September 19, 2023

John 4:27-38 (HCSB)
The Ripened Harvest
27 Just then His disciples arrived, and they were amazed that He was talking with a woman. Yet no one said, “What do You want?” or “Why are You talking with her?” 28 Then the woman left her water jar, went into town, and told the men, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could this be the Messiah?” 30 They left the town and made their way to Him. 31 In the meantime the disciples kept urging Him, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32 But He said, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about.” 33 The disciples said to one another, “Could someone have brought Him something to eat?” 34 “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work,”Jesus told them. 35 “Don’t you say, ‘There are still four more months, then comes the harvest’? Listen to what I’m telling you: Open your eyes and look at the fields, for they are ready for harvest. 36 The reaper is already receiving pay and gathering fruit for eternal life, so the sower and reaper can rejoice together. 37 For in this case the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap what you didn’t labor for; others have labored, and you have benefited from their labor.”

James Burns
Jesus had a funny way of framing the lessons that He presented, and this passage was no exception. Here the disciples come upon Jesus interacting with a Samaritan woman (very unexpected), and it caught them off guard. But in typical male thinking, they quickly changed their concern to more earthly concerns, that of eating. But Jesus knew them well, and used their interest in food, and their knowledge of farming techniques to explain the spiritual concept of sowing and reaping, and the unique ability to see both sowing and reaping at the same time, as opposed to waiting months to see the harvest in typical farming situations. So, He was not only explaining the wonders and benefits of a relationship with the Father and salvation, but also demonstrated through His interaction with the Samaritan woman that salvation is available to everyone, the entire world.