The Woman at the Well

[djeter]

When a Jewish prophet of the first century announced that the reign of God is at hand, N. T. Wright has argued, he would be taken to mean something very specific: that the scattering of the tribes of Israel (in both a literal and a spiritual sense) was over and that Yahweh was coming to reign in Jerusalem, this reconfiguration inaugurating the illumination and salvation of the entire world.

In other words, he would be interpreted as saying that the dream of Israel-realized only fitfully and inadequately throughout its history-was now coming definitively true. So when Jesus of Nazareth said, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news” (Mark 1:15), he was not calling attention to general, timeless spiritual truths, nor was he urging people to make a decision for God; he was telling his hearers that Yahweh was actively gathering the people of Israel and, indirectly, all people into a new salvific order, and he was insisting that his hearers conform themselves to this new state of affairs.

In this gathering, he was implying, the forgiveness of sins-the overcoming of sundering and division-would be realized. In a word, the proclamation of the kingdom was tantamount to an announcement that the Gatherer of Israel had arrived and had commenced his work. What is most remarkable about Jesus, according to Wright, is that he not only indicated this fact but embodied it and acted it out, taking, in his words and gestures, the very role of the Gatherer. Origen said substantially the same thing when he described Jesus as autobasileia, the kingdom in person.

Fr. Robert Barron’s analysis of the Gathering looks at one more splendid Johannine icon: the carefully crafted story of the meeting between Jesus and a Samaritan woman alongside a well. Like many of the other narratives in John’s Gospel – the woman caught in adultery; the man born blind, the raising of Lazarus – this story is both a literary and a theological masterpiece. And like the wedding feast account at Cana, it is a nuptial tale, a presentation of the process by which Jesus gathers to himself a bride.

The rest of the story is here.

payingattentiontothesky.com/2009/11/17/the-woman-at-the-well/

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

dj

 

[Benadam]

Beautifull and sublime analysis of the confrontation. The author’s recognition of the Samaritan woman as archetypical reaches to the deepest meaning of the events that surrounded Jesus.

I would add one more insight into the archrtypical character of the Samaritan woman. The woman’s life history paralell’s the pattern of Samaria’s history. The history of Samaria is experienced in the history of a single individual. Samaria had five vassal kings before the one current at the time Jesus and the woman had this dialogue. She IS Samaria. She is the entire nation as one person. She knows what it is to be the people of Samaria. She is all of them as one person. Not just the population alive at the time but from it’s birth. That is the reason that so many believed in Jesus on her account. She was already understood to be a prophetess. Note the pattern in revelation that is presented as a kind of riddle that wisdom is required to unravel ie;

***9 And here is the understanding that hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, upon which the woman sitteth, and they are seven kings: 10 Five are fallen, one is, and the other is not yet come: and when he is come, he must remain a short time. ***

This especially makes the author’s analysis very precise when he describes this as an encounter with archetypes of sin. In her very person she really was.

Jesus understood this woman in a way only Samaritans of the deepest religious thought knew her. This is what amazed her and all of them and why she exclaimed that He knew 'everything I ever did" How could a Jew so far away from them personally know such a deeply intimate reality exclusive to the Samaritan experience?

djeter, thank you for posting this I did very much enjoy reading it. May the Lord continue to bless you.

 

[djeter]

Thank you Benadam. A lovely addition and you’re exactly the kind of person I love to share it with.

dj