John 4:20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
What does this woman do now that she has come to the realization of her sins? She has committed adultery, she is shacking up with a man and living in sin. She has offended a holy God. That is all true. What does she now do? Where does she go form here? She has failed to worship God, she has been worshipping herself. Where are her sins going to be taken care of? Mount Gerizim in Samaria or Mount Zion in Jerusalem?
Where does she worship the God who will take away her sins? That, I believe, is her question. That is the normal response to one who truly sees they have offended God and is in agreement with Christ that they have. They want to know where to go to confess these sins and find forgiveness for them.
There is a glaring contradiction in this woman’s understanding. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, however, the Jews say the the place of proper worship is in Jerusalem. It can’t be both. One has to be right and other wrong.
She does not what to worship wrongly. Which place is it? One is false worship and the other is true worship. One is the place to worship God and other is the place where idols are worshipped. The Jews say one thing and the Samaritans say another.
Where does she find the God she has offended? Where does she find the God who will forgive her?
Now this controversy of worship locations is an interesting one. So, let me give you the history behind why there are two thoughts of worship. I will try to make this a painless as I can.
Remember, there was a division of the nation of Israel. There were 10 tribes known as the Northern Kingdom or Israel and 2 tribes known as the Southern Kingdom or Judah.
Jerusalem is in the Southern Kingdom. So, what do you do if you are the king of the Northern Kingdom and you don’t want your people going to the Jerusalem and getting their hearts all warmed up to the Southern kingdom? You set up another place of worship, so they don’t have to make that trip. That is what happened.
So, we have a temple that is build on Mount Gerizim with a full religious system put into place.
In Genesis, there was a blessing put on Most Gerizim while a curse was put on Mount Ebal. According to the Samaritans, Abraham and Jacob built altars at Sheckem which is at Mount Gerizim and Abraham met Mechezidek at this place.
The Psalms tell us that God has chosen Jerusalem as the place of true worship but the Samaritans only recognized the first five books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. So, they did not care what Psalms said.
So, all of this really boils down to tradition. It was tradition that the Samaritans worshipped in Mount Gerizim. And when you elevate tradition to the same level as Scripture, you will have no end of false doctrine that will ensue, because all you have to do is quote your tradition.
So, every way of worship is not necessarily true worship. Every place of worship does not automatically indicate there is true worship going on. Many times its idol worship not the worship of God.
So, which is it? Mount Gerizm or Mount Zion.
Lakeview Baptist Church 