Today we will comment
on chapter 17 of the book "Boa Nova”,
the meeting of Jesus
and the Samaritan woman.
And that reminds us
of a song by Gladston and Tim,
which goes more or less like this:
"Asleep the eyes, the view lies
on the sea, on love."
The song is called "The Home-House"
and that has everything to do
with the main theme
of this passage from the book "Boa Nova".
This passage is about
communion with God.
It is about love,
about union between the creature
and the Creator.
And the text is very deep.
In fact, Humberto de Campos
invests all his literary talent
as member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters
and superposes a subtle
literary fabric on a masterpiece,
which is chapter 4 of the Gospel of John.
By the way,
a great commentator
and translator of the Bible, Alonso Schökel,
who is the author
of "The Pilgrim's Bible",
made a very interesting comment
on that passage from chapter 4.
He says:
"Here we have
one of those chapters
in which John
makes his talent as a narrator shine,
and more than that,
his capacity to intertwine,
in his account,
discreetly,
symbols of a profound perspective.”
Being a relatively vast account,
it is fit to indicate
some points of reference to the process."
And in fact it is necessary,
because John takes a long ride.
There is a French commentator
called A. Jaubert,
who separates,
in fact, from chapter 2
to chapter 4 of John.
For a very curious reason,
he starts from the text itself.
In the beginning of chapter 2 of the Gospel of John,
the narrative starts in the following manner:
"On the third day, there was a wedding
in Cana of Galilee
and the mother of Jesus was there.
Jesus was invited to the wedding
and his disciples too."
And at the end of chapter 4,
more precisely
in verse 46 of chapter 4,
John says:
"He came back again to Cana of Galilee,
where He had turned water into wine.
There was a royal servant
whose son was sick in Capernaum."
So A. Jaubert says it’s from Cana to Cana.
Jesus leaves Cana of Galilee
and heads to the Passover celebration
in Jerusalem.
At the end of the celebration,
He returns to Galilee.
On foot, that's about
a hundred miles.
But He could have chosen
an easier path,
He could have chosen to walk
along the banks of the river Jordan.
However, He says:
"I need to go through Samaria."
And He chooses a deserted path,
a desert of stone,
difficult, dangerous...
Jesus Himself told a parable
which, in a certain way,
tells of the dangers of that path,
which is the parable of the Good Samaritan,
in which a man was coming down
from Jerusalem to Jericho,
exactly through that path,
and was robbed.
So one thing is curious,
this movement from Cana of Galilee
to Jerusalem,
and then from Jerusalem to Cana again,
entering Capernaum,
where He heals the son
of one of king Herod's servants.
John's text
is very intricate,
it reminds us of a piece of handicraft.
And John is skillful with literature,
he's skillfull with intertwining
very profound symbols
in a subtle manner,
without much complication,
without muddying waters,
but in a direct manner,
as if it were a river flowing,
he intertwines profound symbols.
What is that passage all about?
Perhaps its central theme is water.
Jesus is thirsty.
After a long journey,
He sits by the fountain.
A woman comes to get water from the well,
because in that patriarchal society
it was a woman's job to take care of the home
and most of all
to provide water for the home,
an essential element
in that nomad society
that lives in the desert
and later in this society that settles
around the desert.
So water is a precious element.
The woman comes to get water
and then a mirror game
starts.
Jesus asks for water,
but in fact
He wants to offer water.
The disciples offer Him food,
but in truth
He's the one who offers food.
In this game of metaphors,
of mirrors, of opposites,
the narrative is developed.
We're going to use here,
in order to understand this chapter 17
of the book "Boa Nova",
a comment from the Gospel of John,
which is a comment by Frédéric Manns.
Frédéric Manns is a Franciscan priest
who lives in Jerusalem
and wrote what I consider to be
one of the best comments
on the Gospel of John.
It's in French, which is a pity,
it needs to be translated into Portuguese,
so that everybody
can have access to that work,
which is apparently small,
but very, very dense.
And Frédéric Manns proposes
a way to divide that text,
a way to understand
how that text was planned.
Maybe you're asking yourself:
"But is all of that really necessary
in order to understand chapter 17?"
In order to understand
what Humberto de Campos is saying,
do we have to go so deep in the text?
We have to.
Over a narrative
that's apparently subtle,
beautiful and romanticized,
Humberto de Campos
draws the spirit from the letter.
He brings the interpretation
of the profound symbols of that passage.
And if we don't take
a broader look at the passage,
it is difficult to “fish”
in chapter 17 of the book "Boa Nova".
My job here today
is to bring a bit of net,
fishhook, fishing rod,
a bit of bait… and together with you
to try
and succeed
in this fishing for spiritual lights
that the text proposes
to our immortal spirit.
After all,
we are dealing here
with themes of the utmost relevance
to the immortal spirit,
we're speaking of communion
between creature and Creator,
how that communion takes place,
how this union happens,
between human beings and God.
What's the first step?
What should they do?
What's that union based on?
Those are the great themes
of chapter 4 of the Gospel of John.
So let's go, to the structure.
We always like to remember
that the ancient world was rich in craftsmen,
in architects...
Just by looking at Egypt,
we are enchanted by the pyramids,
by its shapes, its Math,
the distribution of space,
the Greek sculptures,
the art of the ancient peoples
in moulding material elements,
turning them into works of art.
Of course each people
became expert
in those materials
that were available in their country.
So we have stone in Egypt.
And it's with stone
that pyramids are built.
In Greece, we have marble
and other kinds of material,
in which they sculpt wonderful works
of the Greek genre.
Very well, and Israel had what?
They had parchment, papyrus,
a reed and a bit of ink.
That people, in fact,
for more than a thousand years,
dealt very closely with texts,
with parchment,
and they developed
a kind of intimacy
with the spoken word,
with narratives, with storytelling.
We can say they were
excellent storytellers,
storytellers and poets,
and they brought to the text they wrote
or to the text they recited
a bit of the environment,
of the life,
of their culture,
their belief, their folklore,
their stories
passed on from father to son,
from grandfather to grandson...
And with that material
they composed their works,
but they composed them
with such an hability,
with an artistic sense
that was so refined,
that the texts are true
works of architecture.
Of course that here we have
to adapt.
If other peoples
use stones and other materials,
the Hebrew people use words,
they put words together,
they arrange them in a very special manner,
so that they represent a building,
a monument.
It wasn't by chance that the benefactor Emmanuel
commented on the book "On the Way to the Light"
that the Old Testament
is the monument of the secret science
of the Hebrew people -
partially decoded.
A monument because it's built
word for word,
matching perfectly,
disposed in an order
that's artistically planned,
previously designed.
Let's go.
Frédéric Manns gives us a tip
in the disposition of chapter 4 of the Gospel of John.
He recalls the structure
which, technically,
the scholars call chiasmus...
Chiasmus is an X.
It's an opposition.
We just need to remember the poet from Minas
Carlos Drummond de Andrade,
who says:
"There was a stone in the middle of the road,
in the middle of the road there was a stone."
Forming an X with the words.
And here John also
uses this literary artifice
to compose chapter 4,
which is the meeting of Jesus
and the Samaritan woman,
but he composes it in steps, so to speak.
It's as if you were going up a staircase,
then you got to a platform,
then you went down the staircase,
but to every step on the way up
there's an equivalent step on the way down.
So the first step,
we can call it step A.
On the way down I have
the last step, which is A'.
Second step, B.
Second to last on the way down, B'.
Third step, C.
First on the way down, C',
and the platform, which we'll call D.
Well, we'll put there on the screen
an image of this architectural piece,
this disposition.
It's very interesting.
And why is it interesting?
The first step, A,
speaks of the trip to Galilee.
So it goes from verse 1 to 6
and tells why Jesus
wanted to head out to Galilee,
and why He decided to go through Samaria,
which was the longest path,
the hardest path,
the most difficult path,
because it was through the desert,
not to mention that Jews and Samaritans
were enemies,
in constant conflict,
sometimes they got into physical fights,
there were murders on each side
among them...
So it was a great risk
for a Jew, like Jesus,
from the tribe of Judah,
to go through the territory of Samaria.
That amazes us a bit.
