Lutheran Lectionary for 15 March 2026 (4th Sunday in Lent)

Welcome to the Lutheran Lectionary Podcast from Confident Faith.

I am Corey J. Moller, a contributor here at Confident Faith, and I will be your reader today.

This fourth Sunday in Lent, the 15th of March, in the year of our Lord, 2026, in the time of Easter.

Our readings for today are Exodus chapter 17, verses 1 through 7,

Psalm 95, verses 1 through 9, Romans chapter 5, verses 1 through 8, and John chapter 4,

verses 5 through 30 and 39 through 42. We will close, as always, with the Lord's Prayer.

Today's first reading comes from the Book of Exodus, and we will be reading the 17th chapter

verses 1 through 7. And the entire congregation of the sons of Israel set out from the wilderness

of sin, according to their encampments by the Word of the Lord. And they encamped at Raffidine,

and there was not water for the people to drink, and the people were railing against Moses saying,

give us waters of the We may drink, and Moses said to them, why are you railing at me,

and why are you testing the Lord? But the people thirsted there for water, and the people kept

complaining against Moses saying, why is it that you brought us up from Egypt to kill us in our

children and animals with thirst? Then Moses cried out to the Lord saying, what shall I do with

his people a little while yet, and they will stone me? And the Lord said to Moses, go on ahead

of this people, but take with you some of the elders of the people, and the rod with which you

struck the river take in your hand and go. I have taken my stand here before you came on the rock

at Korim, and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, and the people will drink.

And Moses did so before the sons of Israel, and he called the name of that place,

testing and railery, because of the railing of the sons of Israel, and because they tested the

Lord saying, is the Lord among us or not? This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Today's reading from the Psalter is from the 95th Psalm, and we will be reading verses one through

nine. O come, let us rejoice in the Lord, let us make a joyful noise to God our Savior, let us

anticipate his face with acknowledgement, and with melodies let us make a joyful noise to him,

because the Lord is a great God, and a great king over all the gods, because in his hand are the

ends of the earth, and the heights of the mountains are his, because his is the sea, and he made it,

and the dry land his hands formed. O come, let us do obeisance and prostrate ourselves before him,

and let us weep before the Lord who made us, because he is our God, and we are people of his pasture

and sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as at the

imbitering, like the day of the trial and the wilderness, where your fathers tried me, they put

me to the proof and saw my works. Glory be to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forevermore. Amen.

Today's epistle reading comes from the Book of Romans, and we will be reading the fifth chapter

versus one through eight. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God

through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace

in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in

our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character,

and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured

into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. For while we were still weak,

at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person,

though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die. But God shows His love for us,

in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. This is the Word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Today's Gospel reading comes from the Book of John, and we will be reading the fourth chapter

versus five through thirty, and thirty-nine through forty-two.

So he came to a town of Samaria called Psycar near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.

Jacob's well was there. So Jesus, worried as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well.

It was about the sixth hour. A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her,

give me a drink. For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. The Samaritan woman

said to him, how is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria? For Jews

have no dealings 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 nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep.

Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well

and drank from it himself, as did his sons in his livestock. Jesus said to her, everyone who

drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him

will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him 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 will not be

thirsty or have to come here to draw water. Jesus said to her, go, call your husband and come here.

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 now have is not your husband. What you

have said is true. The woman said to him, sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our father's

worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.

Jesus said to her, woman, believe me, the hour is coming when either on this mountain, nor in

Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know, we worship what we know,

for salvation is from the Judeans, but the hour is coming and is now here when the true

worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. But the Father is seeking 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 Messiah is coming, he who is called Christ. When he comes,

he will tell all things. Jesus said to her, I who speak to you, am he. Just then his disciples

came back, they marveled that he was talking with a woman. But no one said, what do you seek,

or why are you talking with her? So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and

said to the people, come see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?

They went out of the town and were coming to him. Many Samaritans from that town believed in him

because of the woman's testimony. He told me all that I ever did. So when the Samaritans came to

him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days, and many more believe 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 indeed the Savior of the world.

This is the gospel of the Lord. Praise be to thee, O Christ.

I now invite all of you to join me in reciting the Lord's Prayer, one of the most ancient

prayers of the church. I do encourage you to say it aloud if you are somewhere

unreasonable to do so, but praying it silently is, of course, also fine. The Lord knows what is in

your heart. Lord, remember us in your kingdom and teach us to pray. Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass

against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom,

and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Go in peace and grace to serve our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, in whatever calling has been

given you, or tasks set before you. Until next week, God be with you.