6). That the place where one must worship is in Jerusalem • The woman frames worship as geographically mandated: “the place where one must worship” (John 4:20c). • Under the law, pilgrimage to Jerusalem was required for the feasts (Deuteronomy 16:16). • The sacrificial system, the priesthood, and the temple foreshadowed Christ, “the Lamb of God” (John 1:29) and “a priest forever” (Hebrews 7:24). • By raising the location debate, she unknowingly invites Jesus to reveal that the true “place” is a Person—“through Him we have access to the Father” (Ephesians 2:18; Hebrews 10:19–22). summary John 4:20 records a Samaritan woman wrestling with conflicting worship traditions: ancestral practice on Mount Gerizim versus divinely mandated worship in Jerusalem. Her question exposes the inadequacy of geography and heritage to satisfy the heart’s thirst for God. Jesus will soon lift her eyes beyond mountains and cities to Himself, the fulfillment of the temple and the mediator of “spirit and truth” worship—open to all who believe. |
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