So the first step,
this A, tells us about that.
The last step, A',
tells us about what?
The trip back to Galilee,
or getting back on the road.
And it's in verses 39 to 42.
So we have here
a kind of mirror.
It starts a certain way,
it ends the same way.
It starts speaking of the trip to Galilee,
the trip back to Galilee,
and recaps the subject of the return to Galilee.
On this part, verses 1 to 6;
on that part, verses 39 to 42.
And the second step?
The second step is the passage
in which Jesus asks the Samaritan woman for water.
That's from verse 7 to verse 15.
And the mirrored step, on the way down,
the second to last,
which is B',
speaks of the disciples
asking Jesus for food.
It's in verse 31 to 38.
So look how interesting this is,
in this mirrored structure.
Jesus asks for water.
On the mirror,
the disciples ask Jesus for food.
Water,
food,
involving Jesus.
Then we go
to the third step, C.
On the third step,
we have another theme,
it's what we can call
witness-revelation.
On that step,
both on the third step going up
and on the third going down,
mirrored,
the theme is a revelation,
a testimony.
On the step going up,
we have the revelation of Jesus
about the Samaritan woman.
It's Jesus saying something
about her private life,
something about her intimacy.
And on the step going down,
we have a revelation
of the Samaritan woman in relation to Jesus.
It's her speaking of Jesus,
speaking of the intimacy of Jesus
as the Messiah, as the Christ
they were waiting for.
So, a mirrored structure.
Then you must be asking yourself:
"Ok, that’s very interesting."
We're here kind of following
the architecture of a pyramid.
1st step, the theme is the trip to Galilee,
2nd step, the theme is water, food,
3rd step,
Jesus' revelation to the Samaritan woman
about her intimate life.
Revelation of the Samaritan woman
about the intimacy,
about the mission of Jesus.
Then you must be asking yourself:
"What about the platform?
What about the last level?"
Well, the last level,
of course, is the most important one,
because it's the highest one in the structure.
The staircase leads to it,
and after that level is reached,
we return to the starting point.
So this platform
is the most important spot.
And what's it all about?
This platform comprehends verse 9 to 16.
And guess what's the theme?
The theme is
the true adoration of God.
God being adored
in spirit and in truth.
So here,
simply looking
at the literary structure of the passage,
we already start to collect
a few precious elements
for our interpretation.
We can call them keys,
keys that will open a few doors.
And on the platform is the main key
to understand the whole passage.
What key is that?
What's the theme of the meeting of Jesus
with the Samaritan woman?
Adoration of God.
That's the theme.
Adoring God.
How should God be adored?
Who are the true worshippers of God?
How do we truly adore God?
How does that adoration occur?
That adoration is what?
And most of all,
what kind of fruit
does the true adoration of God generate?
People who adore God
in spirit and in truth,
because in spirit and truth
is the true adoration of God,
what fruit do those people reap?
What are the advantages?
What can they reap?
Then we can start to think
what kind of water
and what kind of food
people start to savor
when they surrender
to the true adoration of God.
That's the theme.
What does the Samaritan woman look for?
What does she thirst for?
What thirst is that,
that Jacob's well doesn't quench?
What thirst is that,
which is renewed everyday?
Because every day
the woman returns with her jar,
with her jug
to Jacob's well, to get water,
and every day, day after day,
she gets thirsty again.
What food is that
the disciples go buy for Jesus
in the nearby village,
that every day
must be bought again?
A need that renews itself
and a set of actions
to meet those needs,
that must be repeated
unceasingly.
That's the great theme,
and that's the ingenuity
of John the Evangelist,
who knew how to compose
the whole passage,
taking it to that top,
that peak of the pyramid,
which is the theme of the adoration of God.
So here we start to fly
over this passage
and to understand the central themes
which are at stake,
which John will explore
with a lot of wisdom,
with great artistic spirit
and Humberto de Campos, on one hand,
this giant of Brazilian literature,
will also superpose
his account,
bringing the spiritual interpretation.
Now that we are familiar
with the structure of the account,
let's get a little bit into the symbology,
the symbology of the passage.
And here what calls our attention
is the symbol of water,
of the well,
of the woman.
And here we'll have to make
an incursion,
no kind of pun
intended here,
but we'll have to take a dive,
not necessarily in the well,
but in water.
A dive
in these deep texts
of the Old Testament,
which will make things easier for us.
Many people say:
"Those symbols are too difficult,
I'm not so smart.
I can't interpret this,
it's too complicated!"
But, in truth,
it's all been given
by the texts of the Old Testament.
The work we have to do here
is the work of a housewife
when she gets all leftovers
and makes that which here in Minas Gerais
we call "mexidão".
When you get all leftovers,
mix everything up and make a different dish.
Here we'll do more or less
the same thing.
Why Samaria?
What does Samaria have to do with it?
Why does Jesus have to go through Samaria?
Why doesn't he go back to Galilee
walking along the banks of the river Jordan,
where everything is green,
everything is wonderful,
everything is fresh...?
You can drink water anytime you want,
it's a commercial route,
there's no danger to it,
it's full of people,
full of Roman soldiers.
Why go through the desert?
Why Samaria?
Here we must recall
a little bit of the history
of the Hebrew people.
There was a time,
a thousand years before Christ,
when the Hebrew people
had their shining hour.
We could say it was
the golden era of the Hebrew people,
which was the reign of David
and Solomon.
At that time,
the Hebrew people was composed
of what we'll call the 12 states.
Like a federation.
In Brazil, you say:
"Hey, where are you from?"
"I'm from Minas, and you?"
"I'm from Pará."
"I'm from Espírito Santo."
"I'm from Ceará."
People identify themselves
by the state they were born in.
In the social structure of the Hebrew people,
people identified themselves by their tribe,
and the tribe was a state,
it was a kind of territorial division,
like the states of Brazil.
And at the time of David, of king David,
the Hebrew nation was unified
and had a moment of glory,
of prosperity,
of faithfulness
to the First Revelation,
to the message of the Law.
Then comes the son of David,
king Solomon,
who raises the glory of David to the highest degree.
At Solomon's time,
maybe the Hebrew people
had the most glorious moment
of their history.
But it so happens that,
after king Solomon's death,
there was a separation.
We have gone through that in Brazil.
We almost had a separation,
the southern states of Brazil
from the other states.
But there, in fact, that really happened.
The 10 northern states
separated themselves from the 2 southern states.
And they formed a kind
of different nation, each one of them.
The 10 northern states
made Samaria their capital
and began to call themselves Samaritans,
and the two southern states
made Jerusalem their capital,
and began to call themselves
Jews,
because they were led by the tribe
or by the state of Judah.
So a people that was united,
that was unified,
separated in two.
Samaritans. Jews.
The Jews believed
that God needed a house.
God needed a place to live,
and a place where He could
accommodate people.
That place was a mount,
mount Zion,
and on top of mount Zion
they built the temple of Jerusalem.
They believed that God should be worshipped.
Let’s think about this little word here,
since we have seen
that the central theme of this passage
is adoration of God,
communion with God,
union between creature and Creator.
Very well, the Jews believed
that union
between creature and Creator
could only take place
if mediated by the temple of Jerusalem.
So if you were not
within the walls of the temple of Jerusalem,
you could not experience
perfect communion with God.
Because God,
in their conception,
lived there,
it was there that God dwelt,
it was there that He accommodated
his worshippers.
And therefore
people should head to the temple,
forcibly,
all men,
at least three times a year.
For the Easter celebration,
for the Day of Pentecost,
and for the Feast of Tabernacles.
All men had to leave,
no matter where they were,
and pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
The city would be crowded,
and why did people go there?
To meet with God.
To have a religious experience.
To enter the house of God.
And they piously believed
that God dwelt
in a temple made by human hands.
Well,
since the Samaritans separated themselves,
since they built
their very own temple,
what did they do?
According to the tradition of the patriarchs,
because… as they tell…
Jacob even built
a kind of altar
in the region of Samaria.
Jacob is a great patriarch
of the Hebrew people.
They identified the alleged place,
where Jacob built an altar,
in Mount Gerizim.
So there they built a temple.
A temple over Mount Gerizim.
