The scripture episode of saint John 4, Jesus and the Samaritan women, posits Jesus fleeing Judea after Pharisees’ engaged in supremacy battle seeking to know between Jesus and John who baptized many and likely to be a threat to the establishment.
And on his way to Galilee,he went through Samaria to a town called Sychar, which was not far from the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. And Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
It’s here the Samaritan woman encountered Jesus, with Jesus symbolically sitting by Jacob’s well, a cherished native inheritance but currently unable to produce life giving water to quench Samaritan’s woman thirst for men,thus unable to settle in any marriage. And from this perspective,it could be argued that Samaritan’s woman thirst may be related to be humanity thirst for spiritual guidance / direction, or any kind of life challenge that’s causing stunted increasing life / growth either socially,economically or spiritually.
While back to Jacob’s well, it may be argued in relation to Genesis 26, from where we realizes that when Isaac was living in Gerar, God blessed him with many heards of cattle and wealth, and from here we draw the essence of Jacob’s well, that metaphorically would connote life supply to the herds or wealth that he owns.
When the Philistines felt jealous of him and king Abimelech asked him to leave their land. However,wherever they could go, they could dig wells after the first one was filled by in by Philistines,but they could still Quarrel,have enemnity till they dug third one without any controversy and named it liberation according to their own thinking.
And we now see Jesus coming into this Samaritan’s woman’s life creative equation and sits at her platform of creativity that’s associated with her past, old covenant, Jacob’s well that’s currently unable to produce creative flow due to inadequacy in life giving water flow from it.
The image painted here being more Trinitarian in nature,where Samaritan woman connotes humanity that Jesus came for their salvation, through incarnate word,while Jacob’s well symbolizes the old covenant,this we read the woman finally identified Jesus as a prophet and immediately shifts conversation from Jacob’s well to worship. And she says her Samaritan ancestors worshipped God on the Samaritan mountain, but telling Jesus that Jews say that Jerusalem is the place where God should be worshipped.
However,we witness in that scripture episode of Genesis 26, that it was only after Isaac moved to Beersheba when God appeared to him , and assured him of blessing. And he subsequently raised an altar and built a tent,with his servants digging another well that we’re not told to have produced water. May be it never produced water till after Isaac reconciled with the king of Abimelech,where they ate together and made a vow of peace naming that well vow after it was realized that it produced water after after reconciliation between Isaac and his enemies,the Philistines.
The scriptures reminds us that God only releases our blessings to us once he has made us at peace with our adversaries,while our Jacob’s well thinking always keep feeding us the Pharisees’ believe, that of an eye for an eye, tooth for tooth,etc where we only wait for our adversaries’ extinctions from the phase of the earth but that’s not God’s way of thinking but pharisees highway that only leads to damnation.
It’s an highway simply because in most cases, those who hurt us most our our own people, people of own blood😝, these are family members but they normally act in ignorance,and whenever God’s revelation dawn’s on them they would feel very sorry. They’re normally just manipulated like Marionets,by dark forces,and that’s why we realize that God punished Edomites harshly, simply because they never had mercy on their own family members but may be out of vengeance killed them ruthlessly.
Earlier on, one of our mastermind team colleague while experiencing a long period of life famine, reached out to the team for backup support. And it was then when the team of graced with an image of herself and her husband walking along narrow footpath,when they countered a ROCK right on their way blocking them from passing through. And as they paused thinking to bypass the ROCK, the spirit of God whispered to one of our leaders to ask them not by pass it but instead hit the ROCK untill it gushed out water for them to quench their thirst. Marking end of that scene.
It was then when the team subjected the image to further intercession when they’re graced further with it’s extension, adjacent scenes as follows: there appeared two of her family members,one gave her a brand new motor bike,and with him also having one new for himself and they began ridding together as she was led by him, who gave her motor bike.
However, the interesting thing was that whoever was leading the ride was just ridding on other people’s lands instead of on the road. This explanation may be divulged in future reflections.While the other one was meeting them in his house when he gave her a dozen of 12pencils for writing,then took her to his safe and showed her from where she could get more pencils Incase the given ones get finished,marking end of scene.
So, the spirit prompting them to hit the rock that blocked their way in life and metaphorically may be alluded to connote either their life famine, impotency, barrenness,luck, poverty etc, but with the emerging family members, being those who happen to be their life enemies thus the long narrow pathway. But nevertheless, they happened to be their enemies ignorantly,meaning they’re just manipulatively being used without their knowledge.
And as an enabler for their maximum manipulation, they’re given hearts of stone / rock towards them thus unbelief that God tasked them to deal with in prayer for their conversion before they could turn out to be their life blessing / life giving water flow as opposed to before.
The kind of gifting or divine exchange taking place here is a divine reconciliatory one from where those who were initially not generous to their famine due to their Jacob’s well or wrong creative ideologies, are now touched by God’s divine mercy thus now opening up and generously become their life giving water. This the essence of Eucharist, Corpus Christi, who feast day comes next Sunday after Trinity feast and it’s what even Jacob did to Esau, by giving him gifts that led to their reconcilation.
Jesus sits on Jacob’s well to impact a revolution,where he is going to blew up the illusion that human are different and not connected. This what quantum law of entanglement or spooky action at a distance posits, the fact the reactions are instantaneous across distance and has profound implications.
Philosophers, theologians and scientists have suspected and theorized that everything in the universe is connected to everything else by some mechanism. The collapse of Tower of Babel could be alluded to be what’s commonly referred to being a big bang scientifically that resulted to the illusion Jesus confronts at Jacob’s well of separation. Thus we read Jesus telling the Samaritan woman in response to her worship distinct,that the time is coming and is already here, when by the power of God’s spirit , people will worship the Father as he really is, offering him the true worship that he wants. And he continues that God is spirit ,and only by the power of his spirit can people worship him as he really is.
It’s a fallen people reinvention that Jesus confronts at Jacob’s well,and it this holistic mission that could be alluded to have been coined within the concept of Trinity,and we witness after Isaac reconciliation with the king of Abimelech,the living water is seen flowing from the well dug during altar institutions,coupled with erection of tent. This metaphorically may be argued to trigger the emergence of the holy spirit as life giving water. The holy spirit thus could be alluded to be in a mission of creating order, harmony or collective consciousness with the broken body of Christ.
This could be what saint Paul hinted at in his epistles to the Ephesian churches,1.13,”….And you also became God’s people when you heard the true message, the Good News that brought you salvation. You believed in Christ, and God put his stamp of ownership on you by giving you the holy spirit he had promised his people, and this assures us that God will give complete freedom to those who are his. Let’s praise his glory.”
Could this be why after Isaac’s servants dug their last well without any contention,then they named it Liberation / Freedom? Maybe this why the Samaritan woman archetypes, who solely believe in Jacob’s well as their inheritance are unable to trigger creative energy flow, the life giving water
Best wishes for the week ahead.
God’s blessings and Love. ( Maurice.)
Maurice.
Purposeful way of creation 