08: Jesus And The Woman Of Samaria At The Well
John 4:1-42
Jesus And The Woman Of Samaria At The Well
Returning to Galilee after a trip to Judea, Jesus came, about noon, to the outskirts of the city of Sychar in Samaria near Jacob’s well. While his disciples departed to go into the city to buy meat, Jesus sat and rested on Jacob’s well, situated on the parcel of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
A woman of Samaria came to draw water. To her Jesus said:
“Give me to drink.”
The woman responded:
“How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? The Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.”
Jesus replied:
“If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, ‘Give me to drink,’ thou would have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.”
Not understanding, the woman replied:
“Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?”
Jesus answered:
“Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”
The woman said:
“Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.”
Jesus said:
“Go, call thy husband, and come hither.”
The woman answered, saying:
“I have no husband.”
Jesus said:
“Thou hast well said, ‘I have no husband.’ For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband; in that saidist thou truly.”
The astonished woman replied:
“I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; yet ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.”
Jesus replied:
“Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall, neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”
Marveling at his words, the woman said:
“I know that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ. When he is come, he will tell us all things.”
Jesus replied:
“I, that speak unto thee, am he.”
The disciples returned and marveled that Jesus was talking with the woman, yet none questioned him as to his reason. The woman left her waterpot and went into the city. There she said to the men:
“Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ?”
The men left the city and approached Jesus as his disciples were asking him to eat. Jesus answered:
“I have meat to eat that ye know not of.”
The disciples asked one another:
“Hath any man brought him aught to eat?”
But Jesus answered:
“My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. Say not ye, ‘There are yet four months, and then cometh the harvest?’ Behold, I say unto you, ‘Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.’ And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal, that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. And herein is that saying true, ‘One soweth, and another reapeth.’ I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor; other men labored, and ye are entered into their labors.”
Many of the Samaritans believed in Jesus because of what the woman had told them and they asked him to stay with them.
He remained two days and, during that time, many more came to believe in him because of his own words. They said to the woman:
“Now we believe, not because of thy saying, for we have heard him ourselves and know that this is indeed the Christ--the Saviour of the world.”
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