And they began to state,
about the temple and about the Mount,
the same things
that the Jews stated
about Mount Zion
and about the temple of Jerusalem.
They stated that Mount Gerizim’s temple
was God’s dwelling,
it was there that God should be worshipped,
they quoted texts from the tradition,
saying it was there
everyone should head to,
in order to meet with God.
And it was a religious dispute,
that’s what they fought about.
Which priest was the legitimate one?
Which temple was the legitimate one?
Which was the true adoration?
Over which mount should God be worshipped?
Mount Zion or Mount Gerizim?
In which temple did God dwell?
And they didn’t admit
what we admit today.
The person has a house,
a second house, a beach house…
but not in this case!
God had to have only one house,
only one dwelling,
and there He would accommodate everyone.
So a great dispute took place
and not few times people died
because of that religious dispute.
And the Samaritans,
since they were in an uncomfortable position,
because the majority
followed the orientation of the Jews,
the Jews founded sinagogues,
they had many more wisemen,
they had schools of Biblical teachings,
they spread out their message,
they were the majority.
The Samaritan group,
since they were the minority,
became known
as a quarrelsome group,
a group of heretics,
a minority group,
which drifted apart
and defended a minority thesis
with aggressiveness,
because their views had no real basis
to justify their stand.
That’s the scenery,
that’s the scenery…
And now we begin to understand
why Jesus says:
“I have to go to Galilee
by way of Samaria.”
Well, that needed to be settled.
That conflict had to be pacified,
that people and all of them
needed to be taught
a direct lesson by Jesus
on true adoration of God,
on what consists
the true act of communion
between creature and Creator.
And Jesus heads to that place
and it is there, in Samaria,
that He will meet
the Samaritan woman.
But maybe you’ll ask yourself:
“Alright! I get that story,
I understand there was a fight,
but why a woman?”
And why did they meet
by a well?
Well, we’ll also find here,
in what concerns John the Evangelist,
the hability and the talent
of a great writer.
John, in fact,
in order to build that narrative,
is inspired
by the great narratives of the Old Testament.
We’ll look into that now.
For starters, we must remember this:
every patriarch
met his wife
by a water well.
Isaac, Jacob, Abraham,
all of them found
their significant others by a well.
So, as it appears to be,
the well was the meeting point,
it was the place everybody went to
in order to date,
to meet someone,
and to plan their future wedding,
their marriage, their life together.
Sure thing is that they knew
that it was a woman’s task
to give food
and water to the herd,
and let us remember one thing,
we are speaking of a desert.
There’s no river, no water at hand,
so people had to dig mines,
they had to dig water wells
and they had to store water,
water was a rare thing,
a precious thing,
life depended on water.
I will say that again:
life depended on water.
We know that,
but in a desert
that becomes drastically clear.
The fact that life depends on water
when you’re in a desert
is something shocking,
it’s shocking!
You are absolutely certain
that you must be mindful of water,
because without it you may die,
the herd may die.
So if you don’t die of thirst,
you may starve to death,
because, if the herd dies,
and you’re not able to water the plants,
you’re left without food.
Water is life!
It’s the vital element.
And taking advantage of that connection,
the text of the Old Testament
builds up the symbolism of life,
of vitality,
of the gift of life,
the gift of God,
which is life,
upon the image of water.
Water is the symbol
of God’s precious gift,
the gift of life
and the other God-given gifts,
which pour like a well,
like running water.
In that almost
tribal society,
the most intimate relationship
a human creature could have with another
was marriage.
Even today, in our society,
maybe marriage
is the relationship between two human beings
that allows for
the highest degree of intensity,
the highest degree of intimacy.
For that reason,
upon the theme of marriage,
all of the Old Testament
builds up a symbology.
The communion between God
and human creatures
is symbolized by marriage.
Marriage is the symbol of monotheism.
Marriage is the symbol
of true communion with God.
And consequently
of the process of adoration,
which stems from communion...
Because, when I’m in communion with God,
I enter a process of adoration,
reverence, intimacy
and relationship with the Creator.
That process of communion
is symbolized by marriage.
We have a whole book of the Old Testament
that talks about that,
which is the book “Song of Songs”,
in which a groom praises his bride
and the bride praises the groom,
but in fact, what were they talking about?
The bride is the Hebrew people
and the groom is God!
It’s God’s wedding to his people
or God’s wedding to a human creature.
Here it’s the same thing.
The wedding of the patriarchs
is a kind of archetype,
a kind of symbol
of this process of communion between creature
and Creator.
Because it’s not an easy process.
It’s an arduous step-by-step process,
which involves many stages
and great challenges,
just like a marriage.
A marriage, in order to last,
goes through countless phases,
degrees of intimacy,
degrees of maturity.
And if it resists,
if that union resists,
it allows for a kind of
full communion.
If it doesn’t resist,
there’s a kind of divorce,
which, in the Bible, in the Old Testament,
is symbolized by the distancing
of the creature from the Creator.
Every time creatures draw away from God
it’s as if they were experiencing
a kind of divorce,
an end to the symbolic marriage.
That’s why we draw attention here,
just so we have an idea,
on chapter... 24 of the book of Genesis,
there’s the narrative of when
Isaac met his wife,
his future wife.
And guess where did that meeting take place?
I’ll read it to you.
Verse 10 and the next one:
“The servant took 10 camels from his lord
and taking with him everything good
that his lord had,
set out for Aram Naharaim,
to the town of Nahor.
He had the camels kneel down
outside of town,
near the well, in the afternoon,
at the time women go out
to draw water.”
This is important.
The book of Genesis is saying
that in late afternoon
women go to the well to draw water.
It’s here in the book,
Chapter 24, verse 11.
“And said: ‘Yahweh,
God of my lord Abraham,
here I am next to the spring
and the daughters of the men in town
go out to get water.
The young woman to whom I say:
'Please let down your jar
so that I may drink’
and who answers: ‘Drink,
and I will give your camels to drink as well’,
this shall be the one you have designated
for your servant Isaac.
And then I will know
that you have shown your benevolence
towards my lord.”
Look how curious this text is.
God is the one who chooses the wife for Isaac.
And he gives his servant a sign:
“The woman who offers water
to the camels
and gives you water to drink
is the one chosen
to be the wife of Isaac.”
It’s curious,
because we’ll have a parallel
in chapter 4 of the Gospel of John.
Jesus asks the Samaritan woman
for water.
He indeed
makes her travel
to the time of the Old Testament
and recall this text of Genesis 24.
Because she’s the one who must offer water
to the husband,
to the one who will be the husband.
She’s the one who has to kickstart
the process of marriage
by offering water.
And that always takes place
in late afternoon.
We have another text,
which is chapter 29 of the book of Genesis,
about the marriage of Isaac's son.
Jacob,
Jacob and his father-in-law, Laban,
whom some ironically call
"Sloppy Laban".
"Sloppy" because Jacob wanted to marry
one of his daughters, the youngest one,
and Laban offers him the eldest,
fooling him,
and it turns out Jacob has to marry both,
so they call him "Sloppy Laban".
The thing is:
guess where Jacob meets
his most honorable Rachel?
"He was still talking to them
when Rachel arrived
with her father's flock,
for she was a shepherdess.
As soon as Jacob saw Rachel,
the daughter of his uncle Laban..."
Laban was Jacob's uncle, right?
"... and his uncle Laban's sheep,
he came near,
moved the stone from the well's mouth,
and gave his uncle's flock to drink.
Jacob gave Rachel a kiss
and then started sobbing.
He told Rachel he was
her father's relative and Rebecca's son,
and she ran to tell her father."
And then begin all the arrangements
for the wedding of the two.
Isn't that curious?
Because, ingeniously,
John builds the narrative of chapter 4,
of the meeting of Jesus
with the Samaritan woman,
repeating the story of the groom meeting
his future bride
beside a well.
Isaac met his,
Jacob met his,
and now Jesus will meet the "wife".
Maybe you're asking yourself:
"But is Jesus the husband
of the Samaritan woman?"
Well, the symbol is not that simple.
As a matter of fact, the Samaritan woman
is a representation of the Samaritan people.
And we're speaking here
of a collective rescue.
Of a social rescue,
the rescue of a people
that is set apart.
