Back at the well – Day 16

₁The Pharisees heard that Jesus was winning and baptizing more disciples than John. ₂(Actually, Jesus himself did not baptize anyone; only his disciples did.) ₃So when Jesus heard what was being said, he left Judea and went back to Galilee; ₄on his way there he had to go through Samaria.

₅In Samaria he came to a town named Sychar, which was not far from the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ₆Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired out by the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

₇A Samaritan woman came to draw some water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink of water.” ₈(His disciples had gone into town to buy food.)

₉The woman answered, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan — so how can you ask me for a drink?” (Jews will not use the same cups and bowls that Samaritans use.)

₁₀Jesus answered, “If only you knew what God gives and who it is that is asking you for a drink, you would ask him, and he would give you life-giving water.”

₁₁“Sir,” the woman said, “you haven't got a bucket, and the well is deep. Where would you get that life-giving water? ₁₂It was our ancestor Jacob who gave us this well; he and his sons and his flocks all drank from it. You don't claim to be greater than Jacob, do you?”

₁₃Jesus answered, “All those who drink this water will be thirsty again, ₁₄but whoever drinks the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring which will provide him with life-giving water and give him eternal life.”

₁₅“Sir,” the woman said, “give me that water! Then I will never be thirsty again, nor will I have to come here to draw water.”

₁₆“Go and call your husband,” Jesus told her, “and come back.”

₁₇“I haven't got a husband,” she answered.

Jesus replied, “You are right when you say you haven't got a husband. ₁₈You have been married to five men, and the man you live with now is not really your husband. You have told me the truth.”

₁₉“I see you are a prophet, sir,” the woman said. ₂₀“My Samaritan ancestors worshipped God on this mountain, but you Jews say that Jerusalem is the place where we should worship God.”

₂₁Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the time will come when people will not worship the Father either on this mountain or in Jerusalem. ₂₂You Samaritans do not really know whom you worship; but we Jews know whom we worship, because it is from the Jews that salvation comes. ₂₃But the time is coming and is already here, when by the power of God's Spirit people will worship the Father as he really is, offering him the true worship that he wants. ₂₄God is Spirit, and only by the power of his Spirit can people worship him as he really is.”

₂₅The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah will come, and when he comes, he will tell us everything.”

₂₆Jesus answered, “I am he, I who am talking with you.”

₂₇At that moment Jesus' disciples returned, and they were greatly surprised to find him talking with a woman. But none of them said to her, “What do you want?” or asked him, “Why are you talking with her?”

₂₈Then the woman left her water jar, went back to the town, and said to the people there, ₂₉“Come and see the man who told me everything I have ever done. Could he be the Messiah?” ₃₀So they left the town and went to Jesus.

₃₁In the meantime the disciples were begging Jesus, “Teacher, have something to eat!”

₃₂But he answered, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”

₃₃So the disciples started asking among themselves, “Could somebody have brought him food?”

₃₄“My food,” Jesus said to them, “is to obey the will of the one who sent me and to finish the work he gave me to do. ₃₅You have a saying, ‘Four more months and then the harvest.’ But I tell you, take a good look at the fields; the crops are now ripe and ready to be harvested! ₃₆The one who reaps the harvest is being paid and gathers the crops for eternal life; so another who sows and the one who reaps will be glad together. ₃₇The saying is true, ‘One sows, another reaps.’ ₃₈I have sent you to reap a harvest in a field where you did not work; others worked there, and you profit from their work.”

₃₉Many of the Samaritans in that town believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He told me everything I have ever done.” ₄₀So when the Samaritans came to him, they begged him to stay with them, and Jesus stayed there two days.

₄₁Many more believed because of his message, ₄₂and they said to the woman, “We believe now, not because of what you said, but because we ourselves have heard him, and we know that he really is the Saviour of the world.”