Rough draft.
Diversion and Relaxation
The tension between the apostles and John’s disciples, and the stress from working so closely with the gentiles and Samaritans, had become almost unbearable. They were all having a hard time living with one another. And on top of all of that, Jesus’ recent teachings had the twelve at a loss as to what to think. The situation got so bad, that Andrew, who was almost beside himself at this point, went to Jesus with these problems.
After listening to the chief of his apostles, Jesus refused, again, to get involved with the social problems between his apostles and the people. He did tell Andrew, though, that when there are so many people involved, and when everyone is so set in their feelings, that there really is no way to talk them out of their beliefs.
That said, Jesus then told Andrew that it would help for him and the other eleven apostles to take a three-day break up on Mt. Sartaba. (sär’täbə). And, Jesus, also, wanted to rest for a day or two.
Jesus told Andrew to go and talk to each of the other apostles in private. And when he was alone with each of them, Andrew was to tell the person that Jesus wanted everyone to go with him up to Mt. Sartaba to relax, and since everyone had been under so much stress lately, that Jesus wanted them all to agree to not bring up any of their problems while they were together on this little vacation.
Andrew went and did as he was instructed.
The trip up the mountain that day was a wonderful experience for each of the them, and they never forgot it. Hardly any word was mentioned of the problems they had left behind down below. Once they reached the top of the mountain, Jesus had them all sit around him. He told his twelve apostles that everyone has to learn the value of taking a break from their troubles. When things get too tangled-up and confusing, the best thing you can do is to set them aside for a time. Then when you come back to them with your mind and body refreshed, you not only have a clearer head and more resolve to solve them, but many times we find that our problems have shrunk in size.
The next morning Jesus gave them each a topic to discuss, and all they did for the whole day was reminisce and talk about anything but their religious work. At noon, when Jesus took out the bread for their lunch and started eating his food without saying a prayer, they were all a bit shocked. This was the first time they’d ever seen him neglect the Jewish formalities about eating.
When they had headed up the mountain, each of the apostles was dealing with their own personal problems, as well as being confused about how to get along with John’s disciples. Andrew’s mental space, because he was the chief of the twelve, was overflowing with all of the problems they were having with the other disciples. John’s heart was confused, and James’ soul was badly troubled. Matthew’s worries all had to do with their finances, and Peter was just super-stressed about everything, and touchier than normal. Judas was going through one of his periods of being more sensitive and selfish than normal, and Simon was beating himself up inside trying to fit his patriotism with his love for the brotherhood of man. Philip didn’t know what to think, Thomas was deeply depressed, and Nathaniel had lost his sense of humor since he had started dealing with the gentiles. The only ones who were their normal selves, were the two Alpheus twins.
By the third day, when they started back down the mountain, a huge change had come over all of them. They’d discovered that most problems are nonexistent, and others are the result of exaggerated fear. By putting their problems aside for the time, they had worked themselves out. When they got back down the mountain, their dealings with John’s disciples were much better. Most of the crew even started having fun and joking after they realized how relaxed everyone was after taking their break. They learned that there is always the danger that when being around people for too long and monotony sets in, that it can confuse and multiply people’s problems.
Not many people in the two Greek cities of Archelais (ärkə’lāəs) and Phasaelis (fə’sāəlis) became believers in the new gospel of the kingdom. But for the apostles, it was a valuable learning experience in how to work with just gentiles in the crowd.
It was mid-month on a Monday morning when Jesus told Andrew, “We go into Samaria,” and right then they all set out for Sychar, near Jacob’s well.
The Jews and the Samaritans
About seven hundred years before this time, Sargon, the king of Assyria, put down a revolt in central Palestine. He took over twenty-five thousand Jews from the northern part of the kingdom of Israel captive and hauled them away, and he replaced them with the same number of people from the Cuthites (‘küthīts), Sepharvites (‘sēfärvīts), and Hamathites (‘hāmathīts). Then, Ashurbanipal (ashə(r)’bänəpäl) sent even more groups of people to live in Samaria.
Over six hundred years later, during the time of this story, the ill-will between the Jews and Samaritans was still strong. When the Jews returned to Palestine, the Samaritans tried to stop them from rebuilding Jerusalem, and after that they helped Alexander the Great when he conquered the land. Alexander, in return for that friendship, let the Samaritans build a temple on Mt. Gerizim. There, they worshiped Yahweh (‘yäwe) and their tribal gods and gave sacrifices a lot like the Jews did in their temple services. This continued up until the Maccabees rose up, and John Hyrcanus (hə(r)’knāəs) led them to destroy the temple. Philip taught at this site many times after the resurrection when he was there working with the Samaritans.
