In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit! Christ is Risen!
Before the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ into the world, people living on earth—both those who believed in the True God and those who worshipped numerous false pagan gods—had the idea that there were certain places where God should be worshipped, where God was present, and that only in these locations were prayers accepted by God. Pagans built various temples, kept sacred groves, and organized other places of worship. But faith in the True God was also associated with a specific Temple in Jerusalem: only there were sacrifices offered and services celebrated. That is why people who believed in God from all over the world flocked there to worship the True God.
But, having come to earth, the Lord changed this order by His coming. And in today’s Gospel reading we have heard this very important revelation that was absolutely surprising for the people of that era.
When the Samaritan Woman spoke to Christ and realized that He was not an ordinary man, but—as it seemed to her—a prophet, she immediately asked Him the question that she was most concerned about: “Where should we worship God?” This was one of the main points of division between the Jews and the Samaritans. The Jews offered sacrifices and prayed at the Temple of Jerusalem, while the Samaritans had their own central sanctuary. And the Lord answered her with words of paramount importance: He declared that the time has come when the faithful would worship the Father neither in Jerusalem, nor on that mountain (Mount Gerizim), but anywhere in Spirit and Truth (cf. Jn. 4:5–42).
With His coming, the Lord changed the order that had been before Him. And people no longer needed any special locations to serve God and please Him. You can serve God in any place. True, we build churches, we gather in them and celebrate services there, but in fact everything that is done in church can also be done anywhere else.
Once I celebrated an open-air Liturgy on the banks of the Yenisei River, and it felt no less grace-filled than worshiping in church, because indeed you can worship the Father anywhere. More than that, as the Lord Himself said, the Father is looking for such worshippers who will worship Him in every place. And these are very important words for each one of us: they remind us that our Christian life is not limited to the church walls, that our worship of God is not only about our presence at services, church prayer and participation in the sacrament of the Eucharist; although, of course, these things are extremely important too. But our Christian life is not limited to this. And our worship of God and the service of Him should be done everywhere: at home, at work, on the subway, on the street, or when visiting someone—our whole lives should be serving God and worshipping Him. After all, God’s commandments were given to us to regulate our daily lives. What the Lord says and what He calls on us to do concerns not only our presence in church, but also every moment in our lives. Our whole lives, everything we do, not only can, but must, or rather, are called to be the service of God.
Our attitude towards others, our behavior at home and at work, even our communication with people who we meet by chance—everything should be the service of God, because everything should be directed towards the commandments of God. And, of course, it is impossible if we do not care about such an important Christian virtue as watchfulness: to always try—not only in church, but also at every moment of our lives—to remind ourselves that we are before God, and that at this moment we are called to fulfill God’s commandments and worship God through life according to the commandments that He has given us, and constantly bring ourselves back to this thought. Wherever we are, we must remind ourselves: “Am I standing before God now? Am I trying to live by His commandments? And am I trying to do His will?” This thought will constantly bring us back to fulfilling God’s commandments and really make every moment of our lives a service and worship of God.
And in this way, the life of a Christian can never become boring, because continually, at any moment of our lives, we have a path to perfection, a path to getting closer to God at this moment in life. May God grant that it will be so! May God grant that we will truly fulfil in practice the words that the Lord has said today. And may we worship Him in every place, wherever we are; may we fulfill His commandments in every place in life in order to be His disciples, true Christians, and to be with Christ both here on earth and in eternity, in the Heavenly Kingdom. Amen.
