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Gospel Reading for March 08, 2026 – John 4: 5-15, 19b-26, 39a, 40-42
WHOLE WORLD
Jesus came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there. Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well. It was about noon. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” His disciples had gone into the town to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” —For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.— Jesus answered and said to her, “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.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep; where then can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself with his children and his flocks?” Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks this 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.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water. “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain; but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You people worship what you do not understand; we worship what we understand, because salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him. God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Christ; when he comes, he will tell us everything.” Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking with you.” Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him. When the Samaritans came to him, they invited him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. Many more began to believe in him because of his word, and they said to the woman, “We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world.”
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The Jews and Samaritans did not see eye to eye. The Jews looked down on the Samaritans because of their intermarriages with the Gentiles and because of their long-standing dispute over the proper place of worship. Although Jesus said in Matthew 15:24, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” he nevertheless entered Samaritan territory. This shows that his mission of salvation was not meant to be confined to Israel alone, for he is the Savior of the WHOLE WORLD.
In his encounter with the Samaritan woman, Jesus began to lead people to a deeper understanding of what true worship means. It is not about the particular place where one should—or should not—worship the Father. Nor is it about who is worthy or unworthy to worship. True worship is worship in Spirit and in truth.
At times, we too can become overly preoccupied with our churches, adorning them with lavish and costly decorations, while forgetting those who live in poverty—people who could benefit greatly if those resources were shared with them instead. In doing so, we sometimes forget that Jesus himself lived a very simple life, and that what mattered most to him was his relationship with the Father, lived in Spirit and in truth.
Lord Jesus, keep us thirsty for the living water, so that we may always seek and depend on you.