A double rescue,
because at the same time
that Jesus rescues the Samaritan people,
He also rescues the Jewish people.
Now where is that?
If you open chapter 2 of the prophet Hosea,
you'll find something very curious.
The prophet Hosea’s wife
cheated on him.
If anyone thinks that's something modern,
it’s not, that's very old.
The wife abandoned Hosea,
left him with the kids,
and ran off with a lover.
Hosea, then, shocked, appalled,
and very sad at this situation,
felt a deep and intense pain
and got depressed.
So in the symbolic language
of the Old Testament,
God approaches Hosea and says:
"Hosea, does it hurt?"
He says: "It hurts so much!"
Then God says:
"Now you're beginning
to experience the pain I felt
when my people abandoned me.
Because my people, Hosea,
is like my wife.
Samaria is my wife,
Jerusalem is my other wife.
Two wives,
and they cheated on me.
They adultered
and turned into prostitutes.
But I will recover them.
They will be my wives again
and when I rescue them,
they will become virgins,
they will become maidens.
And I will marry them again."
A beautiful symbol.
Then, feeling that deep pain,
I won’t tell you what pain that is,
but everybody knows it,
Hosea, inspired by that pain,
composed a wonderful text,
four, five chapters long,
in which he’ll speak
of God rescuing his people,
of the process in which the people
and the individuals would become
true worshippers of God
and of the process which would bring the communion
between creature and Creator.
That process is the rescue of the two wives,
and one of the wives is Samaria.
Look, it’s curious,
because here it’s as if Jesus
were fulfilling that prophecy.
He comes to Samaria,
He talks to the Samaritan woman,
representing God Himself
rescuing his people.
God Himself
operating the process of rescue
of true adoration
and true communion with God.
And it’s interesting because,
when He talks
to the Samaritan woman,
and there’s the genius of John,
you don’t know if he’s speaking
of the Samaritan woman
or the Samaritan people.
The Samaritan woman
had been through 5 marriages,
she was in the sixth,
and Jesus told her:
“You’ve already had 5 husbands,
it didn’t work out with any of them,
and the 6th husband you have now...
it won’t work out with him either.”
Then comes the 1st question:
“Who is the seventh?”
“Who is the 7th husband?”
It’s implicit,
it’s understood
that Jesus,
God’s spokesperson,
Jesus, who represents God
to the spirits who evolve on Earth,
is the 7th husband.
He’s the groom who introduces himself
to prepare
for the wedding.
Does that make sense?
We’ll examine two things here.
First of all, a Biblical exam.
Because we need a foundation.
Every time we come up with a thesis,
a proposal of interpretation
of a text of the New Testament,
we must find supporting material
in the Old Testament to ground our thesis.
Otherwise it’s just a shot...
in the dark.
And that’s not what we want.
We want to come up with hypothesis
and proposals which are consistent.
Let’s go!
Well, if we examine
a text – Second Book of Kings,
chapter 17,
we’ll notice something interesting.
The king of Assyria,
after Samaria separated from Judaea,
the king of Assyria invaded Samaria
and took all the Samaritans captive
to Syria.
And, in place of the Samaritans,
guess what?
He put five peoples
to live in that territory.
Each people had their god.
Their specific god.
And they built an altar
to each of these gods.
But in the symbolic
parabolic account of the text,
a lion showed up in that region
and started to eat everyone.
So they were startled
and began to make sacrifices
to each one of the gods.
To the five of them, and it didn’t work out,
the lion went on eating people.
They said: “Look, I think
that’s some kind of witchcraft
of the people who left here.
It’s some revenge of their god.
So get us a priest from that people
who left here,
let’s have an altar built up here
and a sacrifice offered to their god
so the lion will go away.”
And then, imagine that!
The king of Assyria allowed
some Samaritan priests
to go back to Samaria,
build a temple,
that is, the 6th temple,
they already had five.
That was the 6th.
And allowed them to worship.
That satisfied the lion’s hunger.
Well, we don’t know
if historically the lion was satisfied
or if in fact the cult had some effect,
the thing is the lion left the scene
and we were left with this wonderful story,
which is in the Second Book of Kings,
chapter 17, verse 24,
and I will read a little bit from it:
“The king of Assyria had people come over
from Babylon, Kuthah, Avva,
Hamath and Sepharvaim..."
5 peoples, then the priest, six.
“...They took possession of Samaria
and settled in their towns.
When they started to settle,
they didn’t worship God
and He sent lions against them,
and the lions killed them.
Then they told the king of Assyria:
‘The populations that you deported
to settle in the towns of Samaria
do not know the ritual of the god of the land,
and he sent lions against them.
The lions kill them
for they don’t know the ritual
of the god of the land.’
So the king of Assyria ordered:
‘Send one of the priests there
so they may settle there
and teach the ritual of the god of the land.’
Then came one of the priests
they had deported from Samaria
and settled in Bethel,
and he taught them
how they should worship Yahweh.”
But of course that priest
taught pagan peoples
to worship the God of Israel,
and of course they didn’t worship
in the right manner.
So that became a mixed-up cult,
all mixed up,
which is the 6th cult.
That which was supposed to be medicine...
That way of trying to fix things
actually made them
worse.
And, in fact, the cult in Samaria
was strongly criticized
by the Pharisees, by the doctors of the law,
because it had, according to them,
unsolvable vices.
And here it says,
in 2 Kings 17:29:
“But each nation manufactured for itself
their own gods
and put them in the temples
of the high places,
which the Samaritans had built;
so did every people
in the towns they lived in.
The Babylons made a statue
of Succoth-Benoth…”
He was their god.
Those from Kuthah made a statue of Nergal,
the men of Hamath made Ashima
the Avvites made Nibhaz
and Tartak,
the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire…”
Look! Children being sacrificed.
“…to honor Adrammelech
and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.
They also worshipped Yahweh.”
So you can imagine,
if they sacrificed children
and mixed that up with the Jewish cult,
of course that cult was impure,
it couldn’t be
what was expected of monotheism,
of faith in one God,
in the cult of a spiritual God
and not a material god,
etc. etc. etc.
But there’s a catch here.
The word “husband” and “lord”,
when they said:
“God is my Lord.
I am His servant.”
The word “lord” and the word “husband”,
please ladies, don’t get angry
at me.
It’s the same word in Hebrew,
in Aramaic.
“Baal”.
It’s the same word for “husband” and “lord”.
So here’s something that,
from the literary point of view, is fascinating.
When we say “God is my Lord”,
it’s the same word.
So when it’s written in the Biblical text
“God is my Lord”,
you can translate that into:
“God is my husband”,
because it’s the same word,
“Baal”.
And what does that imply?
It only reinforces the idea
that the union between creature and God
and the symbol of a wedding
is not fortuitous,
it’s supported by that word.
God is a husband, God is a lord.
Each people had their lord,
each people had their god, their altar,
each people had their husband.
How many husbands did the Samaritan woman have?
She’d had five and now she was married to the 6th.
And Jesus says:
“Not even the 6th one is your true husband.”
Now wait,
Jesus is talking
about the intimate life of the Samaritan woman
or about the people of Samaria?
About both.
Because here John is playing
a literary game.
Nothing is simple.
Everything has at least three sides.
It’s all surrounded by haze.
It has double meaning, it’s polysemic,
it has various meanings.
Jesus talks to the Samaritan woman,
but in fact
He’s talking to the Samaritan people.
He’s talking of a reality
which is her personal reality,
but at the same time
He’s talking about a social reality
which lasted hundreds of years.
He’s talking about a thirst for affection,
He’s talking about
the Samaritan woman’s need for affection,
but at the same time He’s talking
about a thirst for communion with God
the Samaritan people had,
a thirst for integration with God.
So the symbols reinforce themselves,
they’re always saying the same thing.
It’s as if He were
restating the same theme.
Everything leads to the central theme.
And here I go back.
Do you remember the ladder?
It goes up and gets to a platform
whose central theme is
true adoration of God,
and then goes down as a mirror?
Water, food.
Revelation about the Samaritan woman,
revelation of the Samaritan woman about Jesus,
revelation.
And then communion with God.
Adoration of God.
