. She felt that God had
spoken to him, and she said:
"Sir, I see that you are a prophet of God. Tell me whether our people or
the Jews are right. Our fathers have worshipped on this mountain. The
Jews say that Jerusalem is the place where men should go to worship.
Now, which of these is the right place?"
"Woman, believe me," said Jesus, "there is coming a time when men shall
worship God in other places besides on this mountain and in Jerusalem.
The time is near; it has even now come, when the true worshippers
everywhere shall pray to God in spirit and in truth; for God himself is
a Spirit."
The woman said: "I know that the Anointed one is coming, the Christ.
When he comes, he will teach us all things."
Jesus said to her:
"I that speak to you now am he, the Christ!"
Just at this time the disciples of Jesus came back from the village.
They wondered to see Jesus talking with this Samaritan woman, but they
said nothing.
The woman had come to draw water, but in her interest in this wonderful
stranger, she forgot her errand. Leaving her water-jar, she ran back to
her village, and said to the people:
"Come, see a man who told me everything that I have done in all my life!
Is not this man the Christ whom we are looking for?"
Soon the woman came back to the well with many of her people. They asked
Jesus to come to their town, and to stay there and teach them. He went
with them, and stayed there two days, teaching the people, who were
Samaritans. And many of the people in that place believed in Jesus, and
said:
"We have heard for ourselves; now we know that this is indeed the
Saviour of the world."
THE STORY OF THE FISHERMEN
When Jesus began to teach the people by the river Jordan, a few young
men came to him as followers, or disciples. Some of these men were
Andrew and John, Peter and Philip and Nathanael. While Jesus was
teaching near Jerusalem and in Samaria, these men stayed with Jesus; but
when he came to Galilee, they went to their homes and work, for most of
them were fishermen from the Sea of Galilee.
One morning, soon after Jesus came to Capernaum, he went out of the
city, by the sea, followed by a great throng of people, who had come
together to see him and to hear him. On the shore were lying two fishing
boats, one of which belonged to Simon and Andrew, the other to James and
John and their father Zebedee. The men themselves were not in the boats,
but were washing their nets near by.
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