An Encounter with Jesus – John 4:1-42
4 When Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was making and baptizing more disciples than John (2) (although Jesus himself was not baptizing, it was, rather, his disciples who were doing so), (3) he left Judea, and went back to Galilee.
(4) Now it was necessary for him to pass through Samaria. (5) So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the piece of land Jacob had given to his son Joseph, (6) and Jacob’s well was there. Jesus, being wearied by his journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour of the day.
(7) When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, Give me a drink. (8) (Now his disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) (9) The Samaritan woman said to him, How is it that you, being a Jew, ask me for a drink—I who am a Samaritan woman? (for Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) (10) Jesus responded to her by saying, If you knew what gift God offers and who it is who is saying to you, Give me a drink; you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water. (11) The woman said to him, Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep; from where, then, do you get this living water? (12) Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and who drank from it himself, together with his sons and his cattle? (13) Jesus answered her, Every one who drinks this water will be thirsty again; (14) but whoever drinks the water that I will give him shall never be thirsty again. On the contrary, the water that I shall give him shall become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. (15) The woman said to him, Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water. (16) Jesus said to her, Go, call your husband, and come back. (17) The woman responded by saying to him, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, You have spoken well by saying, I have no husband; (18) for you have had five husbands, and the man with whom you are now living is not your husband. What you have said is true. (19) The woman said to him, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. (20) Our fathers worshiped on this mountain; but you say that Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. (21) Jesus said to her, Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you shall worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. (22) You Samaritans worship what you do not know, we worship what we do know; for salvation comes from the Jews. (23) But the hour is coming, and has even arrived, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for, indeed, the Father requires such people to be his worshipers. (24) God is a Spirit; they who would worship him must worship in spirit and truth. (25) The woman said to him, I know that the Messiah is coming (the one who is called the Christ). When he comes, he will inform us of all things. (26) Jesus said to her, I who am speaking with you am he.
(27) Just then his disciples returned. They were surprised that he was speaking with a woman; but no one said, What do you want? or, Why are you speaking with her? (28) Leaving behind her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, (29) Come, meet a man who told me everything that I ever did! Can this be the Christ? (30) They came out of the town and were coming to him. (31) In the meantime the disciples urged him, Rabbi, please eat. (32) But he said to them, I have food to eat of which you know nothing. (33) The disciples then said to one another, Has anyone brought him anything to eat? (34) Jesus said to them, My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. (35) Do you not say, There are still four months before the harvest? Look, I tell you. Lift up your eyes and look at the fields, see that they are already white for harvest. (36) The one who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life; so that the one who sows and the one who reaps may rejoice together. (37) Here is the truth in the old adage, One sows, and another reaps. (38) I sent you to reap that harvest for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you now share in their labor.
(39) Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, He told me everything that I ever did. (40) So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. (41) Many more people believed because of his word, (42) and they said to the woman, Now we believe, not because of your testimony, but because we have heard for ourselves and know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.
Now proceed to the next section of this study, entitled, Exploring the Passage.