That’s the whole theme,
any way we look at it.
Why a well?
Because that’s where the patriarch
meets his future bride.
That’s why.
Why a Samaritan woman,
with six husbands?
Because the Samaritan people
has 6 cults
and none of them is the real one.
So you start weaving,
it’s a subtle fabric.
John the Evangelist is a craftsman.
He subtly chisels
an artistic piece.
And we get to know
the theme little by little,
bit by bit.
Well, I call your attention
to one aspect here.
A very interesting aspect.
In this passage of the Samaritan woman
in the chapter 4 of John,
guess how many names
Jesus is given?
Seven.
“Lord”,
lord, that is,
husband, “baal”, lord.
Verse 11 and verse 15 of chapter 4.
“Prophet”, verse 19.
“Messiah”, verses 25 and 29.
“Christ”, verses 25 and 29.
“Man”, verse 29.
“Rabbi”, verse 31.
“Saviour of the world”, verse 42.
Seven titles for Jesus.
That’s genius.
Because it’s as if we were
playing with mirrors.
For each pagan god,
a title for Jesus.
And here the plot
begins to unravel.
We already know this passage talks
about true adoration,
about true communion with God.
And who’s the intermediary?
Who’s the teacher?
Who’s the master?
Who will lead us
in this process of communion?
Who will teach us the way?
The Messiah!
Christ.
It befits Christ,
it befits the Messianic age,
which is Christ’s age,
to bring true adoration to the world.
So to each one
of the Messiah’s titles,
there’s a counterposition
to one of the husbands, one of the “baals”
or “baalim”, to one of the lords.
It’s very interesting,
because not a single piece is left out,
it reminds us of a Swiss clock.
Every little piece fits
perfectly
and makes up a set of gears
which is articulate, brilliant,
very well-structured
and, we must say, exquisite,
exquisite!
Very well, there’s something else
we’d like to talk about, but quickly,
otherwise it’s another DVD,
it’s another DVD about “Boa Nova”,
and today we’re talking about chapter 17,
the Samaritan woman.
We can’t go very deep into that.
But there’s a parallel
between the meeting of Jesus
with the Samaritan woman
and the Passion of Christ.
The final moments of Crucifixion.
I will mention it here very quickly,
just so you won’t say I didn’t.
For example, the verb “to sit”.
Jesus sits next to the well.
That’s in chapter 4 of the Gospel of John,
it’s in chapter 6, but also in 19:3,
which begins to narrate the Passion of Jesus.
Jesus is thirsty.
That’s in chapter 4,
it’s in chapters 7, 19 and 28.
Jesus is in the cross and He says: “I’m thirsty!”
Once again He is thirsty.
So what do they give him?
Vinegar,
which is wine that has deteriorated.
Then they pierce his side
with a spear, and what comes out?
Water.
And we’re astounded.
Let’s roll back the tape.
You sitting there,
pause the video and rewind it.
What did we say in the beginning?
A. Jaubert, the French commentator,
separates chapter 2 to 4 of John.
It’s the same structure.
It starts with Jesus leaving Cana of Galilee
and chapter 4 ends
with Jesus going back to Cana of Galilee
And what happened in Cana?
The transformation of water into wine.
Here Jesus is asking
the Samaritan woman for water.
And there’s a parallel with the Passion,
when He asks for water,
they give Him vinegar,
He’s pierced and water pours out of him.
It can’t be casual.
Those symbols are intertwined.
They talk about the same reality.
They talk about the same spiritual essence.
They have a profound meaning.
And when we
start from this literary structure
and begin to analyze those symbols,
it’s like opening a bottle of perfume,
you smell the scent.
Each detail of the scent
is noticed by the sense of smell
of the person who’s attentive,
because it takes a lot of attention
and a lot of patience.
But there’s something else that’s curious.
For instance, Jesus says:
“My food
is to do my Father’s will.”
That is one theme,
the fulfillment of God’s will,
the fulfillment of God’s work.
It’s in chapter 4 and in chapter 19
of the Passion of Christ.
There’s something very curious here.
The 6th hour.
The 6th hour is noon,
because the Jewish day
begins at 6am.
Then you count:
six, six,
to make up the 24 hours.
4 shifts of 6 hours.
The 6th hour is noon.
From 6am to noon.
That’s in chapter 4, in chapter 6,
it’s in 19:14, which talks about the Passion.
We know that,
at the moment the Passion starts,
Crucifixion starts at the 6th hour,
and it ends,
it reaches its peak
when it’s getting dark,
around the ninth hour,
a little further ahead,
then everything is dark.
But there’s something curious here.
Do you remember
chapter 24 of Genesis,
which says that women
go to get water from the well late afternoon?
Then it’s not at noon,
it’s in late afternoon.
And here, curiously, John says
that Jesus gets to the well at noon.
He says:
“Jesus gets to the well at noon
and sits by the well.
And he says: “And the woman comes later.”
Later when?
A minute later?
4 hours later?
5 hours later?
If we base ourselves
on Genesis 24,
what is chapter 24 all about?
That women
go get water from the well
in the afternoon.
Right before sunset.
It's natural.
Because nobody imagines
there we’d find one of those fridges
with in-the-door cold water dispenses
at Jacob's well.
You wait until the afternoon to get water,
when it is fresher.
Then you can get it fresher,
because at noon the water is hot.
But John says that Jesus
got to the well at noon,
and that the woman got there later,
but he doesn't say what time.
The strange thing is that many people
read the passage in a hurry
and conclude that the Samaritan woman
got to the well at noon,
but it doesn't say that here.
That's not what it says.
We'll read from it
so we can clear that issue.
This passage is very curious.
"There was Jacob's well.
Tired of walking,
Jesus sat by the fountain.
It was around the sixth hour.
A woman from Samaria
came to get water.
Jesus told her:
'Give me water to drink!'"
That is, a woman from Samaria came,
but it doesn't say what time she arrived.
Did she arrive at noon?
Did she arrived in late afternoon,
as it was the tradition?
When someone opens
chapter 17 of the book "Boa Nova",
on the first paragraph,
Humberto de Campos writes:
Jesus was coming down
from Jerusalem to Capernaum..."
Because his final destination was Capernaum,
so much so that at the very end of chapter 4
He goes by Cana,
heals people and then arrives at Capernaum.
"... followed by some of the disciples,
in their customary journeys on foot."
Customary!
It's curious, because all the time it says in the Gospel:
"Jesus went up to Jerusalem,
Jesus came down from Jerusalem to Galilee."
It's 90 miles.
90 miles going up, 90 miles coming down.
And it was customary, right?
If you're wondering
if Jesus was a marathon man, you may be right.
That's almost it.
"He reached Samaria
when sunset
was already darker."
So Humberto de Campos
will say it was sunset.
But the text is saying
it was noon.
Then someone will say:
"Humberto de Campos is making it all up!
He's altering the Biblical text.
He's bringing untruths.
The mediumship of Chico Xavier
is on the line!"
No, no, no!
Let's take it easy.
According to the tradition of Genesis,
according to the Biblical tradition,
the meeting with Samaria,
with the Samaritan woman, by the well,
from a historical and cultural point of view
can only take place at sunset.
Because it’s at sunset
that women go get water from the well.
So why did John write
“sixth hour” here?
Because he’s a craftsman.
And because this passage must be
connected to the Passion.
To the episode of Crucifixion.
So he puts facts in a certain order,
he articulates elements.
Jesus sits by the well at noon
and the woman comes.
If you don’t understand the culture,
you think she arrived at that time.
If you know something of the tradition,
if you read a bit of Genesis, chapters 24 and 29,
you know the woman arrives at sunset.
So Jesus sits down
by the well at the sixth hour,
but the woman arrives at sunset,
according to the tradition.
Then you can harmonize things.
He makes a few adjustments.
He arranges things to suit him,
he adjusts things so the text
becomes a work of literature.
And so he can make
a connection between that passage
and the passage of Crucifixion.
It’s wonderful when we can
find these puzzle pieces.
And it’s a wonderful work of recovery
that Humberto de Campos does,
historical recovery.
Because he did research
in the spiritual files,
and how perfectly they fit -
the data Humberto de Campos collects
and the Biblical narrative,
there’s no clash.
