The Gospel According to St. John

⭑ Unlocked Dynamic Bible :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑

- Chapter 4 -

Jesus got a report about the Pharisees. They found out that Jesus was gaining more followers than John the Baptizer and that he was baptizing more people than John was.

But Jesus himself was not personally doing the work of baptizing; his disciples were doing that.

So Jesus and his disciples left the region of Judea and returned once more to Galilee.

Now they had to go through the region of Samaria.

So they arrived at a town called Sychar in the region of Samaria. Sychar was near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph long ago.

Just outside the town of Sychar was Jacob’s well. Jesus was very tired from his long journey, and he sat down to rest beside the well. It was about noon.

A woman from Samaria came out to the well to draw some water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”

Now his disciples had left him alone because they had gone into the town to buy food.

The woman said to him, “I am surprised that you, a Jew, are asking me, a woman from Samaria, for a drink.”

Jesus replied to her, “If you had known the gift that God wants to give you and if you had known who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked me for a drink, and I would have given you living water.”

“Sir, you do not have a bucket or a rope with which to draw the water up out of the well, and this well is deep. Where would you get this living water?

You cannot be greater than our father Jacob. He dug this well that we use today, and he drank from it himself, as did his children and his animals.”

Jesus replied to her, “Everyone who drinks water from this well will be thirsty again,

but those who drink the water I will give them will never be thirsty again. The water I give will become a spring of water that fills them up and brings them everlasting life.”

The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will never be thirsty or have to come here to draw water again.”

Jesus knew she did not understand what he was saying, so he said to her, “Madam, go and call your husband and bring him here.”

The woman answered him, “I do not have a husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying that you have no husband,

because you have had not one, but five, husbands, and the man you are living with now is not your husband. What you have said about not having a husband is true.”

The woman said to him, “Sir, I see you are a prophet.

Our ancestors worshiped God right here on this mountain, but you Jews say that Jerusalem is the place we must worship God. Who is right?”

Jesus said to her, “Madam, believe me when I say that a time is coming when neither here on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, will people worship the Father.

You people in Samaria worship what you do not know. We Jewish worshipers know whom we worship because salvation comes from the Jews.

The time is coming and has now arrived when those who truly worship God will worship the Father spiritually and in truth. The Father searches for such people so that they may worship him in this way.

God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship him spiritually, and the truth must lead them in worship.”

The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming (the one also called “Anointed”). When he comes, he will tell us everything we need to hear.”

Jesus said to her, “I, who am speaking to you now, I am he!”

The Disciples Return and Marvel

Just then, the disciples came back from town. They were amazed that Jesus was talking with a woman who was not a member of his family. (That was against the Jewish custom.) Nevertheless, no one was brave enough to ask him, “What were you doing talking to a woman by yourself?” or “Why are you talking with her at all?”

The woman left her water jar there and went back into town. She said to the people of the town,

“Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He could not be the Messiah, could he?”

Many people started heading out of town, going where Jesus was.

His disciples, who had just returned with the food, urged him, “Teacher, eat something.”

Jesus said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about!”

So they were saying to one another, “No one else could have brought him something to eat, could they?”

Jesus said, “I will tell what I am most hungry for: It is to do what my Father who sent me wants and to complete all his work.

At this time of the year you usually say, ‘There are four months left, and then we will harvest the crops.’ Yet look all around you! The fields are ready for harvest at this moment. The non-Jews are now wanting God to rule over them; they are like the fields that are now ready to be harvested.

The one who believes this and is ready to work in this kind of harvest is already receiving his payment and is gathering much fruit for eternal life. Those who sow the seed and those who reap the harvest will be glad together.

This statement is true: One person plants the seeds, and another person harvests the crops.

I sent you to gather the harvest from a crop you did not plant. Others have worked very hard, but you are now joining in their work.”

Many Samaritans Believe

Many Samaritans who lived in the town of Sychar put their trust in Jesus because of what they heard about him from all the woman told them. She said, “He told me everything I have ever done.”

When the Samaritans came to Jesus, they urged him to stay a longer time with them. So he stayed there two more days.