Throughout their history, the feud between the Jews and the Samaritans had been honored by both sides, and over the years the two groups had increasingly less and less to do with one another. The apostles had been okay with preaching in the gentile cites of Syria and the Decapolis, but when Jesus all of the sudden said that they were now taking off for Samaria, it tested their loyalty to the breaking point. It was only their loyalty to Jesus as their friend, and not so much their faith in his teachings, that held them all together.
The Woman of Sychar
When they all got to Jacob’s well, Jesus decided to hang out there and rest for a bit, while Philip and the others went into Sychar (‘sīkär) for food and tents, because they were planning on staying in this area for a while. Peter and the Zebedee sons wanted to stay behind with Jesus, but he told them, “Don’t worry about me; the Samaritans will be friendly. It’s only our fellow Jews who want to hurt us.”
It was almost six o’clock on that summer evening when Jesus sat down by Jacob’s Well to wait for the apostles to get back. This well had less mineral content than the other watering holes in Sychar, and it had the best tasting water in the area.
Jesus was thirsty, and he wanted a drink, but he didn’t have anything to scoop out the water. So when a woman from Sychar showed up with her pitcher to get some water, Jesus told her to give him a drink.
Now, this was a pretty young gal name named Nalda, and she could tell Jesus was a Jew by the way he looked, and from his accent she figured out that he was from Galilee. She was a bit surprised when Jesus asked her for a drink, because back then it wasn’t proper for a man to speak to a woman in public, much less for a Jewish man to speak to a Samaritan woman.
So Nalda asked Jesus, “Why are you, a Jew, asking me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” Jesus said, “It’s true, I asked you for water, but if you could only understand, you would ask me for a drink of the living water.”
Then Nalda said, “But sir, you have nothing to scoop out the water and the well is deep, so just where are you going to get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob who gave us this well, and who himself drank here with his sons and his cattle?”
Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but those people who drink the water of the living spirit will never again be thirsty. And this living water will be there to refresh him all the way to eternal life.”
Then, Nalda said, “Give me this water even if I’m not thirsty for it, and even if I didn’t come all this way to get it. Besides, anything which a Samaritan woman could receive from such a commendable Jew would be a pleasure.”
Now, Nalda had been confused about how to take Jesus’ willingness to talk with her. She could tell in Jesus’ face that he was an upright and holy man, but she mistook his friendliness, and thought that he was coming on to her. And, being a woman who had slept around a bit during her life, she started flirting with him.
At least up until Jesus, looking straight into her eyes and with a commanding voice said, “Woman, go get your husband and bring him here.”
This command shocked Nalda to her senses. She realized that she had misjudged Jesus’ kindness, and that she had mistook the meaning of his words. Nalda was scared and confused; she was realizing that she stood in the presence of an unusual man, and at a loss for words, she blurted out, “But, Sir, I can’t call my husband, because I don’t have a husband.”
To which Jesus said, “You’ve spoken the truth, because while you did have a husband once, the man you’re living with now is not your husband. Nalda, It would be best for you to quit questioning my words and ask for the living water I offered you earlier.”
By this time Nalda had come to her senses, and her better side was now fully awake. She wasn’t living the life she was, wholly by choice. She’d been unjustly cast aside by her husband, and when in those dire straits, she had agreed to live with a Greek man even though they weren’t married. Nalda was now pretty ashamed by how she had spoken to Jesus, and she said, “My Lord, I’m sorry for how I spoke to you. I can see now that you are a holy man, or maybe even a prophet.”
And then, just as she was about to ask Jesus to help her, she did what many other people do: she dodged the question of her own personal salvation, and instead changed the topic to a philosophical discussion.
Pointing to Mt. Gerizim (‘ɡerəzim), she said, “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and yet you come and say that we’re supposed to worship in Jerusalem instead. So, which then is it? Where’s the right place to worship God?”
Jesus knew that Nalda was changing the subject so she wasn’t put on the spot, but he also sensed that she really did want to know how to live better.
So Jesus was patient, and said, “Nalda, the day is coming when you won’t worship our Father either in Jerusalem, or on this mountain. Right now, you and the other people don’t even know what you worship. Your religion is made up of a bunch of pagan Gods mixed in with human-based philosophies. At least the Jews know who they worship. They got rid of the confusion, and focus their efforts on the one God, Yahweh. But believe me, the time is coming, it’s actually already here, when sincere people will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. God is spirit, and must be worshiped in spirit and in truth. Your salvation doesn’t come from worrying about how or where other people worship, but rather by accepting in your heart the living water I am now offering you.”
