Hello, this is Father Paul, and I'm glad we're
taking this journey together to read the Bible
in a year. Today's reading is from the Gospel
of John, Chapter 4. Therefore, when the Lord
knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus
made and baptized more disciples than John, though
Jesus himself did not baptize but his disciples,
he left Judea and departed again to Galilee.
But he needed to go through Samaria. So he came
to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar,
near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his
son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus,
therefore, being wearied from his journey, sat
thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus
said to her, Give me a drink. For his disciples
had gone away into the city to buy food. Then
the woman of Samaria said to him, How is it that
you, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan
woman? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
Jesus answered and said to her, If you knew the
gift of God, and who it is who says to you, Give
me a drink, you would have asked him, and he
would have given you living water. The woman
said to him, Sir, you have nothing to draw with,
and the well is deep. Where then do you get that
living water? Are you greater than our father
Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it
himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?
Jesus answered and said to her, Whoever drinks
of this water will thirst again. But whoever
drinks of the water that I shall give him will
never thirst. But the water that I shall give
him will become in him a fountain of water, springing
up into everlasting life. The woman said to him,
Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst
nor come here to draw. Jesus said to her, Go,
call your husband, and come here. The woman answered
and said, I have no husband. Jesus said to her,
You have well said, I have no husband. For you
have had five husbands, and the one whom you
now have is not your husband. In that you spoke
truly. The woman said to him, Sir, I perceive
that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped
on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem
is the place where one ought to worship. Jesus
said to her, Woman, believe me, the hour is coming
when you will neither on this mountain nor in
Jerusalem worship the Father. You worship what
you do not know. We know what we worship, for
salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming,
and now is, when the true worshippers will worship
the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father
is seeking such to worship Him. God is spirit,
and those who worship Him must worship in spirit
and truth. The woman said to him, I know that
Messiah is coming, who is called Christ. When
he comes, he will tell us all things. Jesus said
to her, I who speak to you am he. And at this
point his disciples came, and they marveled that
he talked with a woman. Yet no one said, What
do you seek? Or why are you talking with her?
The woman left her waterpot, went her way into
the city, and said to the men, Come. See a man
who told me all things that I ever did. Could
this be the Christ? Then they went out of the
city and came to him. In the meantime, his disciples
urged him, saying, Rabbi, eat. But he said to
them, I have food to eat of which you do not
know. Therefore the disciples said to one another,
Has anyone brought him anything to eat? Jesus
said to them, My food is to do the will of him
who sent me, and to finish his work. Do you not
say, There are still four months, and then comes
the harvest? Behold, I say to you, lift up your
eyes and look at the fields, for they are already
white for harvest. And he who reaps receives
wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that
both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice
together. For in this the saying is true, One
sows and another reaps. I sent you to reap, that
for which you have not labored. Others have labored,
and you have entered into their labors. And many
of the Samaritans of that city believed in him,
because of the word of the woman who testified,
He told me all that I ever did. So when the Samaritans
had come to him, they urged him to stay with
them. And he stayed there two days, and many
more believed because of his own word. Then they
said to the woman, Now we believe not because
of what you said, for we ourselves have heard
him and we know that this is indeed the Christ,
the Savior of the world. Now after the two days
he departed from there and went to Galilee. For
Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no
honor in his own country. So when he came to
Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen
all the things he did in Jerusalem at the feast,
for they also had gone to the feast. So Jesus
came again to Cana of Galilee, where he had made
the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman
whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard
that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee,
he went to him and implored him to come down
and heal his son, for he was at the point of
death. Then Jesus said to him, Unless you people
see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.
The nobleman said to him, Sir, come down before
my child dies. Jesus said to him, Go your way,
your son lives. So the man believed the word
that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.
And as he was now going down, his servants met
him and told him, saying, Your son lives. Then
he inquired of them the hour when he got better.
And they said to him, Yesterday at the seventh
hour the fever left him. So the father knew that
it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to
him, Your son lives. And he himself believed
and his whole household. This again is the second
sign Jesus did when he had come out of Judea
into Galilee. I hope you enjoyed today's reading
as much as I did. And I look forward to seeing
you again tomorrow to continue on our journey.
God bless you and have a great day.