Third Sunday in Lent

1Verse 1. Then the whole congregation of Israel left the Desert of Sin, moving from place to place as the LORD commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2Verse 2. So the people contended with Moses, “Give us water to drink.” “Why do you contend with me?” Moses replied. “Why do you test the LORD?” 3Verse 3. But the people thirsted for water there, and they grumbled against Moses: “Why have you brought us out of Egypt — to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?” 4Verse 4. Then Moses cried out to the LORD, “What should I do with these people? A little more and they will stone me!” 5Verse 5. And the LORD said to Moses, “Walk on ahead of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you. Take along in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6Verse 6. Behold, I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. And when you strike the rock, water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7Verse 7. He named the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled, and because they tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”

1Verse 1. Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2Verse 2. through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3Verse 3. Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4Verse 4. perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5Verse 5. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us. 6Verse 6. For at just the right time, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7Verse 7. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8Verse 8. But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9Verse 9. Therefore, since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from wrath through Him! 10Verse 10. For if, when we were enemies of God, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life! 11Verse 11. Not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

5Verse 5. So He came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6Verse 6. Since Jacob’s well was there, Jesus, weary from His journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7Verse 7. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8Verse 8. (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) 9Verse 9. “You are a Jew,” said the woman. “How can You ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) 10Verse 10. Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God and who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” 11Verse 11. “Sir,” the woman replied, “You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where then will You get this living water? 12Verse 12. Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock?” 13Verse 13. Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. 14Verse 14. But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.” 15Verse 15. The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water so that I will not get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” 16Verse 16. Jesus told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” 17Verse 17. “I have no husband,” the woman replied. Jesus said to her, “You are correct to say that you have no husband. 18Verse 18. In fact, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. You have spoken truthfully.” 19Verse 19. “Sir,” the woman said, “I see that You are a prophet. 20Verse 20. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place where one must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21Verse 21. “Believe Me, woman,” Jesus replied, “a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22Verse 22. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23Verse 23. But a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such as these to worship Him. 24Verse 24. God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” 25Verse 25. The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When He comes, He will explain everything to us.” 26Verse 26. Jesus answered, “I who speak to you am He.” 27Verse 27. Just then His disciples returned and were surprised that He was speaking with a woman. But no one asked Him, “What do You want from her?” or “Why are You talking with her?” 28Verse 28. Then the woman left her water jar, went back into the town, and said to the people, 29Verse 29. “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” 30Verse 30. So they left the town and made their way toward Jesus. 31Verse 31. Meanwhile the disciples urged Him, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32Verse 32. But He told them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” 33Verse 33. So the disciples asked one another, “Could someone have brought Him food?” 34Verse 34. Jesus explained, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work. 35Verse 35. Do you not say, ‘There are still four months until the harvest’? I tell you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are ripe for harvest. 36Verse 36. Already the reaper draws his wages and gathers a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may rejoice together. 37Verse 37. For in this case the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38Verse 38. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for; others have done the hard work, and now you have taken up their labor.” 39Verse 39. Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in Jesus because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40Verse 40. So when the Samaritans came to Him, they asked Him to stay with them, and He stayed two days. 41Verse 41. And many more believed because of His message. 42Verse 42. They said to the woman, “We now believe not only because of your words; we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man truly is the Savior of the world.”