On the contrary,
explaining literary elements of the passage,
literary artifacts of the passage artefatos literários da passagem
and literary artifice used
by the Evangelist.
The fifth symbol,
the presence of the spirit.
It’s in the chapter 4, it’s in chapter 19.
Of the Passion.
In chapter 4
there’s the presence of the spirit.
God is spirit.
And the spirit blows wherever it wants.
“You do not know where it comes from
or where it is going.”
Spirit in the Old Testament
is God.
Spirit is God.
“Ruach HaKodesh”,
the Holy Spirit,
is the name of God.
Initially it’s the name of God.
Then it applies
to all the spirits
in communion with God.
Because everything that’s in communion with God
sanctifies itself.
It becomes holy.
So the spirit of God is holy.
It’s not holy in the sense of canonization,
not holy in the sense
of the Catholic ceremony of canonization.
The word “HaKodesh”,
"saint" in Hebrew,
is the word "reserved".
"Separated for".
Everything that’s separated,
everything that’s reserved
for the cult of adoration of God
is holy.
So the candle holder is holy,
the bread table is holy,
the temple is holy,
the priest’s clothes are holy.
Why? Because those clothes
cannot be worn anywhere else,
they can only be worn
at the cult of adoration of God.
Everything that’s used
for the cult of adoration of God is holy.
And God, God himself,
we don’t even have to say.
He’s the Holy of Holies.
He’s the Holiest.
He’s the reserved one.
God is God and that’s it.
If creation ceases to exist,
God still remains intact.
So God is separated.
God is reserved.
That’s a blow on Pantheism.
God is immanent,
God is present,
God is in everything,
but He is more than creation.
Creation is in God,
but God is bigger than creation.
So here we have
transcendence and immanence.
That’s why God is spirit.
Why spirit?
Because “ruach”,
"ruach” is a tricky word.
“Ruach” means wind.
Wind.
And it means spirit,
because spirit is wind.
Why wind? Because it blows wherever it wants.
You don’t know where it comes from
or where it is going,
you hear its voice,
but you cannot identify it.
And that’s how God is.
That’s curious because... in chapter 17,
when...
the woman asks about the water:
“‘What is that living water’?
inquired the Samaritan woman, impressed.
‘Where do you keep it,
if the only water here
is the one from this well?
By any chance are you greater than our father Jacob?’”
Then she begins to confront
Jesus and the patriarch.
1st Revelation, 2nd Revelation.
Water from the well, living water.
Why living water?
The Jewish made a distinction.
Living water is running water.
It’s water that pours.
River water, sea water,
water that pours.
Still water, stocked up water
is simply water.
It’s not living, because it doesn’t run.
Then here we have something curious:
Jacob, the patriarch,
builds water wells.
Still water.
Jesus brings the running water,
the living water.
That was already present in the tradition.
In the tradition they knew
that the Messiah would bring the living water.
Water that cannot be contained,
water that cannot be
stocked up in wells.
But we’ll talk about that in a while.
“‘Woman’, answers Jesus,
‘living water is the one
that quenches all thirst;
it comes from the endless love of God
and sanctifies creatures.’”
Now, what does it mean to sanctify?
To make holy.
To sanctify is to take human creatures
to such a state of communion with God
that they start a process
of deep integration with the Creator.
When they are deeply
integrated with the Creator,
they are sanctified.
So the Holy Spirit,
God,
sanctifies His children.
That is,
He separates his children
for the relationship with them.
And those children begin to enjoy
an indescribable intimacy,
a communion
that cannot be put into words,
which is the communion between Father and son,
spiritually speaking.
That communion sanctifies human creatures.
So the living water comes
from God’s endless love.
We’ll get into that.
So far we’ve been talking
only about the spirit.
God is spirit.
The text says it there in the plateau,
we saw it there:
“True adoration
in spirit and in truth.”
God is spirit
and should be adored in spirit
and in truth.
That’s in verses 19 to 26.
If God is spirit,
we remember the poem
by Auta de Souza,
when she says:
“In the pure and itinerant language
of the voice of God in the light of redemption.”
Is God’s language pure?
No doubt about that.
There’s nothing purer than God.
Itinerant?
Why itinerant?
Because God’s voice does not fixate itself.
Nobody can stock up
the divine manifestation.
God manifests Himself through me
and may manifest Himself through anyone here.
Through any of us.
And sometimes He manifests Himself
in the most unexpected ways.
God sometimes speaks
through the mouth of our enemy.
God sometimes speaks,
in the words of Altay Veloso,
“through the mouth of a madman”.
That’s why his language is itinerant.
The water that comes from God
cannot be stocked up.
No one possesses God.
No one owns God.
No one apprehends God.
No one limits God.
Because God is limitless,
God is absolutely free.
There is no religion on the planet
that’s capable to imprison God.
There is no religion or act
of religious manifestation
capable to put the Divine Spirit in a cage.
So it’s “the pure and itinerant language
of the voice of God in the light of redemption.”
Redemption, sanctification... same thing.
This process
of spiritual and moral improvement
that takes human creatures
to a pattern of integration
with the Divine Law and with God.
Let’s talk a little bit about that
before we talk about the water itself.
Before that,
it’s worth reading question 309
of the book “O Consolador”.
Psychographed by Chico Xavier,
dictated by the spirit Emmanuel.
Someone cleverly asked
Emmanuel:
“In what sense
should we interpret
these sentences of John the Baptist:
“The wife belongs to the husband;
but the husband’s friend,
who is with him and hears him,
rejoices a great deal
in hearing the husband’s voice.
For this pleasure
I now experience.
He must increase
and I must decrease.”
Then Emmanuel interprets:
“The husband of earthly humanity…”
It’s worth repeating, right?
“The husband of earthly humanity
is Jesus Christ.”
The same Lamb of God
who draws human souls
from the shady paths...”
From the mistaken paths.
“...from impenitence.”
Meaning that Jesus’ mission
is to refrain creatures
from drifting away from God
and take them to real communion with God.
“The husband’s friend is His precursor,
whose human expression
should disappear
so that Jesus light could really shine
for the whole world
in His Gospel of truth and life.”
Truth and life
Life is connected to water.
Truth, to worshipping in spirit and truth.
We can see that everything merges.
And Jesus acts as a husband,
because, for earthly humankind…
For earthly humankind…
Because there are other humankinds elsewhere.
Every world has its own humanity
and there is the cosmic humanity,
which is the reunion of all God’s sons
in His infinite universe.
But, for the earthly humankind,
Jesus represents God.
He is the spokesperson for the divinity.
He speaks on God’s behalf.
That, of course, in the context
of the community of Christs,
as Emmanuel said
in the book “On the Way to Light”.
So this is very interesting,
but I wanted to call your attention here,
because some of you may find
this symbolic approach strange,
this dive, not into a well,
but almost into an ocean...
What grounds did we find for this
in the Spiritist Doctrine?
What Spiritist grounds
does it have?
And we must turn to chapter 2
of the part of “The Spirits’ Book”
that talks about Moral Laws.
Shall we take a look?
First moral law:
the Law of Adoration.
The Law of Adoration.
Adoration is a divine law.
And then Kardec asks the following question,
question 649:
“What does worship entail?”
If we take a look at
the history of humankind,
we’ll notice that all peoples
worshipped gods, forces of nature,
they built temples, they had rituals,
they adored the divine in many ways.
But here Kardec
is almost asking:
“In what does true adoration consist?
What is true adoration?”
Then the Spirits answer:
"It’s the lifting up of the thought towards God.
Through worship, the soul
draws nearer to its Creator”.
Imagine that.
Well,
If, by the process of adoration,
I draw my soul nearer to God,
what will happen after I get closer?
The communion of the soul with God.
The sanctification of human soul.
The marriage between creature and Creator.
It’s here in question 649.
Then Kardec goes deep, right?
Question 650:
“Is worship the result of an innate sentiment
or the product of education?”
Is it social? Is it educational?
Is it cultural or innate?
Does it exist regardless of skin colour, ethnicity,
people, language, culture?
"An innate sentiment, like that of the Divinity.”
The notion that God exists
and the notion of adoration are innate.
