Was thinking about the Gospel reading for yesterday, about Jesus and the Samaritan woman by the well. How you have these two ethno-religious groups who hold opposing ‘doctrines,’ so to speak (“Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain; but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem”). And when the Messiah finally appears, two things happen: first, He sets the records straight over which group was right (“You people worship what you do not understand; we worship what we understand, because salvation is from the Jews.”).
But, secondly, even as He sets this record straight, His appearance produces such a paradigm shift that the original conflict between these two groups is rendered superfluous (“Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem . . . the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth“). There was one group that was right, but the Messiah’s appearance invites both groups into a new way of relation to God that makes the initial conflict obsolete.
And I wonder if there will be any parallel to this in the Second Coming
