HSG Blog

The Woman at the Well – She’s Not Who You Think She is

/ Pamela Spock (IntimateKingdom.com) / 1 Comment

The woman at the well in John 4. Who is she? A harlot who goes through men like water? A victim of cruel men who either die or get bored of her?

The underlying reasons for those questions are important. But what if we are simply coming to the story with 21st century concerns instead of looking for what the context and its symbols are telling us?

What symbols? John 4 comes right after John 3. And what is at the tail end of John 3? John the Baptist talking in symbols: he’s the best man introducing the Great Groom (Christ) who strides forth, coming for his Bride.

And then what do we have at the start of John 4? That very Groom, walking toward another symbol: a well. A well he just “had” to come to (v.4). Why? What was so important about this particular well?

This is when our Old Testament alarm bells should start ringing. It was Jacob’s well. He had to go to *Jacob’s* well.

Why? Because Jacob is one of Israel’s patriarchs. And who, exactly, meets Israel’s patriarchs when they arrive at a well? A bride.

Abraham, the father of nations, orchestrates the match between his son and a bride there: Isaac and Rebekah. Isaac’s son, too, meets his wife at a well: Jacob and Rachel. And don’t forget Moses and Zipporah meet at a well, too.

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses: meeting a bride at a well runs right through all their stories.

So when we see John 3 bring up the symbol of a Groom and John 4 bring up the symbol of a well, our hand should hood our eyes as we scan the horizon. Who will the bride be? What kind of match is the Heavenly Father, the father of nations, striking up for his Son at this well (in broad daylight, by the way)? The fair Rachel? The weak Leah?

No. She’s even more surprising. It is fitting that the camera would pan to the Samaritan woman as the symbol of Christ’s Bride: a biblical symbol that represents the church. For as we know, as a Samaritan, she’s both Jew and Gentile in one. And so is the church.

Here is the Bride that Christ is interested in: the one who went through so many grooms that failed her, the one no one wants to talk to, the lowly and unexpected. Not the most impressive, rather the overlooked and misunderstood. Not the self-righteous and smug, rather the dejected and ostricized. This is exactly who comprises the church. She is exactly who the woman at the well represents. She’s us.

* By Ashley Marivittori Gorman

POSTSCRIPT FROM PAMELA:

I hope you enjoyed this amazing insight into the Samaritan woman. I am floored by how she is also connected to so many other controversial and unconventional women whom God loved and chose for His special purposes. Not the least of which is the mysterious woman in the Song! (For further reading on how she so imperfectly-perfectly ‘fits the bill,’ read: https://IntimateKingdom.com/Gods-Stigma)

Is Christ’s love BIG for His Bride, or what?

I know for me, it just keeps getting big-HER all the time. ❤︎ 

Perfect in Love

/ Pamela Spock (IntimateKingdom.com) / Leave a comment

Today I’d like to share a post by guest writer Teague McKamey. The last time I wrote something on the blog, A Tour of a Secret Garden, I illustrated how nature teaches us something about ‘perfection’ — and that it’s attainable in this life.

Jesus also taught this.

“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect,”  Matthew 5:48.

But I never realized there’s a specific context to Jesus’ words. It’s shockingly practical. And it wasn’t until I had a difficult ‘lesson on love’ recently, that the Spirit led me to re-read Teague’s article. Suddenly, Jesus’ words came alive. And I had to make a choice to be perfect. 

And so I was made perfect – and still am. At least in the challenge I faced. :-)

I hope you also get something out of the article!

In Love,

Pamela

Fair and Balanced

“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48)

I don’t know how many times the chill of impossibility has traveled up my spine as I’ve read this verse.  PERFECT.  BE PERFECT.  No way, Jose.  (Or in this case, Haysoos).  

While I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read this verse with a chill, I can tell you it’s the same number of times I’ve read it without connecting it to the verses before it:

“But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. For He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matt. 5:44-45).  

This context makes all the difference, as context usually does 😉 I’ve known for a long time that “perfect” can also be translated “complete” or “mature.” I like the idea of maturing. Allowing for process is more gracious than a pass / fail word like “perfect.” In the natural, a mature son is probably more like his father than an immature son. So I can see Jesus encouraging me to grow up, to present a clearer image of God the Father.  

At the same time, something doesn’t sit quite right with me about that understanding.  I wouldn’t say it’s wrong. But it does seem odd to say “be mature as your heavenly Father is mature”; God hasn’t undergone a process of growth like I have. 

Back to the context. God causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good. He sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. To give sun or rain only to the good and righteous would be *incomplete*. Jesus tells us to love our enemies so that we will be *complete* like our Father, showing love to good and bad alike. 

God is love (1 John 4:16). Nothing is left out of that love. This is so fair and balanced Fox News can’t compare. Jesus is telling us to love completely: friends, enemies, lovers, and liars.

Here’s what’s funny though: Saying, “Be complete” makes me feel better than “Be perfect.” But being complete is no less impossible. Being complete means loving my enemies. We’re back to “No way, Haysoos.” 

But I don’t believe Jesus said this so that we’d do our best to fulfill it. I believe He said it so that we would be swamped by its impossibility. His hope is that, as we’re being swallowed by the quicksand of our weaknesses, we would reach out and grab the Vine God is throwing us.  

Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without Me” (John 15:5). On our own, we can do nothing. If I grab onto and graft into the Vine, being complete is possible. Jesus is already the Son who is like His Father. He died for all—friends, enemies, and everything in between. His love is complete.

“No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us and His love is complete in us” (1 John 4:12).

By Teague McKamey

Original posting location: https://thevoiceofone.org/2019/02/21/fair-and-balanced/