The Life of Jesus

Then a dispute arose between John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the issue of ceremonial washing.

So John’s disciples came to him and said, “Look, Rabbi, the One who was with you beyond the Jordan, the One you testified about—He is baptizing, and everyone is going to Him.”

John replied, “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven.

You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but am sent ahead of Him.’

The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom stands and listens for him, and is overjoyed to hear the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.

He must increase; I must decrease.

The One who comes from above is above all. The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks as one from the earth. The One who comes from heaven is above all.

He testifies to what He has seen and heard, yet no one accepts His testimony.

Whoever accepts His testimony has certified that God is truthful.

For the One whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.

The Father loves the Son and has placed all things in His hands.

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him.”

When Jesus realized that the Pharisees were aware He was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John

(although it was not Jesus who baptized, but His disciples),

He left Judea and returned to Galilee.

Now He had to pass through Samaria.

So He came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.

Since Jacob’s well was there, Jesus, weary from His journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.”

(His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

“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.)

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.”

“Sir,” the woman replied, “You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where then will You get this living water?

Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock?”

Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again.