Musings On The Identity Question

Who was she before she came to the well, and who was she after she left? Who were they before they came to the harvest and who were they afterwards? What was their identity?

The story of the woman at the well has been dissected for years and the following story of the harvest and wages has received the same attention. For that matter, most of scripture has. Where men or women gain their identity is the topic of extensive discussion. What I never saw before (others probably have) is how Jesus speaks about gender identity in John 4, false identities and the true identity. He talks about embodied prayer. Psychologists have discussed the original fears as defined “in the beginning”, which Jesus again speaks of in John 4.

Our fear as women is wound around the threads of relationship- wanting intimacy, to not be alone, and the fear of neither of those being authentic in our lives. Men fear failure, lack of success and not being recognized. There are many writings on this “original identity” subject where women are defined by relationships and men are defined by their work. At least this is how we often perceive our identity.

Reading John 4 in The Message I just found some wonderful insight and need to process it and get others thoughts. I have also been trying to find the difference between these 2 questions: what is my identity and how am I defined? Hence this chapter has been significant in my search for answers.

Jesus speaks to the woman about her identity in relationships and to the men about their identity in work - the PLACE they were looking for identity. She talked about the water that gives life, and the disciples talked about the food that kept them going.

I want to talk about the woman, because I know about her journey – I know my own. I don’t believe for a minute that Jesus saw her just as a person – he saw the woman she was. The good, bad and the ugly, which didn’t turn him away from talking to her. Jesus eluded to true identity in the comments the water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life. Her real identity was within, in her DNA, in the mind, body and heart. Asking for this water from Jesus was her search for her real identity. Lack of self worth had her searching for it in relationships but the true identity for each woman lies within. We take that identity into every relationship we have but knowing it, our Creator given identity, only comes from the true immense worth Abba gave us in the first heart beat. When Jesus then talks to her about husbands the question of false identity, false worth is being opened up. He holds the lie in the Light, under the noonday sun where there are no shadows. I love what Jesus does next! He talks to her about dancing/worship in the Hebrew way where the whole body gets involved. I am coming to see this as part of embodied prayer, that comes of out knowing our identity and being in relationship with Them.
It’s who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That’s the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in worship. God is sheer being itself - Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration. Jesus is saying to her if you take this water of life, this gushing fountain of endless life, all the disconnect in your soul is going to be removed and you will be whole and fully, passionately alive, so begin the process.

I wish she had a name because names are so important. I hated when no one could remember my name in school. It is part of my identity. So I am calling her Galia which means God shall redeem. Galia came to the well in the middle of the day where the direct overhead sun would have very little shadow, if any. Holding all of her heart, mind and body in the Light, the shadows of false identity could be removed and true worth revealed. She didn’t go back into hiding but went to share Truth/Light with others.

As women our identity does not come from the man in our life, it comes from the One who gives the water of life, who put an artesian spring within and created us to be givers of live. This identity/defining from Abba is what we are to take to add life to our intimate relationships. True worth, men or women, is seen when we step out of the shadows, hold our mind, body and soul there, and begin to dance in the Light of life, drink the water of life.

This chapter John 4 speaks of the water of life, food that keeps you going, dancing, standing in the Light, revealing false identity and claiming true worth and identity, rewards that will come, and what was dead now lives. An amazing circle of life within a seamless circle of grace.