(~) Bible Readings for Sunday Feb. 27

 Third Sunday in Lent

Exodus 17:1-7
Romans 5:1-11
John 4:5-26(27-38)39-42

Old Testament     Exodus 17:1-7

>From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites
journeyed by stages, as the  Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but
there was no water for the people to drink. The people quarreled with
Moses, and said, "Give us water to drink." Moses said to them,
"Why do you
quarrel with me? Why do you test the  Lord?" But the people thirsted there
for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, "Why did you
bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with
thirst?" So Moses cried out to the  Lord, "What shall I do with this
people? They are almost ready to stone me." The  Lord said to Moses, "Go
on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you;
take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will
be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock,
and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink." Moses did
so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. He called the place Massah and
Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the  Lord, saying,
"Is the  Lord among us or not?"

The Epistle       Romans 5:1-11

Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which
we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not
only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering
produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character
produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has
been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to
us.
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the
ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person-- though
perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God
proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for
us. Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood,
will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. For if while we were
enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more
surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. But more
than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through
whom we have now received reconciliation.

The Gospel     John 4:5-26(27-38)39-42

Jesus came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that
Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus,
tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.
A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, "Give me a
drink." (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan
woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman
of Samaria?" (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus
answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that 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 have no bucket,
and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater
than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his
flocks drank from it?" Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this
water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will
give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in
them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life." The woman said to him,
"Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep
coming here to draw water."
Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come back." The woman
answered him, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You
are right in
saying, `I have no husband'; for you have had five husbands, and the one
you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!" The woman
said to him, "Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped
on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is
in Jerusalem." Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming
when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in
Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for
salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when
the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the
Father seeks such as these 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 Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When he comes, he
will proclaim all things to us." Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one who
is speaking to you."
[Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking
with a woman, but no one said, "What do you want?" or, "Why are you
speaking with her?" Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the
city. She said to the people, "Come and see a man who told me everything I
have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?" They left the city and
were on their way to him.
Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, "Rabbi, eat something." But he
said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about." So the
disciples said to one another, "Surely no one has brought him something to
eat?" Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me
and to complete his work. Do you not say, `Four months more, then comes
the harvest'? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are
ripe for harvesting. The reaper is already receiving wages and is
gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice
together. For here the saying holds true, `One sows and another reaps.' I
sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored,
and you have entered into their labor."]
Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman's
testimony, "He told me everything I have ever done." So when the
Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed
there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to
the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for
we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of
the world."

Ninure Saunders aka Rainbow Christian

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