Daily Office Readings for Friday of the 2nd Week of Epiphany: Year 2
Morning, Psalm 31; Evening, Psalm 35;
Genesis 11:27 to 12:8; Hebrews 7:1 to 17; John 4:16 to 26:
“God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth;” (John 4: 24).
:Jesus continues to converse with the Samaritan woman at the well. She suspects he is a prophet because he knows about her failed married life. She tries to understand his ways by suggesting the Samaritans should also worship in Jerusalem as do the Jews. Jesus informs her that “the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem:” (John 4: 21). Jesus dispels any notion of any people having a claim on God. We are all God’s own. We should pray where we are, and we should pray when we feel it is what we need to do. No place or time is outside of the presence of God.
More than that, our Lord Jesus informs her, and us, that God is Spirit; (John 4:24). God is beyond anything humanly identifiable, except for loving us. He also goes on to say, according to the Aramaic reporters of His words, “I AM he, the one who is speaking to you.” The human form of Jesus is the only humanity that the Holy Spirit of God used to be with us since creation began, and the Holy Spirit of God remains with us to this very day, everywhere and all the time.
“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done” (Genesis 2:1 and 2). So, for this evening and tomorrow day my friends, Shabbat Shalom.
As we listen to what the Spirit is saying to us, let us live to love, to serve, and to teach, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John
onewhoponders 