サマリヤ人の女

さて、イエスのもとにはぞくぞくと人々が詰めかけました。バプテスマ(洗礼)を受けて弟子になった者の数はヨハネよりも多いといううわさが、パリサイ人たちの耳に入りました。イエスはこのことを知ると、 ――もっとも、実際にバプテスマを授けていたのはイエス自身ではなく、弟子たちでしたが―― ユダヤを去り、またガリラヤ地方へ行かれました。 その途中で、どうしてもサマリヤを通らなければなりませんでした。 5-6 サマリヤのスカルという村にさしかかったのは、ちょうど正午ごろでした。そこに、昔ヤコブが息子ヨセフに与えた土地があり、ヤコブの井戸がありました。日がかんかんに照りつける長い道のりを歩いて来られたイエスは疲れて、井戸のそばに腰をおろしました。

まもなくサマリヤ人の女が一人、水を汲みに来ました。イエスは、「すみませんが、水を一杯下さい」と声をおかけになりました。 そのとき弟子たちは、村に食べ物を買いに行っており、ほかにはだれもいませんでした。 女はびっくりして言いました。「まあ、あなたはユダヤ人ではありませんか。サマリヤ人の私に、どうして水をくれなどと頼むのですか。」当時、ユダヤ人はサマリヤ人を見下し、口をきこうとさえしなかったのです。 10 「もし、神があなたにどんなにすばらしい贈り物を用意しておられるか、また、わたしがだれなのかを知っていれば、あなたのほうから、いのちの水を下さいと願ったでしょう。」 11 「そんなこと言っても、あなたは水を汲むおけも綱も持っていないのですよ。この井戸はとても深いのです。そのいのちの水を、いったいどこから汲むのですか。 12 あなたは、私たちの先祖ヤコブ様よりも偉いと言うのですか。ヤコブ様はこの井戸を私たちにくれました。ヤコブ様も、その子孫も家畜もみんな、この井戸の水を喜んで飲んだのです。これより良い水をくれると言うのですか。」 13 イエスは言われました。「この水を飲んでも、すぐにまた、のどが渇きます。 14 けれども、わたしがあげる水を飲めば、絶対に渇くことはありません。わたしがあげる水は、それを飲む人のうちで永久にかれない泉となり、いつまでもその人を永遠のいのちで潤すのです。」 15 「先生。そのような水があるなら、私に下さい。そうすればのども渇かないし、毎日こんな遠くまで歩いて、水汲みに来なくてすむもの。」 16 「帰って、夫を連れて来なさい。」 17-18 「……。私、結婚なんかしていません。」「そうですね。あなたは五回も結婚したけれど、今いっしょに暮らしている男は、確かに夫ではありません。」 19 「先生。あなたは預言者でしょう。 20 だったら教えてください。ユダヤ人は、礼拝の場所はエルサレムだけだと言いはるし、サマリヤ人は、私たちの先祖が礼拝したこのゲリジム山だと言っています。どうしてなのですか?」 21-24 「いいですか。父なる神を礼拝する場所は、この山か、それともエルサレムかなどと、こだわる必要のない時が来ます。大切なのは、どこで礼拝するかではありません。どのように礼拝するかです。霊的な、真心からの礼拝をしているかどうかが問題なのです。神は霊なるお方ですから、正しい礼拝をするには、聖霊の助けが必要です。神はそのような礼拝をしてほしいのです。あなたがたサマリヤ人は、神のことはほとんど何も知らないで礼拝していますが、私たちユダヤ人はよく知っています。救いはユダヤ人を通してこの世に来るのですから。」 25 「私は、キリストと呼ばれるメシヤがおいでになることだけは知っています。その方がおいでになれば、いっさいのことを説明してくださるのでしょう。」 26 「わたしがそのメシヤです。」

27 ちょうどその時、弟子たちが戻って来ました。驚いたことに、イエスが女と話しておられるではありませんか。しかし、どうしてなのか、何を話しているのか尋ねた者はいませんでした。 28 女は水がめを井戸のそばに置いたまま村に帰り、会う人ごとに話しかけました。 29 「ねえ、来て、会ってごらんよ。私のしてきたことを、何もかも言い当てた方がいらっしゃるの。あの方こそキリスト(救い主)に違いないよ。」 30 この誘いに村人たちは、イエスに会おうと、ぞくぞくと押しかけました。

