After the religious leaders started playing Jesus against John (for who was baptizing more), Jesus took off from there with his followers. They walked a couple days through the land of the Samaritans.
Samaritans include 10 of the 12 tribes of Israel. Israel is the name that God gave to Jacob (Abraham’s grandson). These ten “northern” tribes sided with Assyria’s king against Judah (and Benjamin) …their brothers. Jews (those of “Judah”) and Samaritans (Israel’s northern 10 tribes) considered and treated the other as traitors.
“Judah” and “Israel” had hated each other for the last 1,000 years (as only family can hate each other).
It was about noon.
Jesus was resting by himself near Jacob’s well. He asked a woman there, “Give me a drink.” Continuing with her conversational banter, he said, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is saying, ‘Give me a drink’… you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water. Everyone who drinks this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give will never thirst again. Rather, the water that I will give will become an internal well of water – springing up to eternal life.”
She agreed that she wanted this “eternal life” water, and Jesus directed her, “Go; call your husband and come here.”
She replied that she couldn’t do that, and he agreed, “You’re right when you said, ‘I have no husband,’ because you have had five husbands; and the man you are now with is not your husband. You have spoken the truth.”
She called him a prophet, and asked him to know the right place to worship God. He answered directly, “Ma’am, believe me; the time is coming when you will not worship the father in this mountain, or in Jerusalem. You worship what you don’t know. We worship what we know, because salvation is from the Jews.
Jacob’s Well in 2013
However, the time comes (and is now) when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth (because the Father looks for people like this to be his worshipers). God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” Inspired by hope, she allowed herself to dream out loud about the Chosen-One… who will come to restore Israel. He said, “I (the one speaking with you), I am The One.”
Jacob’s Well in 1934
At this point; his followers returned and asked if he was hungry. He answered, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about. My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work.
Don’t you say, ‘There are still four months until the harvest?’ See, I tell you, ‘look up’. Look at the fields. They are so ready for harvest that their tips are white ‐ right now. Whoever harvests gets paid and collects fruit for eternal life; that both the one who plants and the one who harvests may be happy together.
For in this the saying is true, ‘One plants, and another harvests.’ I sent you to harvest growth which you haven’t worked for. Others have worked, and you have entered into their work.”
After a couple days Jesus left there.
Once John the Baptist was thrown into prison, Jesus traveled into his home state of Galilee teaching the message,
“The time is fulfilled, and God’s standard is now!
Turn from knowingly doing wrong, and believe in the good news.”
NEXT UP:
BEFORE:
AFTER:
SOURCE
TEXTS:
This post includes all Jesus’ words from:
CLARIFIED
WORDING:
- “Jesus” is Greek for “Joshua”. His name (and it’s meaning) is a central theme across all Jesus’ teaching, but in order for the story to flow with understanding… Jesus was used rather than Joshua (even though Jesus is the Greek translation of Joshua. Clarity, rather than correctness, is the goal.
- “Christ” is Greek for “Chosen One“. It is true that the actual term is “Anointed One”, but to anoint means to smear or wipe… which anymore is a bio-hazard. This individual was anointed because that way the method with which designation was communicated – washed with oil. This action signified what King Arthur’s sword pulled out of the stone signified; a choosing of that individual.
- “who says to you” is replaced with “saying”
- “in him a” is replaced with “an internal”
- “he whom” is replaced with “the man”
- “You said it right” replaced with “you were right when you said”
- “for” is replaced with “because”
- “Woman” is certainly the most accurate word, but any female I address (today) as woman would be greatly offended. It would be a statement of subjection to a Male’s authority. “Ma’am” is likely a societal equivalent.
- “nor” is replaced with “or”
- “but” replaced with “however” (at the beginning on the sentence).
- “yet” is replaced with “still”
- “that“ is replaced with a semi-colon (“;”). It seems that getting rid of that “that” is the purpose of something like a semi-colon. It’s even spelled like an afterthought. It seems; semi-colons add clarity (too much? maybe).
- “that which” is replaced with “what”, because that is how we speak
- “you now have” is replaced with “you are now with”
- “seeks such” is replaced with “looks for people like this”
- “and” is paraphrased using punctuation. Ancient sentences were often what today’s English Teachers would call a run-in sentence.
- “the hour comes” is replaced with a more commonly spoken “the time is coming”
- “white for harvest” replaced with “so ready for harvest, their tips are white”. This is primarily because most people in my world have never been to a farm.
- “collects fruit to eternal life” to “collects fruit for eternal life“
Bible Dictionary: a list of Bible words and phrases (typically Jesus’ words) which don’t have clear meaning when used in daily talk, and are simplified / culturally paraphrased in this story – in pursuit of understanding.
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