Immerse: Messiah - Flipbook - Page 416
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IMMERSE
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MESSIAH
3:29–4:18
I am only here to prepare the way for him.’ It is the bridegroom who marries the bride, and the bridegroom’s friend is simply glad to stand with him
and hear his vows. Therefore, I am filled with joy at his success. He must
become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.
“He has come from above and is greater than anyone else. We are of
the earth, and we speak of earthly things, but he has come from heaven
and is greater than anyone else. He testifies about what he has seen and
heard, but how few believe what he tells them! Anyone who accepts his
testimony can affirm that God is true. For he is sent by God. He speaks
God’s words, for God gives him the Spirit without limit. The Father loves
his Son and has put everything into his hands. And anyone who believes
in God’s Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn’t obey the Son will never
experience eternal life but remains under God’s angry judgment.”
Jesus knew the Pharisees had heard that he was baptizing and making
more disciples than John (though Jesus himself didn’t baptize them—his
disciples did). So he left Judea and returned to Galilee.
He had to go through Samaria on the way. Eventually he came to the
Samaritan village of Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily
beside the well about noontime. Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw
water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.” He was alone at the
time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food.
The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with
Samaritans. She said to Jesus, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman.
Why are you asking me for a drink?”
Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are
speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.”
“But sir, you don’t have a rope or a bucket,” she said, “and this well is
very deep. Where would you get this living water? And besides, do you
think you’re greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well? How
can you offer better water than he and his sons and his animals enjoyed?”
Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty
again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It
becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”
“Please, sir,” the woman said, “give me this water! Then I’ll never be
thirsty again, and I won’t have to come here to get water.”
“Go and get your husband,” Jesus told her.
“I don’t have a husband,” the woman replied.
Jesus said, “You’re right! You don’t have a husband—for you have had
five husbands, and you aren’t even married to the man you’re living with
now. You certainly spoke the truth!”