31 そのころ、弟子たちはイエスに、「先生。どうぞお食事を」と勧めましたが、 32 イエスは、「いや、けっこうです。わたしには、あなたがたの知らない食べ物があるのです」と言われました。 33 弟子たちはけげんそうに、「だれかが食べ物を持って来たんだろうか」と口々に言いました。 34 そこでイエスは説明なさいました。「いいですか、わたしの言う食べ物とは、わたしを遣わされた神のお心にかなうことをし、神の仕事をやり遂げることなのです。 35 あなたがたは、『刈り入れはまだ四か月も先のこと、夏も終わりにならなければ始まらない』と思っているようですね。だが、回りをよく見なさい。人のたましいの畑は広々と一面に実り、刈り入れを待つばかりです。 36 やがて、刈り入れをする人たちはたくさんの報酬をもらい、永遠のいのちに入るたましいを天の倉に納めます。その時、種をまいた者も、刈り入れをした者も共々に、大いに喜ぶのです。 37 『一人が種をまき、ほかの人が刈り入れる』ということわざのとおりにです。 38 あなたがたが自分で種まきをしなかった畑に、わたしはあなたがたを遣わしました。ほかの人々が苦労して育てたものを、あなたがたが刈り入れるのです。」

39 スカルの村から押しかけたサマリヤ人の多くは、例の女が、「あの方は、私のしてきたことを何もかも言い当てた」と言うのを聞いて、イエスをメシヤと信じました。 40 彼らは井戸のところに来てイエスにお会いすると、村に滞在してくださいと頼みました。そこでイエスは、二日間滞在しました。 41 その間に、さらに多くの人がイエスのことばを聞いて信じました。 42 人々は女に、「もう私たちは、あなたが話してくれたことを聞いたから信じているのではない。この方が言われることを、じかに聞いたからだ。この方こそ、ほんとうに世の救い主だ」と言いました。

43 さて、その二日後、イエスはスカルの村を去り、ガリラヤへ行かれました。 44 イエスは常々、「預言者は、故郷では尊敬されないものです」と言っておられました。 45 ところが、どうでしょう。ガリラヤの人たちは、大喜びでイエスを迎えたのです。それもそのはず、この人たちは過越の祭りの時にエルサレムにいて、イエスのなさったことを全部見ていたからです。

役人の息子を治す

46 ガリラヤ旅行の途中、イエスはカナの村に行かれました。以前、水をぶどう酒に変えた所です。さて、カペナウムの町に、重病の息子をかかえた政府の役人がいました。 47 イエスがユダヤを出てガリラヤを旅行中だということをうわさで聞き、役人はカナまでやって来ました。そしてイエスにお会いすると、「息子が今にも死にそうです。どうぞカペナウムへおいでになって、治してやってください」と熱心に頼みました。 48 イエスは言われました。「わたしがもっと多くの奇跡を行わなければ、信じようとしないのですか。」 49 「先生。お願いです。子どもが死なないうちにおいでください。」 50 「さあ、家にお帰りなさい。お子さんは治りました。」役人は、イエスのことばを信じ、家へ急ぎました。 51 途中、召使たちが迎えに来て、「ご子息は、すっかりよくなりました」と知らせました。 52 「えっ、いつからだ。」「昨日の午後一時ごろでしょうか、急に熱が下がりました。」 53 それはイエスが、「お子さんは治りました」と言われた時刻とぴったり一致していました。このことがあって、役人と彼の家の者全員が、イエスをメシヤと信じました。

54 これは、イエスがユダヤから来てガリラヤで行われた、第二の奇跡です。

Jesus knew that the Pharisees had heard that he was winning and baptizing more followers than John was. But Jesus' disciples were really the ones doing the baptizing, and not Jesus himself.

Jesus and the Samaritan Woman

Jesus left Judea and started for Galilee again. This time he had to go through Samaria, (A) and on his way he came to the town of Sychar. It was near the field that Jacob had long ago given to his son Joseph. 6-8 The well that Jacob had dug was still there, and Jesus sat down beside it because he was tired from traveling. It was noon, and after Jesus' disciples had gone into town to buy some food, a Samaritan woman came to draw water from the well.

Jesus asked her, “Would you please give me a drink of water?”

(B) “You are a Jew,” she replied, “and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink of water when Jews and Samaritans won't have anything to do with each other?”[a]

10 Jesus answered, “You don't know what God wants to give you, and you don't know who is asking you for a drink. If you did, you would ask me for the water that gives life.”

11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you don't even have a bucket, and the well is deep. Where are you going to get this life-giving water? 12 Our ancestor Jacob dug this well for us, and his family and animals got water from it. Are you greater than Jacob?”

13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again. 14 But no one who drinks the water I give will ever be thirsty again. The water I give will become in that person a flowing fountain that gives eternal life.”

15 The woman replied, “Sir, please give me a drink of that water! Then I won't get thirsty and have to come to this well again.”

16 Jesus told her, “Go and bring your husband.”

17-18 The woman answered, “I don't have a husband.”

“That's right,” Jesus replied, “you're telling the truth. You don't have a husband. You have already been married five times, and the man you are now living with isn't your husband.”

19 The woman said, “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. 20 My ancestors worshiped on this mountain,[b] but you Jews say Jerusalem is the only place to worship.”

21 Jesus said to her:

Believe me, the time is coming when you won't worship the Father either on this mountain or in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans don't really know the one you worship. But we Jews do know the God we worship, and by using us, God will save the world. 23 But a time is coming, and it is already here! Even now the true worshipers are being led by the Spirit to worship the Father according to the truth. These are the ones the Father is seeking to worship him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship God must be led by the Spirit to worship him according to the truth.

