The Woman at the Well as Image of Christian Division

Discussion in 'Scriptural Thoughts' started by Scott P, Jun 9, 2020.

  1. Scott P

    Scott P New Member

    Excerpt:

    The Woman at the Well as Image of Christian Division

    Now we are ready for the profound Scripture. The act of seeing ecclesiology in this passage of the Samaritan woman is of utmost appropriateness. However, one may object and say that we need to look at the words of Christ as strictly fulfilling Old Testament realities, and that allegory that anticipates, dare we say prophetically, New Testament realties that will arise long after the Deposit is closed are to be excluded. Here we can say that, yes, admittedly, in an initial approach to the Gospels, we read passages in light of the OT to find their fulfillment in the Christ. But need we stop there? The Fathers were also repeatedly seeing New Testament realties veiled as forth-looking types of Christian mystery in the words and actions of Our Divine Savior. Indeed, the article on loaves and fishes [vi] showed that, there—right there—in those stories of ordinal amounts and types of food, the sacraments as regards divisiveness in Christ’s Body were perfectly veiled. In the article on the Joyful Mysteries, [vii] we saw that the entire narrative of pregnancies of Our Lady and St Elizabeth perfectly revealed the whole history of the Divine Plan, from the garden to the Second Coming. Too, in the article we have been discussing from Armageddon and the Kings of the East, [viii] the East turns out to perfectly image the OT division of the North, and that, as Christian division, finds a more profound understanding of why great strife arises in human history: Christian division begets loss of faith, and loss of faith alienates man from God, which in turn alienates man from himself, and hence incomprehensible strife results. We could go on, but it is not necessary. Consequently, whereas the Woman at the Well may indeed show a fulfillment of an OT type in the marital successions, why should we dismiss that this text could be forward-pointing to epic New Testament division? It works! Let us consider it.

    Firstly, the Samaritans are the proto-religious society separated from authentic Judaism. The Samaritans are the remnant of the separated North several centuries before, remembering that, hence, the North is the supreme image of Jewish division for the Old Testament. The capital of this Northern Kingdom was Samaria. The Samaritans possess a corrupted form of Judaism. They are unorthodox. Jews and Samaritans are at supreme spiritual enmity with one another, to the point of no discourse. “How dost thou, being a Jew, ask of me to drink, who am a Samaritan woman?” [Jn 4:9] Furthermore, the conversation between the Christ and the beloved woman centers profoundly around the places of worship. Indeed, the setting for the event is Jacob’s well, which is the rival place of worship to Jerusalem. The Christ, then, clearly setting as one great litmus test of orthodoxy the place of worship, testifies to the woman, “You worship what you do not understand. We worship what we do understand, for salvation is from Jews.”

    Toward these ends, if we already have here the blatant situation of religious separation in an Old Testament context, how much more could the Scripture forwardly look in allegory to the New Testament separation. In short, again, it fits perfectly. Let us probe it.

    The primary examination centers effectively upon the obvious: the sexual history of the woman.

    Jesus saith to her: Go, call thy husband, and come hither. [17] The woman answered, and said: I have no husband. Jesus said to her: Thou hast said well, I have no husband: [18] For thou hast had five husbands: and he whom thou now hast, is not thy husband. This thou hast said truly. [19] The woman saith to him: Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. [20] Our fathers adored on this mountain, and you say, that at Jerusalem is the place where men must adore. [Jn 4:16-20]

    Here is the profundity in short: per our analysis of sexual theology, divorce and remarriage images schism, and committed cohabitation images heresy. Bingo! How many husbands has the woman had? Five! These are obviously spiritual husbands. And there are two kinds of spiritual husbands: utterly authentic, as in Catholic, and divorced and remarried husbands, as in schismatics. Well, lo and behold, from our Armageddon article, we saw that just as there were 12 tribes of Israel, there were 12 Apostles. And in the OT schism, the North broke away and took most of the 12 tribes with it, namely, 10. In the NT schism, with the East fulfilling the North, the East took most of the Apostolic Sees with her. Here, the 12 Apostles did not leave behind 12 Sees, but only, yes, FIVE! Peter, and the others: Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria. The East took all but one See, Peter, with her. Peter, plus four sees, is five apocalyptic husbands.

    Hence, to return to the well, in the beginning, the apocalyptic woman of division had one earthly spouse, a completely legitimate spouse, Peter, who is the ultimate husband for the Church on earth. Later, after the first millennium of the faithful, she “divorced” Peter and took upon herself “four lesser husbands,” the four remnant Apostolic Sees. “For you have had five husbands…”

    Then, in a self-same apocalyptic development, division scourged the Body of Christ in the inglorious heretical rebellion. And, lo and behold, once again, the theology of the next most depraved form of sexuality sets in: the stand-in husband, the fornicating “committed” partner, remembering that per our theology just developed, the Protestant minister has not a formal status as spouse, being part of communities that do not possess authentic holy orders, and so is a “live-in husband.” “And the man you are now with is not your husband.”
     
  2. Katfalls

    Katfalls Powers

    I totally don't get what you are trying to say.
     
  3. Scott P

    Scott P New Member

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