Many more of them trusted in Jesus because of what he proclaimed to them.

They told the woman, “We believe in Jesus now, not just because of what you told us about him but also because we have heard his message for ourselves. Now we know that this man truly is the Savior of the world.”

Jesus Heals the Official’s Son

(Matthew 8:5–13; Luke 7:1–10)

After those two days in Samaria, Jesus and his disciples left and went to the region of Galilee.

Jesus himself confirmed that a prophet receives honor in many places but never in the place where he grew up.

However, when he arrived in Galilee, many of the people there welcomed him. They knew who he was because they saw all the things he had done in Jerusalem during the recent Passover Festival that was held there.

Jesus went back again to Cana in Galilee. (That was where he had turned the water into wine.) There was an official of the king who lived in Capernaum just twenty-seven kilometers away, and his son was very sick.

When that man heard that Jesus had come back to Galilee from Judea, he went to Jesus in Cana and begged him, “Come down to Capernaum and heal my son. He is about to die!”

Jesus said to him, “Unless you see me do things that prove who I am and watch me do miracles, you will not trust in me!”

Yet the official said to him, “Sir, please come down to my home before my son dies!”

Jesus said to him, “Go. Your son will live.” The man trusted what Jesus said and he started on his way back home.

As he was traveling down to his home in Capernaum, his servants met him along the road. They told him, “Your child is going to live.”

He asked them, “At what time did my son begin to improve?” They said to him, “His fever ceased yesterday afternoon at one o’clock.”

Then the boy’s father realized that this was the time Jesus told him, “Your son lives.” So he trusted in Jesus, along with everyone who lived in his house.

That was the second time Jesus did something to prove to people who he was. He did it during the time that he came to the region of Galilee, having traveled there from Judea.

Therefore when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John

(although Jesus himself didn’t baptize, but his disciples),

he left Judea and departed into Galilee.

He needed to pass through Samaria.

So he came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.

Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being tired from his journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.(a)

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.

The Samaritan woman therefore said to him, “How is it that you, being a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)

Jesus answered 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. So where do you get that living water?

Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his children and his livestock?”

Jesus answered her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again,

but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”

The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I don’t get thirsty, neither come all the way here to draw.”

Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”

The woman answered, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You said well, ‘I have no husband,’

for you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly.”

The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.

Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.

You worship that which you don’t know. We worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews.

But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to be his worshipers.

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, he who is called Christ.(b) When he has come, he will declare to us all things.”

Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who speaks to you.”

The Disciples Return and Marvel

Just then, his disciples came. They marveled that he was speaking with a woman; yet no one said, “What are you looking for?” or, “Why do you speak with her?”

So the woman left her water pot, went away into the city, and said to the people,

“Come, see a man who told me everything that I have done. Can this be the Christ?”

They went out of the city, and were coming to him.

In the meanwhile, the disciples urged him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”

But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about.”

The disciples therefore said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?”

Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

Don’t you say, ‘There are yet four months until the harvest’? Behold, I tell you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, that they are white for harvest already.

He who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit to 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 haven’t labored. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

Many Samaritans Believe

From that city many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman, who testified, “He told me everything that I have done.”

So when the Samaritans came to him, they begged him to stay with them. He stayed there two days.

Many more believed because of his word.

They said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of your speaking; for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”

Jesus Heals the Official’s Son

(Matthew 8:5–13; Luke 7:1–10)

After the two days he went out from there and went into Galilee.

For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.

So when he came into Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen all the things that he did in Jerusalem at the feast, for they also went to the feast.

Jesus came therefore again to Cana of Galilee, where he made the water into wine. 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 begged him that he would come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.

Jesus therefore said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders, you will in no way believe.”

The nobleman said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”

Jesus said to him, “Go your way. Your son lives.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.

As he was going down, his servants met him and reported, saying “Your child lives!”

So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. They said therefore to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour,(c) the fever left him.”

So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives.” He believed, as did his whole house.

This is again the second sign that Jesus did, having come out of Judea into Galilee.

Footnotes

(a)4:6 noon

(b)4:25 “Messiah” (Hebrew) and “Christ” (Greek) both mean “Anointed One”.