He Shows Goodwill Tells the Good Story 4
4
LIVING WATER
Many people were now coming to Creator Sets Free (Jesus) at the river Flowing Down (Jordan) for the purification ceremony.
1-3Creator Sets Free (Jesus) was gathering more followers for the purification ceremony#4:1-3 Baptism than Gift of Goodwill (John), although it was not he but his followers who were performing the ceremony. When Creator Sets Free (Jesus) found out that the Separated Ones (Pharisees) knew of this, 4he left the Land of Promise (Judea) to return to Circle of Nations (Galilee). On the way he had to journey through the territory of High Place (Samaria).
Many of the people from High Place (Samaria) were mixed bloods and despised by the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel). They had their own sacred lodge and ceremonies, and did not respect the Tribal Members or consider Village of Peace (Jerusalem) to be a holy place. Both of them would go out of their way to keep from having contact with the other.
The sun was beating down from high above the head of Creator Sets Free (Jesus) as he journeyed through High Place (Samaria).
5There he came to a place called Burial Site (Sychar), which was near a piece of land Heel Grabber (Jacob) had passed down to his son Creator Gives More (Joseph).
6-8Weary from his journey, about the sixth hour of the day, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) sat down to rest at the ancient watering hole of Heel Grabber (Jacob), while the ones who walked the road with him went to the nearby village to find some food.
A WOMAN FROM HIGH PLACE
The sun had reached midpoint in the sky. It was now the time of day when no one would normally come to the watering hole.
A woman from High Place (Samaria) came to the well to draw water. Creator Sets Free (Jesus) saw the woman and said to her, “Would you give me some water to drink?”
This surprised the woman, because a traditional man would not speak to a woman in public.
9She found her voice and asked, “Why would you, a man from the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel), ask me for a drink, seeing I am a woman from High Place (Samaria)?”
She said this because the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel) have no dealings with the people from High Place (Samaria).
10“If you only knew about Creator’s good gift,” he answered, “and who it is who asks you for a drink, you would ask him for living water and he would give it to you.”
11She said to him, “Honored One, this watering hole is deep, and you have no way to draw out the water. Where will you get this living water? 12Are you greater than our ancestor Heel Grabber (Jacob), who gave us this well and was first to drink from it with his children and animals?”
13“The ones who drink from this well will thirst again,” Creator Sets Free (Jesus) answered. 14“But the ones who drink the water I give will never thirst, for this water will become a river flowing from inside them, giving them the life of the world to come that never fades away, full of beauty and harmony.”
15“Honored One, please give me this water,” she said to him, “so I will never thirst again or need to walk this long path to get a drink.”
16He said to her, “Go to your husband and bring him here.”
17“I have no husband,” she answered.
“Yes, that is true,” Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said. 18“You have had five husbands, and the man you are with now is not your husband.”
Her eyes grew wide as she lifted a trembling hand to her mouth.
19“Oh! I see. You are a prophet!” she said back to him. 20“Our ancestors honored and served the Great Spirit on this mountain. But your people say the only place to make our prayers and perform our ceremonies is in Village of Peace (Jerusalem).”
This was a very old argument between the people of High Place (Samaria) and the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel).
21-23“Honored woman, trust my words,” Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said to her. “Your people honor and serve him, but in ways they do not fully understand. We honor and serve him with understanding, for the good road that sets us free has been entrusted to the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel).
SPIRIT AND TRUTH
“But the time is coming when all who honor and serve the Great Mystery will not need to do so in this mountain, nor in Village of Peace (Jerusalem). The Father is looking for the ones who will honor him in spirit and truth—and the day for this has now come. 24The One Above Us All is spirit, and all who honor and serve the Great Spirit must do so in spirit and truth.”
25“I know the Chosen One will come,” she said, “and when he comes, he will make all things clear to us.”
26Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said to her, “I am the Chosen One, the one who is speaking to you now.”
27Just then his followers returned. They wondered why he was talking to a woman, but no one said to her, “What do you want?” or to him, “Why are you talking to her?”
THE HARVEST IS NOW
28The woman left her water pouch, went to the village, and told the people, 29“Come and see this man who knows everything about me. Could he be the Chosen One?”
30The people of the village went out to find him. 31Meanwhile, the ones who walked the road with him said, “Wisdomkeeper, here is some food to eat!”
32“I have food to eat you know nothing about,” he said.
33His followers whispered to each other, “None of us brought him anything to eat.”
34 He knew what they were saying, so he said to them, “What feeds me is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work. 35It has been said, ‘Is it not four moons until the harvest?’ Open your eyes! The harvest is upon you now! 36The ones who reap the harvest are rewarded because they are gathering grain for the life of the world to come that never fades away. Both the ones who plant the seed and the ones who harvest will celebrate together. 37This is a true saying, ‘One plants and another reaps.’ 38I send you to reap where others have done the work of planting, and now it is you who will gather.”
MANY BELIEVE
39Soon many people from the woman’s village in High Place (Samaria) arrived. Many believed in him because the woman had said, “He knows everything about me.” 40They asked him to stay, so he remained there for two more days. 41When they heard him speak, many more believed in him.
42They said to the woman, “We believe now, not just because of your words, but because we have heard him ourselves. We now see that this is the one who will restore the world and set all people free.”
HE CONTINUES HIS JOURNEY
43After the two days he continued on his journey to Circle of Nations (Galilee), the territory near his boyhood home. 44Creator Sets Free (Jesus) had said that a prophet is given much honor except in his own village, among his own clan, and in his own house. 45But even so, the people there welcomed him, because they had seen with their own eyes the powerful things he had done at the Passover festival.
SECOND SIGN
46He returned to Village of Reeds (Cana), where he had turned the water into wine. At Village of Comfort (Capernaum), almost a day’s walk away, the son of a government official was sick and near death. 47When the man heard that Creator Sets Free (Jesus) had come to Circle of Nations (Galilee) from the Land of Promise (Judea), he came to him and asked him to come and heal his son.
48Creator Sets Free (Jesus) looked around at the crowd and said, “Why do you need to see signs and wonders before you will believe?”
49“Honored one,” the man spoke, with desperation in his voice. “Please come before my child dies!”
50“Go home!” Creator Sets Free (Jesus) instructed him. “Your son will live.”
The man believed him and left to go home. 51On the way his servants met him and told him his son was getting stronger. 52He asked them the hour when this occurred.
“Yesterday, at the seventh hour, the fever left him,” they answered.
53The father knew it was the same time that he was told, “Your son will live,” so he and his family believed.
54This was the second powerful sign Creator Sets Free (Jesus) performed in Village of Reeds (Cana), having come from the southern territory of the Land of Promise (Judea) to Circle of Nations (Galilee).
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