But Nalda still wasn’t ready yet to face the embarrassment of her personal life and her status as a soul before God. Again, she changed the topic to religion, and instead said, “Yes, I know that, sir. John preached about the coming of the Converter who will be called the Deliverer, and that when he comes, he’ll tell us many things…”
And then, Jesus, interrupting her before she could go on, said with full assurance, “That person you’re talking about, is me.” That was the first time that Jesus ever specifically declared that he was divine, and that he was the coming Deliverer. And, he made that statement to a Samaritan woman who at the time everyone else thought had a questionable character.
Jesus could see that Nalda’s situation was more from having been sinned against, than from having sinned herself and that she was sincere in wanting salvation. And that was enough.
But just as she was about to open up to Jesus on her own, the Apostles returned. And to say they were stunned to see Jesus all by himself talking with a young pretty Samaritan woman is a bit of an understatement.
But, they didn’t say a thing. None of them had the guts to challenge Jesus, so they stowed the supplies they brought back, and then went off a little ways and hung by themselves.
While this was going on, Jesus told Nalda, “Woman, go on your way; God has forgiven you. From here on out, you’ll live a new life. You’ve been given the living water, and now new joy will spring up in your soul and you’ll become a daughter of the Most High.”
When Jesus was done, Nalda, who could tell the apostles were pretty angry, ran back to the city leaving her water pot behind in her haste. As soon as she got back to town, she started to tell everyone she met to, “Go out to Jacob’s well, and go there now, and you’ll see a man who told me all I ever did. Is he the Converter?”
And so, before the sun went down, a big crowd had come together at Jacob’s well to hear Jesus speak. And the Master talked to them more about the water of life, which is what he was calling our gift of the indwelling spirit inside of us.
The apostles never ceased to be shocked by Jesus’ willingness to talk with women, even those women people thought were of low character. Jesus had a real hard time when it came to teaching his apostles that women, including the one’s with so-called low moral standards, also had souls and also could become daughters of God with eternal life.
And even nineteen centuries later, a lot of people are unwilling to accept our Master’s teachings. Even the Christian religion was built around the fact of the death of Jesus, instead of being about his life and teachings. The world should be more concerned with Jesus’ life, how happy and God-revealing he lived, than with his tragic death.
Nalda told this entire story of her talk with Jesus to John the next day, but he never told all of it to the other apostles. And Jesus never told the twelve the details of his conversation with her either.
Nalda told John that Jesus had told her “all I ever did.” John wanted to ask Jesus about this, but never got around to it. In actuality, Jesus only verbally told Nalda one thing about her life. He never told her that he knew she had had lived with four other men after her first husband had left her. But when Jesus had looked into Nalda’s eyes, her entire checkered life immediately came into panoramic view and she associated that moment of clarity with Jesus, and in turn, she told John that Jesus really had told her all about herself.
Okay folks, that’s it for part 2 of Chapter 22, “Going Through Samaria.” We’ll finish up this chapter in a few days.
On to the commentary.
Jesus’s teaching about the need to take a break from our troubles when things get to complex or we’ve been beating our heads against a wall for too long, we’ve all heard before.
For me, this is probably the one thing that would have helped me the most with problems and relationships in the past.
Saying anything more than that, will make me sound like my mother, and probably yours.
So onward.
Nalda, and the part about her shifting the conversation from looking at her personal decision to accept God as Father, to a philosophical discussion trying to prove or disprove the existence of God.
This seems to be a common problem in America. Especially with our newer generations, who, like us before, are trapped in both an insane world and in brilliant developing minds, but without the time on planet to contextualize the two.
So many people are trying to rationalize a belief in God, which really doesn’t make any sense. If there is a God, then how are we, mortals, supposed to acquire the knowledge to make that decision? We know, or should know by now, that looking for signs or miracles doesn’t work. How would we know it’s not just extraterrestrials and more advanced technology? And at this time in our history, with UFOs being more fact not fiction, this is a very real problem we may have to face, and soon.
What happens if an advanced race shows up with technology that makes it look like God? How do we make that decision, and then guide others to the truth?
“Knowing” that there is a God is not the result of mental deduction, but rather developing our inner sense and listening to the subtle whispers that come through. This isn’t an event; it’s a process that takes time and specific effort to clear away the electro-chemical barrage of fears that fill our biological minds.
But we’re not alone in the process; we don’t actually have to do anything. Yes, learning to breathe and meditate and clear our minds helps spirit to break through the fog that’s normally there, but it’s our belief, our faith in God, that allows Spirit to work on us, to in actuality transform us to where that original belief, that flicker of faith in God, becomes a deep sublime absolute knowing that God the Father is in fact in our minds.
And, like with so many other things in life, we have to trust the process.
Okay, that’s enough of me for this episode.
Please share these posts with all of your buds, and buy some copies of volume one of Son of Man: Urantia to both support the project and spread Jesus’s message of the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of humanity.
Defend liberty, Protect your kids, and find a way to serve humanity for nothing less than the sake of God
Bob