“The awareness of their weakness
leads humans to bow
before the One who can protect them.”
This is beautiful because,
if we think…
Not nowadays, in the 21st century,
when social structures
have all changed,
social interactions are very different…
But let’s consider a patriarchal society.
What was the function of the patriarch?
What was the function of the head of family?
It was to protect the family.
Above all, to protect the wife.
the woman.
He was the strongest,
He had to protect.
He was the one who guarded the family.
He was the one who went to battle.
And here it’s beautiful
because God is like this
almighty husband,
whose role is to protect His children.
To protect, educate, provide for,
to guide, support and share with.
To live together.
It’s very interesting.
So in question 653:
“Does worship require
outward expression?
"True worship
comes from the heart.”
“In all your actions,
always remember
that the Lord is watching you.”
So real worship,
true adoration
is in spirit and in truth.
The Samaritan woman questions:
“Should God be adored in Mount Zion,
in Jerusalem,
or in Mount Gerizim?”
And Jesus answers:
“The day is coming, and is now here…”
“The day is coming”, why?
Because He is talking about the Messianic era,
which started with Him.
It has started!
The Messianic era started
with the coming of Jesus.
And in time it would be structured.
When?
When our world enters regeneration.
Then the Messianic era will become a reality.
Hence the Parable of the Mustard Seed.
It starts with the tiny seed
and it grows into a huge tree.
It’s been 2000 years already.
And we are about to enter
the regeneration era,
the Messianic era.
But it started back then!
He says: “Woman, the hour is coming,
and is now here,
when God will be worshipped in spirit and truth.”
So what will happen?
Faith moves mountains.
Over which mountain must God
be adored?
Over Mount Zion
or Mount Gerizim?
Faith moves mountains.
Where there is one person
truly worshipping God,
mountains will be moved.
There is a Mount Zion in the heart
of the person who worships.
And then, inevitably,
I know some people may think
that I’m repeating myself, right?
But it can’t be helped, the theme does that.
Auta de Souza’s poem:
“Return to your inner abandoned temple,
the highest of all chapels.
Listen to your heart in every prayer,
God will answer within yourself and enlighten you
with the eternal force of consolation.”
So faith can move mountains,
that’s what Jesus is teaching her.
The Samaritan woman.
“Woman, do you have faith?
If you do,
you’ll see Mount Zion coming this way,
Gerizim moving towards Jerusalem,
these mountains will start to move.”
Because faith can move mountains.
God is worshipped in spirit.
That’s true adoration.
Let’s read this chapter on The Law of Adoration
in “The Spirits’ Book”.
It’s beautiful, isn’t it?
Now, before we move on,
question 659:
“What is the general character of prayer? “Qual o caráter geral da prece?"
"Prayer is an act of worship.”
Prayer is an act of worship.
“Praying to God is thinking of God…”
To think of God is to pray.
“…drawing nearer to God…”
So, praying to God
is to enter into a state of communion.
So imagine you with your wife
or with your husband.
When you are in that
state of communion,
are words necessary?
People communicate with their eyes.
That’s what the spirits are saying.
“Praying to God is thinking of God,
drawing nearer to God,
putting one's self in communication with God.
Through prayer we may do three things:
praise, ask and thank.”
Praise, ask and thank.
This reminds us of a story
about Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
A journalist went up to her
and asked:
“Mother, when you’re praying,
what do you talk to God about?”
She lowered her head
and answered the journalist:
“I don’t say anything, I only listen”.
The reporter was intrigued by that.
And he said: “What an intelligent woman!”
But he was intelligent as well.
And he asked the 2nd question:
“You only listen?
And what does God tell you?”
“He doesn’t say anything, He only listens.”
So they have this wonderful relationship,
she thinks about God,
God thinks about her.
She draws near to God,
God draws near her.
And no words are said.
Because, after all,
it’s not necessary to say anything to God.
It’s not necessary to expose anything to Him.
He’s omniscient and almighty.
He knows all.
And He can do anything.
If He’s not changing something,
it’s because it’s not the right time.
If He’s not changing the circumstance,
it’s because that circumstance is the best,
for us, from a spiritual point of view.
So, prayer… as a Jewish rabbi says…
I forget his name, but he says something like:
“Prayer is not
an exercise in desire,
in asking God,
prayer is an act
of educating desire.
In prayer we should listen more,
we should enter a state of communion,
and realize… not what I want out of life,
but instead, what life wants out of me.
Not what I want from God,
but what He wants from me.
That’s why it educates desire.
That’s why Mother Teresa of Calcutta
remained silent.
And now we’ll dive...
Because you see...
We’ve been talking about communion,
about prayer,
about union with God.
And that is relevant
now we’re approaching
the end of this chapter’s analysis,
and we’re going to talk about water.
About water.
What does water represent?
We’ve already made the distinction
between regular water and living water.
We know that living water
is running water.
Living water has a higher status,
because it represents water that pours.
It’s alive, it’s not contaminated,
and cannot be detained.
No one can detain a water flow.
No one goes to sea and hugs a wave
and detains it.
On the contrary.
You go to sea and surrender to the water.
You go to a river
and surrender to the water flow.
Or sometimes you get just a little bit from it.
But you cannot stop the flow.
So the meaning of water
in Jewish tradiction...
Water has always been
the symbol of revelation of God’s Law.
Water is the symbol of the Torah.
Whenever we say
“God’s revelation”... “water”.
It appears in many texts.
In many.
And I’ve selected very few.
Actually, I’ve made a selection of 35.
But the DVD is not meant to last for 10 hours,
so I’ll mention one… two... three.
Three quotes
that are very representative and relevant.
But we could easily examine over 35,
from the Old Testament only.
Besides the New Testament, and Jewish literature.
We could almost fill a whole book.
But water is a symbol
of the divine revelation.
It’s a symbol of knowledge
Of the divine law.
And the knowledge of the divine law,
in the Jewish tradition,
leads to wisdom.
And it leads to justice.
The man who is just, who is in communion,
the man who is truly human,
in communion with God,
he’s a man who knows the Divine Law
and follows the Divine Law.
Not only does he know it,
he’s in absolute harmony with it
as well.
Who is unjust, who is impious?
He who is impious and unjust
is he who does not know,
or, if he knows, he doesn’t act accordingly.
I’ve just remembered,
at this very moment,
a passage,
I hope I can find it now
that is about.... the Law of Justice,
Love and Charity.
Because sometimes
we ask ourselves
what the just man
from the Old Testament is like?
When it says there,
“the just man is he who…”
There’s a lot about that, in the Psalms, in Prophets,
what is a just man?
We recall question 879
from “The Spirits’ Book”.
“What would be the character
of those who practice justice
in all its purity?”
Human beings who practiced
justice in all its purity.
What would be their character?
And the spirits reply:
“They would be truly just.”
Look:
the character of those
who practiced justice
in all its purity.
“They would be following Jesus’ example
because they would practice
both charity and love towards their neighbor,
without which there is no real justice."
This is so beautiful.
And further ahead, in question 886,
in which Kardec asks:
“What is the true meaning
of the word charity
as Jesus understood it?"
Since He is the authentic just man.
"Benevolence toward every one,
indulgence toward the imperfections of others
and forgiveness for offenses.”
So the truly just man,
the just man from the Old Testament,
is the one who practices justice
in all its purity,
practicing love towards others
and charity,
which is “benevolence toward everyone,
indulgence toward the imperfections of others
and forgiveness for offenses.”
In summary,
that’s the man in absolute communion with God.
In total communion with the Divine Law.
That’s the truly just man.
It’s here in “The Spirits’ Book”.
And as we examine the texts
from the Old Testament
and from the Jewish tradition,
what do we find?
That water is the symbol of revelation,
of the Torah, as we said,
it’s the symbol of knowledge and wisdom
that leads man into becoming just.
Truly just.
That’s curious
because the word “justice” in Hebrew,
“tsedek”,
“tsedakah”
is the same word for charity.
If you give something to someone on the street,
to someone in need,
we call it alms, charity.
They call it justice.
“Tsedakah”,
as we saw in “The Spirits’ Book”.
True justice
encompasses love towards others and charity.
