Sabbath-School Worker
December 1, 1894
“Never Man Spake Like This Man”
Many who listened to the teachings of Christ said, “Never man spake like this man.” But his words, that comforted, strengthened, and blessed the needy, that were as bread to the hungering soul, were as bitterness to the scribes and Pharisees. In answer to the statement of the woman at Samaria that her father had worshiped in this mountain, but the Jews said that Jerusalem was the place where men ought to worship, Christ had said: “Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what; we know what we worship; for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit; and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ; when he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.” SSW December 1, 1894, par. 1
These words are of universal application, and to all believers through all time they are to be a light; but, though the lesson is universal, yet it was particularly fitted to the Jewish people of that generation. Their worship had degenerated from a spiritual worship to a mere external service. Of their religious teachers Jesus had said, “In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” Christ did not expect that his words would return unto him void, but that they were as enduring as eternity. On one occasion he said to the multitude that thronged about him, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” He himself wrote nothing down, but the Holy Spirit brought all things to the remembrance of his disciples, and caused that his words should be recorded for our benefit. SSW December 1, 1894, par. 2
The keynote of his teaching was struck in the words that he spoke to the woman at Samaria, when he said: “The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit; and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” Christ declared to his disciples, in the company of the scribes and Pharisees, the manner of standard they must reach in order to be acceptable worshipers. He said, “Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” The words of the prophet Ezekiel applied to the religious teachers of that day: “Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things; they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they showed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain. And her prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord God, when the Lord hath not spoken. The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy; yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully.” SSW December 1, 1894, par. 3
Jesus spoke as one having knowledge and authority. The denunciation he uttered against the Jews condemned their formalism and hypocrisy. His scathing rebukes and denunciation of formalism have the same force today as they had in the days of the scribes and Pharisees, and apply to those who have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof. The God of infinite holiness cannot accept external service as spiritual worship. Those who worship God must worship him in spirit and truth, or their service is vain. There must be reality in the religious ceremonies, or they are simply pretensions, hollow abominations. But though Jesus rebuked the priests and religious teachers for their formalism and hypocrisy, yet how forbearing and tender were his lessons to the poor, the oppressed, the afflicted, and discouraged. The priests and rulers, the scribes and Pharisees, destroyed the living pastures, and defiled the well-springs of the water of life. By their false precepts they confused the understanding, and clouded that which was clear. They misrepresented God by their hardness of heart, by their impurity, pride, and selfishness. They made God altogether such a one as themselves. Their imagination was darkened and polluted by their wicked works. Because of their religious degeneracy they could discern nothing that pertained to the spiritual kingdom of Christ. Through rejecting the messages of mercy brought to them by the Lord of light and glory, they became, in their stubborn resistance, past feeling. They had evidence in abundance of the divine character and mission of Christ, and increased evidence would only have increased their guilt. Thinking themselves to be wise, they became fools. As men do today, so they did then, and used the very intellect that God had given them to brand with falsehood his eternal truth. SSW December 1, 1894, par. 4