Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Water at Massah and Meribah
17 [a] The whole community[b] of the Israelites traveled on their journey[c] from the wilderness of Sin according to the Lord’s instruction, and they pitched camp in Rephidim.[d] Now[e] there was no water for the people to drink.[f] 2 So the people contended[g] with Moses, and they said, “Give us water to drink!”[h] Moses said to them, “Why do you contend[i] with me? Why do you test[j] the Lord?” 3 But the people were very thirsty[k] there for water, and they murmured against Moses and said, “Why in the world[l] did you bring us up from Egypt—to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?”[m]
4 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What will I do with[n] this people?—a little more[o] and they will stone me!”[p] 5 The Lord said to Moses, “Go over before the people;[q] take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the Nile and go. 6 I will be standing[r] before you there on[s] the rock in Horeb, and you will strike[t] the rock, and water will come out of it so that the people may drink.”[u] And Moses did so in plain view[v] of the elders of Israel.
7 He called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contending of the Israelites and because of their testing the Lord,[w] saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
Psalm 95[a]
95 Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord.
Let us shout out praises to our Protector who delivers us.[b]
2 Let us enter his presence[c] with thanksgiving.
Let us shout out to him in celebration.[d]
3 For the Lord is a great God,
a great king who is superior to[e] all gods.
4 The depths of the earth are in his hand,[f]
and the mountain peaks belong to him.
5 The sea is his, for he made it.
His hands formed the dry land.
6 Come, let us bow down and worship.[g]
Let us kneel before the Lord, our Creator.
7 For he is our God;
we are the people of his pasture,
the sheep he owns.[h]
Today, if only you would obey him.[i]
8 He says,[j] “Do not be stubborn like they were at Meribah,[k]
like they were that day at Massah[l] in the wilderness,[m]
9 where your ancestors challenged my authority,[n]
and tried my patience, even though they had seen my work.
10 For forty years I was continually disgusted[o] with that generation,
and I said, ‘These people desire to go astray;[p]
they do not obey my commands.’[q]
11 So I made a vow in my anger,
‘They will never enter into the resting place I had set aside for them.’”[r]
The Expectation of Justification
5 [a] Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have[b] peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have also obtained access[c] into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice[d] in the hope of God’s glory. 3 Not[e] only this, but we also rejoice in sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance, character, and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God[f] has been poured out[g] in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 (For rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person perhaps someone might possibly dare to die.)[h] 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, because we have now been declared righteous[i] by his blood,[j] we will be saved through him from God’s wrath.[k] 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, since we have been reconciled, will we be saved by his life? 11 Not[l] only this, but we also rejoice[m] in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.
5 Now he came to a Samaritan town[a] called Sychar,[b] near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.[c] 6 Jacob’s well was there, so Jesus, since he was tired from the journey, sat right down beside[d] the well. It was about noon.[e]
7 A Samaritan woman[f] came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me some water[g] to drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone off into the town to buy supplies.[h])[i] 9 So the Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you—a Jew[j]—ask me, a Samaritan woman, for water[k] to drink?” (For Jews use nothing in common[l] with Samaritans.)[m]
10 Jesus answered[n] her, “If you had known[o] the gift of God and who it is who said to you, ‘Give me some water[p] to drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”[q] 11 “Sir,”[r] the woman[s] said to him, “you have no bucket and the well[t] is deep; where then do you get this[u] living water?[v] 12 Surely you’re not greater than our ancestor[w] Jacob, are you? For he gave us this well and drank from it himself, along with his sons and his livestock.”[x]
13 Jesus replied,[y] “Everyone who drinks some of this water will be thirsty[z] again. 14 But whoever drinks some of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again,[aa] but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain[ab] of water springing up[ac] to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw[ad] water.”[ae] 16 He[af] said to her, “Go call your husband and come back here.”[ag] 17 The woman replied,[ah] “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “Right you are when you said,[ai] ‘I have no husband,’[aj] 18 for you have had five husbands, and the man you are living with[ak] now is not your husband. This you said truthfully!”
19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I see[al] that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain,[am] and you people[an] say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman,[ao] a time[ap] is coming when you will worship[aq] the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You people[ar] worship what you do not know. We worship what we know, because salvation is from the Jews.[as] 23 But a time[at] is coming—and now is here[au]—when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks[av] such people to be[aw] his worshipers.[ax] 24 God is spirit,[ay] and the people who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (the one called Christ);[az] “whenever he[ba] comes, he will tell[bb] us everything.”[bc] 26 Jesus said to her, “I, the one speaking to you, am he.”
The Disciples Return
27 Now at that very moment his disciples came back.[bd] They were shocked[be] because he was speaking[bf] with a woman. However, no one said, “What do you want?”[bg] or “Why are you speaking with her?” 28 Then the woman left her water jar, went off into the town and said to the people,[bh] 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Surely he can’t be the Messiah,[bi] can he?”[bj] 30 So[bk] they left the town and began coming[bl] to him.
Workers for the Harvest
31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him,[bm] “Rabbi, eat something.”[bn] 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” 33 So the disciples began to say[bo] to one another, “No one brought him anything[bp] to eat, did they?”[bq] 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me[br] and to complete[bs] his work.[bt] 35 Don’t you say,[bu] ‘There are four more months and then comes the harvest?’ I tell you, look up[bv] and see that the fields are already white[bw] for harvest! 36 The one who reaps receives pay[bx] and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that the one who sows and the one who reaps can rejoice together. 37 For in this instance the saying is true,[by] ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap what you did not work for; others have labored and you have entered into their labor.”
The Samaritans Respond
39 Now many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the report of the woman who testified,[bz] “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they began asking[ca] him to stay with them.[cb] He stayed there two days, 41 and because of his word many more[cc] believed. 42 They said to the woman, “No longer do we believe because of your words, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this one[cd] really is the Savior of the world.”[ce]
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