25 The woman said, “I know that the Messiah will come. He is the one we call Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

26 “I am that one,” Jesus told her, “and I am speaking to you now.”

27 The disciples returned about this time and were surprised to find Jesus talking with a woman. But none of them asked him what he wanted or why he was talking with her.

28 The woman left her water jar and ran back into town, where she said to the people, 29 “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! Could he be the Messiah?” 30 Everyone in town went out to see Jesus.

31 While this was happening, Jesus' disciples were saying to him, “Teacher, please eat something.”

32 But Jesus told them, “I have food you don't know anything about.”

33 His disciples started asking each other, “Has someone brought him something to eat?”

34 Jesus said:

My food is to do what God wants! He is the one who sent me, and I must finish the work that he gave me to do. 35 You may say there are still four months until harvest time. But I tell you to look, and you will see that the fields are ripe and ready to harvest.

36 Even now the harvest workers are receiving their reward by gathering a harvest that brings eternal life. Then everyone who planted the seed and everyone who harvests the crop will celebrate together. 37 So the saying proves true, “Some plant the seed, and others harvest the crop.” 38 I am sending you to harvest crops in fields where others have done all the hard work.

39 A lot of Samaritans in that town put their faith in Jesus because the woman had said, “This man told me everything I have ever done.” 40 They came and asked him to stay in their town, and he stayed on for two days.

41 Many more Samaritans put their faith in Jesus because of what they heard him say. 42 They told the woman, “We no longer have faith in Jesus just because of what you told us. We have heard him ourselves, and we are certain that he is the Savior of the world!”

Jesus Heals an Official's Son

(Matthew 8.5-13; Luke 7.1-10)

43-44 (C) Jesus had said, “Prophets are honored everywhere, except in their own country.” Then two days later he left 45 (D) and went to Galilee. The people there welcomed him, because they had gone to the festival in Jerusalem and had seen everything he had done.

46 (E) While Jesus was in Galilee, he returned to the village of Cana, where he had turned the water into wine. There was an official in Capernaum whose son was sick. 47 And when the man heard that Jesus had come from Judea, he went and begged him to keep his son from dying.

48 Jesus told the official, “You won't have faith unless you see miracles and wonders!”

49 The man replied, “Lord, please come before my son dies!”

50 Jesus then said, “Your son will live. Go on home to him.” The man believed Jesus and started back home.

51 Some of the official's servants met him along the road and told him, “Your son is better!” 52 He asked them when the boy got better, and they answered, “The fever left him yesterday at one o'clock.”

53 The boy's father realized that at one o'clock the day before, Jesus had told him, “Your son will live!” So the man and everyone in his family put their faith in Jesus.

54 This was the second miracle[c] that Jesus worked after he left Judea and went to Galilee.

Footnotes

  1. 4.9 won't have anything to do with each other: Or “won't use the same cups.” The Samaritans lived in the land between Judea and Galilee. They worshiped God differently from the Jews and did not get along with them.
  2. 4.20 this mountain: Mount Gerizim, near the city of Shechem.
  3. 4.54 miracle: See the note at 2.11.

Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman

Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John(A) although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. So he left Judea(B) and went back once more to Galilee.

Now he had to go through Samaria.(C) So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph.(D) Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”(E) (His disciples had gone into the town(F) to buy food.)

The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan(G) woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a])

10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”(H)

11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well(I) and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst.(J) Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water(K) welling up to eternal life.”(L)

15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty(M) and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

17 “I have no husband,” she replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet.(N) 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain,(O) but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”(P)

21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming(Q) when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.(R) 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know;(S) we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.(T) 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come(U) when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit(V) and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit,(W) and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ)(X) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”(Y)

The Disciples Rejoin Jesus

27 Just then his disciples returned(Z) and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”

28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did.(AA) Could this be the Messiah?”(AB) 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi,(AC) eat something.”

32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat(AD) that you know nothing about.”

33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”

34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will(AE) of him who sent me and to finish his work.(AF) 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.(AG) 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests(AH) a crop for eternal life,(AI) so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’(AJ) is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”

Many Samaritans Believe

39 Many of the Samaritans from that town(AK) believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.”(AL) 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers.

42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”(AM)

Jesus Heals an Official’s Son

43 After the two days(AN) he left for Galilee. 44 (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.)(AO) 45 When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival,(AP) for they also had been there.

46 Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine.(AQ) And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea,(AR) he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.

48 “Unless you people see signs and wonders,”(AS) Jesus told him, “you will never believe.”

49 The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”

50 “Go,” Jesus replied, “your son will live.”

The man took Jesus at his word and departed. 51 While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. 52 When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him.”

53 Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and his whole household(AT) believed.

54 This was the second sign(AU) Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.

Footnotes

  1. John 4:9 Or do not use dishes Samaritans have used