Reading for March 12, 2023: Jn 4:5-42
In this issue:
Children’s story: Jesus speaks with a Samaritan woman at a well
Essay Question
Bible Accent: Moses meets the priest of Midian’s daughters at a well
Saint for Today: St. Guy of Pomposa
Puzzle: Fill in the blanks
Jesus and the apostles traveled to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near a plot of land Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
Jesus was tired from the journey, so he sat down beside Jacob’s well to rest while the apostles went into town for food.
Around noon, a woman from Samaria came to the well.
Jesus asked her for a drink.
“How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” she asked. Jews used nothing in common with Samaritans.
“If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water,” Jesus replied.
“Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep; where then can you get this living water?” the woman asked.
Jesus told her everyone who drinks the well water will be thirsty again.
“But whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life,” he said.
“Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water,” the woman said.
“Go call your husband and come back,” Jesus said.
“I do not have a husband,” she replied.
“What you have said is true,” Jesus said, noting that she had had five husbands and was not married to the man she was currently with.
“Sir, I can see that you are a prophet,” she said. “Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain; but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.”
Jesus explained that the hour was coming when true worshipers would worship the Father in Spirit and truth rather than in Jerusalem or on the mountain.
“I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Christ; when he comes, he will tell us everything,” the woman said.
“I am he,” Jesus said, “the one speaking with you.”
The woman left her water jar and went into town to tell everyone about Jesus.
People listened to the Samaritan woman and Jesus’ word, and began to believe in him.
“We know that this is truly the savior of the world,” the people said.
READ MORE ABOUT IT:
John 4
Q&A
1. Whom did Jesus ask for a drink?
2. What type of water did Jesus offer?
Essay Question
When have you had to decide whether to believe what someone was telling you?
Bible Accent
The Old Testament tells another story about a man who met women at a well.
In Exodus 2:11, we read that Moses, a Hebrew who had been adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter, got into some trouble.
One day, he saw an Egyptian man striking a Hebrew slave.
Moses looked around to see if anyone was watching. Then he struck down the Egyptian and buried him in the sand.
Pharaoh found out what had happened and wanted to kill Moses, so Moses fled to the land of Midian and sat down next to a well.
Seven women, the daughters of Reuel, who was priest of Midian, came to the well to get water for their father’s flock.
But shepherds there drove them away.
Moses came to their defense and watered the flock himself.
When the daughters returned home, they told their father that an Egyptian man had delivered them from the shepherds and helped them water the flock.
“Where is he?” Reuel asked his daughters. “Why did you leave the man there? Invite him to have something to eat.”
Moses agreed to stay with Reuel and his family. Reuel even gave Moses his daughter Zipporah in marriage.
Zipporah conceived and bore a son, whom Moses named Gershom; for he said, “I am a stranger residing in a foreign land.”
Saint for Today: St. Guy of Pomposa
St. Guy of Pomposa was born in Italy in the late 10th century. Raised in a wealthy family, he wore fine clothes and had the best education available.
But he eventually tired of this lifestyle. So he sold his clothes, gave the money to the poor and set out for Rome wearing shabby garments.
In Rome, he befriended a hermit and later joined a community of monks at Pomposa Abbey, where he eventually became abbot. He also became a popular spiritual adviser and had many followers.
St. Guy died in 1046, and we remember him on March 31.
Puzzle
Using the hints provided, fill in the blanks in these sentences from John 4 about Jesus and the apostles in Samaria.
1. The apostles were _______ that Jesus was talking with a Samaritan woman. (verse 27)
2. The apostles urged Jesus to _______. (verse 31)
3. Jesus said his food was to do the _______ of the one who sent him. (verse 34)
4. Jesus and the apostles stayed with the Samaritans for _______ days. (verse 40)
Answers: 1. amazed; 2. eat; 3. will; 4. two