And what leads a person to that?
To that state of goodness?
Of equity?
Of equality, of fraternity?
The full knowledge of the Divine Law
and the absolute integration with the Divine Law.
The absolute integration with God.
So it’s really right.
There’s something curious here, though.
In the Jewish tradition,
that living water,
that full knowledge of the Divine Law
would come with the Messiah.
So the Messiah would be the bestower,
the donor of Messianic gifts.
And the living water is
one among those Messianic gifts.
That can be found,
look how interesting,
in a piece of parchment that was found
in the Dead Sea.
It’s called the Damascus Document.
And there, you won’t believe it…
What is written in that document?
It’s written this:
“The well is the Torah.”
The water well, Jacob’s well
is the Torah,
it’s the Law.
“And the spiritual knowledge of the Torah,
of The Law, quenches the thirst of the just man.”
Folks, it’s written
in the Damascus Document,
a piece of parchment paper which was found
in Qumran Caves,
among the belongings of the Essenes,
which were a Jewish group
that set itself apart from Jerusalem’s temple,
because they believed...
Do you know what they believed?
They believed the temple was mistaken.
That the worship that took place
in the temple of Jerusalem
was deceitful.
They believed
true worship was necessary.
That’s why they set themselves apart,
but they overdid it in a way,
they became extremely isolated
and started to defend
the idea that the Messiah would only be
someone exclusively from their group.
And the Messiah would be a prince,
the prince of justice,
that would come to wage a war.
Only after that war
is that there would be peace.
But it’s very beautiful
to compare the knowledge of the Law to a well.
And to wrap up I brought
three fantastic texts.
Three verses from the prophet Isaiah
that talk about water.
But we’ll read this like a mirror.
Because I’ve been reading John a lot
and I felt like imitating him a bit.
I’ll quote from Isaiah’s text
as it is in Hebrew.
And Isaiah’s text as it is
in the Aramaic translation of Isaiah.
This translation is named Targum.
So I’ll quote from the text in Isaiah
and the Targum, the Aramaic translation
of Isaiah’s text.
Why are we going to do this?
Because there’ll be something curious here.
As they translate it, Ao traduzir,
they replace words,
and guess what are they going to replace?
They’ll replace “water”
for the spiritual meaning of water.
So as we compare
the Targum of Isaiah
with the Hebrew text by Isaiah, the original,
they give to us as a gift
the spiritual meaning of the living water.
I’ll quote it
remembering that the Targum of Isaiah
was found in Qumran Caves,
it’s a text written long before Jesus,
long before,
and we’ll find it here
in Humberto de Campos,
who wrote it in...
Let’s see in the preface.
1940.
The Dead Sea Scrolls
had not been published yet
and he gives an interpretation for water.
I’ll read what is in the Targum
and then what it’s in Humberto de Campos,
who advanced what is in the Targum.
It’s amazing!
Let’s go!
Isaiah, chapter 12, verse 3.
The text goes:
“With joy
you will draw water from the wells of salvation”.
This is the original text in Hebrew.
With joy, in the Messianic era,
as the Messiah arrives,
this is what Isaiah is saying,
“you will draw water from the wells of salvation”.
Look: “draw water from the well”.
What’s the Targum translation?
The Targum of this text
translates it freely
and says:
“All who wish to learn,
let them come and learn.”
To learn? Why?
Because water is a synonym
for new teaching.
New Torah.
New teachings the Messiah would bring.
The new knowledge,
the new revelation the Messiah would bring.
So what is the Targum saying?
That going there to draw water from the spring
equals receiving new knowledge,
which is the living water,
which the Messiah would bring.
And another fantastic text.
Isaiah 32:6
It says:
“For the fool...”
Then Isaiah describes all the things that fools do.
“One of the things the fool does
is to deprive the thirsty of a drink.”
Then the Targum will translate it as:
“They try to abolish the words of the law
that the just people desire
as if they were thirsty for water.”
Free translation.
Very distant from the original.
It’s another text, but it’s an interpretation.
It interpreted the text. Saying that...
What is the drink that quenches?
The words of the Divine Law
that people who are just desire
to quench their thirst.
Spiritual thirst.
And Isaiah 41:17
This one is beautiful!
It says
in the original text:
“When the poor and needy seek water.”
How does the Targum translate it?
“The humble and poor in spirit
wish for learning
like those who are thirsty for water.”
If we recall the blessings…
“Blessed are the poor in spirit.”
So this is a wonderful comparison
and here we conclude,
after analyzing these texts,
that water is a symbol
of the divine revelation.
Water is one of the symbols
of God’s manifestation,
of the gifts that God
bestows upon its children.
And it’s very curious,
because after the passage
about the Samaritan woman,
when Jesus returns to Galilee,
to Capernaum... para Cafarnaum...
In chapter 5,
He goes back to Jerusalem,
to attend a celebration.
And John doesn’t say which one.
And commentators wonder:
“Which celebration is that
that He goes back to Jerusalem for?“
Well, if in chapter 2
He goes to Jerusalem
for Passover,
in chapter 5
He can only go back to Jerusalem
for Pentecosts.
Because all men had to journey
three times a year:
for Passover,
Pentecosts
and and for the Feast of Tabernacles.
Now look!
What is celebrated in Pentecosts?
The gift of the Torah.
The revelation of the Divine Law.
It’s called Feast of Joy,
“Simchat Torah”,
The feast that celebrates the gift of the Torah,
the gift of the Torah.
If the Torah is a water, a spring that pours,
living water,
imagine what happens
when Jesus goes up to Jerusalem?
He arrives in Jerusalem,
and what’s the first thing He does?
He meets that person
who was by the pool of Bethesda,
waiting for the waters
to be moved by the angel.
The angel then touches the person, who is cured.
Again the theme of water,
the gift of life,
confirmed in these texts.
And we end by reading…
This calls our attention,
because this is the pure spiritual nectar.
It’s the gift of the Torah,
which Humberto de Campos would bear.
“What is this living water?”,
The Samaritan woman asked, impressed.
Where do you get it,
if the water we have is the one from this well?
Are you greater than our father Jacob,
who gaves us water since the beginning?”
“Woman, the living water is the one that quenches
all thirsts.
It comes from God’s infinite love
and sanctifies human creatures”.
And involving the Samaritan woman
in the sweet magnetism of His expression,
He continued:
‘Jacob’s well will eventually dry out.
In the soil
where its clear water now rests,
a serpent may come to make its nest.
Do you not feel the truth
of my statements
before your everyday thirst?
Even though your jar is full,
later you will return to the well,
with a new thirst.
However, those who drink from the living water
will be quenched for eternity.
For those,
there will be no more material needs
renewed in life at every instant.
Ever-lasting comfort
will refresh their hearts
along the most challenging paths,
under the hottest sunshine of the deserts of the world.”
The woman listened to Him,
deeply stunned.
Those words reached Aquelas palavras lhe chegavam
the sanctuary of her spirit
with the solemnity of a new revelation.”
Look how Humberto de Campos
deals with words...
New revelation,
new teachings from the Messiah…
Look how he recovers everything.
“Lord, give me that water!”,
she exclaimed.
‘But Listen!’ Jesus told her.
And the Master enlightened her
on intimate events and circumstances
of her private life,
telling her what was necessary
so that the sacred emotion
of the divine love…”
Sacred emotion of the divine love...
“…could shine through her soul,
taking her away
from all painful needs
of the material existence.”
Now we can understand why John places
living water and food on that same step.
Water and food, material needs.
Living water and Godsent bread,
this divine love of God
or this sacred emotion of divine love
that shines on the creature’s soul.
“Realizing there were no secrets for Jesus,
the Samaritan woman sobbed and answered…”
And she starts to tell Jesus
about the religious differences.
And Jesus says:
“In truth, I tell you
the hour is coming
when you will not worship God
on this mountain,
nor in the sumptuous Jerusalem temple either.
Because the Father is spirit,
and must be worshipped only in spirit.
That’s why I come to open the temple
of the sincere hearts…”
To open the temple of the sincere hearts.
“So that all adoration of God
is turned into intimate communion
between men and their Creator.’
A soft silence descended upon them.”
A soft silence descends upon us as well.